New law introduced to protect vulnerable people in care

The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill was introduced to the House of Lords last week seeking to replace the current system known as ‘Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards’ (DoLs).

DoLs is an assessment currently carried out on people who do not have the mental capacity to make their own decisions about their care, for example because they are living with dementia. It was criticised by a 2017 Law Commission review for being too complex and bureaucratic. The government has now developed a new system, known as ‘Liberty Protection Safeguards’, which will become law through the bill. 

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