Investigation report: 1 of 2 from the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) This report confirms many of the issues already raised by professional groups such as the AMHP Leads network and mirrored in Coroners Prevention of Future Deaths Reports and Ombudsman complaints. Whilst acknowledging that ED is the right place for many mental health emergencies, the report above considers the legal, policy and safety gaps in the care of people in ED in mental health crisi

The annual AMHP Leads survey confirms that 95% of AMHPs in England are from the social worker profession with at least 5% from nursing and a smaller group of Occupational Therapists. The average age is 48 and 34% are likely to retire in the next 10 years. The importance of the AMHP role remains clear in this report alongside the need for higher numbers of AMHPs to meet increasing demand given the stats above. The report can be accessed HERE. Edge Training run a range of cour

A new report from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) reveals that around half of medium‑ and high‑risk mental health patients in A&E were not properly observed during their stay last year. The report highlights significant gaps in safe observation and underscores the need for improved practice, awareness, and support for clinicians. Download the report: https://rcem.ac.uk/college-news/half-of-medium-and-high-risk-mental-health-patients-in-ae-not-properly-observed

An article in the Royal College of Nursing reports that 1.3 million people have arrived at A&E in mental health crisis in the past six years, with waits sometimes stretching to three days, which the RCN calls a “scandal in plain sight” as demand has massively outgrown the mental health nursing workforce. The RCN says only urgent, sustained investment in mental health nursing will end these unsafe delays and reduce pressure on emergency departments. Read the article HERE Edg

A care home for older people with dementia has been rated Inadequate by the CQC. The report lists a number of reasons for the rating including: ‘The provider had installed surveillance equipment, CCTV cameras, in communal areas and although consent had been sought, where people lacked capacity to make the decision to consent to this, the best interest decision making process was not robust. For example, people’s relatives had not been asked what the person’s views had been in

Over the last decade, there have been considerable and consistent concerns expressed by judges about detaining children and young people in inappropriate, unregulated placements. Social work professionals involved in making deprivation of liberty order applications will benefit from reading this new guidance on what judges will be thinking about when considering such applications. You can find the guidance at the link below: Edge Training run a course on DoL, Children & You

The Secretary of State for Health, Wes Streeting has committed to reforming the Mental Capacity Act after ITV News highlighted multiple cases of vulnerable adults not getting assessments of mental capacity leading to potential risks and harm to those individuals. The minister stated: ‘So we are looking at this actively, we're determined to take action. That will include a review of, and ultimately reform of, the Mental Capacity Act.’ It would appear a key element of reform wo

A recent investigation by ITV news has raised concerns about families of people with learning disabilities being prevented from seeing them freely. The news item stated: ‘An ITV News investigation found more than 100 families who say their visiting rights to their loved ones with learning disabilities have been restricted, after they complained about negligent or poor care.’... ‘The so-called "contact restrictions" are put in place by care homes, NHS bodies, or local authorit

We are pleased to extend our 25% discount to non-profit and CICs for any of our training and consultancy services. This includes our DoLS Conference on 5th June - click HERE for details To request a discount code for your organisation, please email events@edgetraining.org.uk

As many of our readers with an interest in the Mental Health Act will know, there has been a legal change relating to patients subject to Conditional Discharge and how a deprivation of their liberty may be lawfully authorised. As it is rare for DoLS teams to deal with cases of people subject to Conditional Discharge, it can be challenging to understand this particular element of th e eligibility assessment and legal criteria. At the 2026 DoLS Conference, former Court of Pr

The Ombudsman has recently found a local authority and ICB were at fault for there repeated failure to work together over funding of woman’s combined health and social care needs. This caused a prolonged delay in discharging the woman from hospital. The Ombudsman found the local authority and the ICB at fault for failing to manage a funding dispute adequately. They ordered the two organisations to each pay £250 in recognition of the stress and frustration caused to the woman’

The latest figures from the Ministry of Justice show there were 1,439 applications to the High Court to detain children during the year 2025. Of these applications: 155 were for children aged 12 or under 834 were for children aged 13-15 years old 445 were for children aged 16-18 years old Such applications are needed where a child is deprived of their liberty in a place where a secure order under the Children Act cannot be made (not living in a registered secure placement). O

The annual Mental Health Act report from the Care Quality Commission has highlighted how despite having two legal ways (MHA and DoLS) to lawfully detain people and ensure they have legal rights and protection mental health wards are failing to do this. The report states: ‘...we are concerned that too many people, especially those on wards for older people and those who do not have the capacity to understand their rights, are being unlawfully detained .’ ‘...this can happen w

Recent research by the University of West London has found: ‘People living with dementia are at significant risk of experiencing restrictive practice or restraint during an unscheduled acute hospital admission..’ ‘This study identified restrictive practice as an invisible but everyday feature of care experienced by all people living with dementia within hospital wards. While quantifiable and visible restraint ( physical restraint, pharmaceutical sedation , legal frameworks) w

The Department of Health and Social Care has released statistics for the 2024–25 period on the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) for England, revealing a 9.8% surge in applications to a record 364,900 . The proportion of DoLS applications which have an urgent authorisation attached was 58%. The data shows that while local authorities processed 9.3% more cases than the previous year, over half (50.3%) were closed without any formal assessment. Click here to view :...

The issue of homelessness applications by people who lack mental capacity has recently been considered by the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman found: ‘There was fault by the Council when it failed to properly consider the household’s capacity to make a homelessness application . The Council decided that Mrs Y [significant long term mental health condition] did not have capacity but it cannot show how it assessed this...’ ‘The Council failed to properly assess the household’s capacity