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 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 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

A Coroner’s report into the death of Chloe Barber aged 18 raised concern about the lack of knowledge of Section 117 of the Mental Health Act which is a duty to provide aftercare. The coroner stated: ‘There was considerable uncertainty and ignorance about the provision of aftercare pursuant to s117 of the Mental Health Act 1983 amongst some healthcare workers and social workers,..’ The report can be downloaded from: https://www.judiciary.uk/prevention-of-future-death-reports/c

Our DoLS Mental Health Assessor Refresher training for Section 12 approved doctors has been updated to address the latest case mental capacity case law.  Click HERE to view the BMA guidance. See dates below for our 2026 sessions: 22 April 9 July 30 September 26 November All Events run from 10:00-16:00 via Zoom. Book your place HERE   Edge Training run a range of courses on health and social care law. Our commissioned courses can be viewed HERE  - if you would like to enqui

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

CLICK BELOW TO DOWNLOAD :

The CQC has recently rated the Olive Medical Practice as inadequate. In addition, they served two warning notices on the GP practice for failing to meet standards for safe care and treatment and good governance. The inspection reported states: ‘ Systems did not ensure that staff were up to date with or followed national guidance...The system for making Do Not Attempt Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) did not allow for decisions to be reviewed or check they had been made

On 18 th  February a new power comes into effect. It is contained in the Mental Health Act 2025 which amends parts of the Mental Health Act 1983. The new power applies to a specific group of patients who are detained in hospital under section 37/41 ( a court order with restrictions to protect the public from serious harm). The normal route of discharge from hospital for such patients is called a Conditional Discharge. The person is then subject to conditions in the community.

Cumberland Council has recently been rated as ‘Requires Improvement’ following a review by the CQC (January 2026). One of the factors identified related to the local authorities management of DoLS: ‘There was a significant DoLS waiting list , with long waits for authorisations for some people. This left people at risk of being deprived of their liberty unlawfully. A prioritisation tool was supporting risk rating of applications and people at the highest risk to be reviewed fi

A Ombudsman case has found a council and ICB were at fault for charging a woman for rent, utilities and other service charges when she qualified for free aftercare under the Mental Health Act (section 117). The Ombudsman found: ‘The Multi-Agency Policy’s starting position is, even if someone’s accommodation forms part of their Section 117 aftercare, the person would need to contribute towards its rent, utilities and service charges (using housing benefit or otherwise). I cons

The CQC has rated the Olive Medical Practice as inadequate. In addition, they served two warning notices on the GP practice for failing to meet standards for safe care and treatment and good governance. The inspection reported states: ‘ Systems did not ensure that staff were up to date with or followed national guidance...The system for making Do Not Attempt Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) did not allow for decisions to be reviewed or check they had been made appropri

On 22 October, the CQC published its latest inspection report for St Andrews Healthcare. It had a series of concerns with Older Person’s wards and rated them inadequate. The inspection report stated: ‘... restrictions regarding access to snacks, use of ordinary cutlery and access to alcohol  as described in the safeguarding quality statement within this report had been imposed without appropriate consent or rationale . We were concerned these decisions had not considered indi