Mental Capacity Guidance Note: Equivalent DoLS assessments
This guidance document is intended to provide supervisory bodies and DoLS assessors with some guidance on the equivalent assessment process which has been available ever since DoLS was brought into force in 2009. The process has assumed greater importance since Cheshire West, owing to the ever-increasing demand for these safeguards in a context where over 123,500 people are deprived of liberty without any. To streamline the process and avoid unnecessary duplication, Sch A1 MCA 2005 includes a provision for using equivalent assessments – essentially relying upon existing assessments – instead of reassessing a situation which would in all likelihood only serve to confirm what the supervisory body already knows. The guidance note discusses “equivalising” and when it is appropriate to make use of it.
Download the guidance note below.
