Image © Grace Currie and Helter Skelter Ltd Last year, local authorities in England and Wales received 316,633 applications to authorise deprivation of liberty in connection with care arrangements made by others in the ‘best interests’ of people considered to lack ‘mental capacity’ under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). To put this number in…
I wrote in November last year that Bristol City Council was consulting on a Fair and Affordable Care Policy: This means that in most cases Adult Social Care will provide services to meet eligible needs that are the most cost effective. In some cases this might mean that the service offered by the council will…
I know a lot of you are frustrated that the current government has delayed implementation of the Liberty Protection Safeguards yet again kicking the can down the road until the ‘next Parliament’ (that is, the next government after the next general election). I know you are frustrated because this means that over one hundred thousand…
Image © Grace Currie We all want to live in the place we call home, with the people and things we love, in communities where we look out for each other, doing the things that matter to us. That’s the #SocialCareFuture we seek. Social Care Future A mate pointed out that I never blogged any more,…
Some days expand your heart, mind and horizons; yesterday was that kind of day. And I want to share what I found out with you, so that your heart, mind and horizons can also grow larger. I was privileged to be invited to a roundtable meeting by the Dementia Pioneers. This is a group of…
In 1942 Sir William Beveridge published his landmark report, laying the groundwork for the post-war welfare state in Britain, aiming to slay the ‘five giants’ of Want, Idleness, Squalor, Disease and Ignorance. Seventy years on, Agenda Publishing have published a series of books revisiting the current state of these five giants, who are regaining their…
Whilst we wait for the draft mental health bill, I have a suggestion. There are too many people with learning disabilities and/or autism detained in ‘assessment and treatment units’ (mental health hospitals), and they are there for far too long – some people are there for years (or even decades). There is not enough support…
As some of you know, I’ve recently written a book, entitled Deprivation of Liberty in the Shadows of the Institution (Bristol University Press, 2022) about the long long history and possible futures of social care detention (regulating community care living arrangements as a ‘deprivation of liberty’). Because the research is funded by Wellcome, you can…
A couple of years ago I tripped over a step and did something horrible to my shoulder. My mate kindly took me to A&E and I was eventually seen, examined, diagnosed, and sent home with a sling, drugs, and a referral for physiotherapy. I don’t think anyone bothered to assess my capacity on that occasion,…
What does liberty mean, and what value do liberty safeguards hold, for people who draw on care services? Can a person who others describe as happy or content be deprived of their liberty? Can a person be said to be deprived of their liberty if their care arrangements are supposed to keep them safe and…
The Small Places 