Issue - meetings
Gateway 1 Procurement Commencement: Re-procurement of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) Contract
Meeting: 29/10/2024 - Cabinet (Item 8)
8 Gateway 1 Report: Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) Assessments 
PDF 196 KB
Minutes:
Background:
The report sought permission from the Cabinet to commence the procurement of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) Contract.
Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) are an amendment to the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005. Within the legislation there is a requirement that the Mental Health assessment was undertaken by a Mental Health assessor who had to be a doctor (approved under section 12 of the Mental Health Act 1983, or a registered medical practitioner with at least three years’ post-registration experience in the diagnosis or treatment of mental disorders). The Council did not employ S-12 doctors and therefore needed to source an external provider to undertake these assessments.
An Exempt Appendix 1 to the report, contained financial analysis of the costings involved.
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Decision number:
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Decision:
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134/2024 |
The Cabinet agreed to the procurement of a contract provision of specialist doctor/mental health assessments as one of the six elements of a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard (DoLS) Assessment via Open Market Procurement, open procedure, for a three year term which could then be extended three times by two yearsas identified in paragraph 7.4 of the report. |
Reasons:
The local authority is the supervisory body for the provision of DoLS assessments.
There is a requirement in the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) DoLS legislation that the mental health assessment is undertaken by a Section 12 registered (S-12) doctor.
Medway Council does not employ S-12 doctors so there is a need to source an external provider to undertake these assessments.