NHS 111

A man wearing a headset, smiling in front of a computer screen

If you've got a medical problem that you feel is urgent, please think 111 first. NHS 111 is open 24/7, every day of the year, and offers expert advice and support to people. If you need an urgent appointment with a healthcare professional, they can set this up for you. And if you do need to get seen urgently in one of our Accident & Emergency departments, they can help arrange an arrival time for you so that you don't have to wait as long.

You can reach 111 by calling 111 or by visiting 111.nhs.uk. If you're in a mental health crisis you can call 111 and select the mental health option for urgent support, and if you or someone you care for is receiving palliative care you can call 111 and pick option 3 for palliative care advice.

Mental Capacity and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS)

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 is an important piece of law which seeks to ensure that people over the aged of 16, who may not be able to make decisions themselves about their life such as care and treatment receive the support to do so.  The Mental Capacity Act sets on in law how someone should be supported to make these decisions.   Where they are unable to do so it sets out what should be considered to make decisions on behalf of someone else, known as their “best interests”.  The Mental Capacity Act applies to anyone working in health and social care.  They must be able to demonstrate how they applied the law to their decision making.

MCA Image

Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) which is part of The Mental Capacity Act adds additional protection to those people unable to make their own decisions about their care and treatment in a care home or hospital, where that care is felt to be restrictive.  DoLS provides additional scrutiny to ensure that the restrictions in place are in the person’s best interests.  There are occasions when someone may need to be deprived of their liberty in their own home for which there is a separate process in place in which the best interest’s decision is made by the Court of Protection.

5 MCA Principles

If you require further information, resources, or wish to speak to anyone about The Mental Capacity Act the ICB has a designated MCA Lead who can be contacted at:

Useful links and documents

 

30/05/2022