DoLS applications up 4.7% last year

The NHS published it’s annual report on DoLS application last week with the figures showing a slower increase (4.7%) than the previous year. The data were provided by the 152 Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibility (CASSRs) during spring 2018.

The report’s authors highlighted the following key findings 

• 227,400 applications for DoLS were received during 2017-18, with almost three quarters relating to people aged 75 and over. This is an increase of 4.7% on 2016-17 although the rate of increase has slowed.
• more DoLS applications were received than were completed (181,785) in 2017-18. The number of DoLS applications that were completed increased by 19.6% from 151,970 in 2016-17. The proportion of these that were granted was 61.1% in 2017-18.
• the reported number of cases that were not completed as at year end was 125,630. Of these just under 40% (48,555) were received prior to 1 April 2017.
• the data again shows a wide range of variation across the country in the volumes of DoLS applications, their outcomes and how they were administered.

You can read the full report on the NHS website.