Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many mental capacity assessments have been carried out on patients in each of the last five years.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) is designed to protect and empower people who lack the mental capacity to make a decision themselves. It says that every person must be presumed to have capacity to make the decision in question unless it is established otherwise, and sets out a two-stage test to establish if a person can make specific decisions regarding their care and treatment. Capacity assessments are done locally, and data is not collated or held centrally on how many assessments are carried out.

The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) is a procedure prescribed in law under the MCA when a person who lacks mental capacity to consent to their care or treatment is being deprived of their liberty in a care home or hospital in order to keep them safe from harm. DoLS assessments data is collated and published, the most recent data available is for 2023/24.

In 2023/24 there were 323,870 DoLS applications completed, 145,945 fully assessed, 15,270 closed partially assessed, 162,655 closed without assessments, and 123,790 not completed at year end.

The MCA code of practice gives guidance to people who work with, or care for, people who can’t make decisions for themselves, including when a mental capacity assessment should be carried out, and by whom. Government is clear that professionals applying the MCA are expected to keep up to date with guidance and caselaw, and to correctly use the principles within the act.

In October 2025 we announced our intention to run a joint consultation with the Ministry of Justice to consult on Liberty Protection Safeguards and an updated draft of the Code of Practice in 2026.