Nurses need a standard definition of a deprivation of liberty

The House of Commons health committee has called for an urgent review of the implementation of the deprivation of liberty safeguards. They are particularly concerned that nurses, as gatekeepers of the safeguards, often do not know when a deprivation of liberty occurs in practice. In this article the author argues that given the lack of a standard definition of what amounts to a deprivation of liberty and the introduction by the courts of often contradictory factors that nurses are required to consider when determining if a patient is being deprived of their liberty it is little wonder that confusion is common place.