DOLs - very confused

[Nettieatolympic]

We needed to put mum aged 92yrs into a care home when we lost dad, her only carer, in Dec last year. We are self funding and very happy with the home and mum is very settled. We have PoA welfare.
Mum had a fall and fractured her hip in January. She was back in the home within a week and has made an amazing recovery.
The hospital visit seems to have triggered a DOLs assessment in March and the social services are now, in August, chasing it up following a recent inspection at the home.
Whilst the doctors assessment on the paperwork is spot on, the assessors includes several inaccuracies, fundamentally stating we do not have PoA welfare and that he had a telephone conversation with my sister (which she doesnt recall).

I thought if you have PoA welfare you dont need DOLs. Does anyone know if that is too general an assumption?
Are we right to challenge the report and get it withdrawn?
What advantages are there by having DOLs in place?

 

[Grannie G]

I had PoA for my husband and we still had a DOLs meeting a few months after his admission. It was to ensure we were all working in his best interests and his care home placement was appropriate because he was unable to speak for himself.

You will find further information about Deprivation of Liberties here.

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/search?keywords=DOLs&Search=

 

[Kevinl]

Poa doesn't matter, the home will need a DoLS should your mum now or in the future ever ask to leave.
If the home keeps her behind a locked door or would prevent her from leaving then without a DoLS they could be accused of falsely imprisoning her as no one has the right to keep someone against their wishes other than the obvious things like the police can arrest you, a judge can send you to prison, schools can keep kids on their site but all these are done under an established legal framework.
DoLS is the legal way homes can keep someone behind a locked door and refuse them permission to leave, your PoA doesn't give you the legal right to "put" your mum in a home and it you can't give the home permission to keep her their should she ask to leave, hence the home legally needs a DoLS to do so.
If your mum went into the home in December then it's likely the home applied for the DoLS then because at the moment there is a backlog in most places, my wife's DoLS took over a year to come through.
If you have a PoA then you should be asked to become the Relevant Person's Representative (RPR) and ask to attend any meetings and copied in on any letters but really it's just a paper exercise to keep it all legal, nothing changes as a result of getting a DoLS.
Should you ever move her you'll need to go through the whole process again as DoLS aren't transferable, if you move her the DoLS ends.
K

 

[Nettieatolympic]

That really helps Kevin, thank you

 

[Nettieatolympic]

and thanks for the link GrannyG, I have been busy reading