Flex360 submitted a tender to Oxfordshire in early 2024 and were subsequently awarded 250 DoLS assessments which the client wanted to have completed within a three month period. We met with the client prior to commencement of the contract to discuss implementation and agree on the pathways and processes. To cut down on the administrative burden for their DoLS team, it was agreed that Oxfordshire would provide a laptop so that we could upload the completed Form 3,4 and 5. The authority was assigned a dedicated project manager, dols co-ordinator and quality assurance lead to oversee the work.
We triaged all referrals and then allocated according to specialism and geography. Flex360 would allocate both a Best Interest Assessor and S12 Doctor to undertake the relevant assessment and these would be completed within 21 days. It was agreed that the following would be undertaken by each professional:

• Best Interest Assessor – Age, Mental Capacity, No Refusals and Best Interest

• S12 Doctor – Mental Health & Eligibility

If a referral was received in which the client was in hospital, the S12 Doctors would be required to complete the Mental Capacity assessment. Flex360 would liaise with the authorities DoLS Team to organise interpreters or IMCA’s if this was determined by the assessors. All assessments were quality assured in line with the agreed expectation of the client and then uploaded onto their system for final authorisation. The first cohort of work was undertaken within the specified time frame of three months. Oxfordshire were happy with the quality of work undertaken and subsequently asked us to complete another cohort of 250 assessments which were completed in December 2024.