Figures show the vulnerable in Bolton are having to wait too long for applications from carers to make decisions on their behalf, with some applications taking over a year.

Hospitals and care homes apply to councils for Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards to make decisions for anyone thought to lack the ability to do so themselves, such as those with dementia or serious mental health problems.

While the legal limit for applications to be processed is 21 days, the Bolton Metropolitan Council completed 1,480 applications in 2020-21, each taking an average of 31 days, unchanged from the year before.

One application had taken 421 days to be processed.

Mind said DoLS were supposed to protect those at risk, but had left thousands without it.

Alison Cobb, specialist policy advisor at the charity, said: "These delays mean that people are being deprived of liberty without the right safeguards, as providers cannot use all the protective legislation.

"It is a disgraceful breach of human rights that people are waiting a year or longer to be processed.

"This can mean that they endure unnecessary delays to being placed in the best care setting for them, which would help to protect them from harm."

The Alzheimer's Society said local authorities have been overwhelmed with applications since a 2014 ruling widened the definition of deprivation of liberty.

Gavin Terry, head of policy at the Alzheimer's Society, added: "As applications are piling up on desks, people with dementia are effectively being unlawfully deprived of their freedom, unable to come and go as they please, without any safeguards in place to protect them.

The Department of Health and Social Care said protections for people who need them will be improved and extended through the new LPS.

A spokeswoman added: "To protect the human rights of people who may lack mental capacity it is important care homes and hospitals continue - until the new safeguards are in place - to make DoLS applications and local authorities consider them."