Health and social care professionals will be familiar with mental capacity assessments. During the course of their work, social workers will regularly assess whether a person has the capacity to make decisions in relation to where they live, who they live with and the care they receive. Occupational therapists and Physiotherapists might assess whether […]

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What is a mental capacity assessor? A mental capacity assessor, quite simply is a professional who assesses a person’s mental capacity.  Mental capacity is the term used to identify whether a person can make any decision. Often, a mental capacity assessor is a Social Worker or Psychiatrist because it sits within their areas of expertise […]

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If you are an attorney (Lasting Power of Attorney), deputy or care home manager, you may have a role to play (in addition to completing your own form) in the upcoming census.  Census 2021 is Sunday 21st March 2021 and households are starting to receive a letter with details about how to complete the census […]

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What does mental capacity mean? Every day we make hundreds of decisions and most of the time we don’t even notice we’re doing it.  If we are hot, we open the window… if we are hungry, we have something to eat… if we don’t like what we are wearing, we change out clothes.  Much of […]

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Yesterday, we woke to the news that one of the COVID-19 vaccines has been approved by the Medicines and Health products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).  We also heard that The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) have advised that care home residents (older adults) will be among the first to be offered the vaccine as […]

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The Mental Capacity Act is based upon 5 fundamental principles. They ensure that people’s rights aren’t interfered with unnecessarily whist providing the best interests and less restrictive principles for when decisions have to be made by other people.

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Under the current Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) scheme, Local Authorities acting as Supervisory Bodies can authorise a deprivation of liberty without every case going through the court process. When the Liberty Protection Safeguards are introduced in 2020, the scheme will provide a similar vehicle through which a deprivation of liberty can be authorised. There […]

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For the most up to date information about the Liberty Protection Safeguards, please visit my main page here. The Liberty Protection Safeguards are a provision within the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill which has finished its journey through Parliament and awaiting Royal Assent.  The last stop was the House of Lords during the Ping Pong stage […]

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The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill is now reaching its final stage as a Bill before it gains Royal Ascent and becomes an Act of Parliament. The Act will see an end to the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and in their place introduce the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS). Although it will still be some months before […]

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When assessing a person’s mental capacity to make a specific decision, there are 3 questions that need to be asked: Is there an impairment or disturbance in the functioning of the person’s mind or brain? Is the person unable to make the decision? Is the person’s inability to make the decision because of the impairment […]

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In a Written Ministerial Statement published yesterday, Health Minister Caroline Dinenage said the government broadly agreed with the Liberty Protection Safeguards model proposed by the Law Commission in 2017 and would legislate “when parliamentary time allows”.  The statement also acknowledged that the current DoLS (Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards) system should be replaced as a matter of “pressing […]

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On the home page, I explain the Liberty Protection Safeguards proposals from the Law Commission and in a previous post, highlighted the very resent request from the Government, asking for written submissions to the Joint Committee on Human Right’s inquiry on the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. In principle, the Liberty Protection Safeguards proposals are a positive step […]

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The Government is asking for written submissions to the Joint Committee on Human Right’s inquiry on the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards. However, you only have until Friday 2nd March 2018 to submit your responses. Submissions should be no more than 1,500 words and they are particularly interested to hear evidence from interested parties on: Whether […]

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In a previous post, I introduced the Mental Capacity Act and the fact that some people can’t make some decisions for themselves. In such cases, the Mental Capacity Act and other case law provide frameworks and tests used to assess whether a person has the Mental Capacity to make a particular decision. The Mental Capacity […]

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Mental capacity is the ability to make decisions. Sometimes decisions are relatively simple and made on a daily basis such as what to wear, what to eat and what to do that day.  Other times, decisions are more complex, made less often and might have legal implications such as agreeing to medical treatment, making a […]

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