Litigation capacity is a person’s ability to conduct legal proceedings. It is a dynamic and longitudinal process, requiring active understanding, retention and use of salient information to weigh up related decisions and give direction to a legal representative.
Read More »What is litigation capacity and why is it important?
A Best Interest decision (Section 4, Mental Capacity Act 2005) is a legally directed process that must be followed when a person has been assessed to lack capacity to make a specific decision at a specific time. By describing the process as ‘Best Interest’ it is purposeful reminder to all those involved that it is a decision that should be made in the Best Interest of the individual, and not any of the other involved parties.
With this in mind, it is therefore absolutely essential that the individual’s preferences, thoughts, wishes, values and beliefs are established before any Best Interest decision can be made.
Read More »Importance of wishes, beliefs and values in Best Interest decisions
The term ‘insight’ is often used by health and care professionals. For example, it may be recorded that a person ‘lacks insight’ into their toileting personal care needs. By which, the professional may be seeking to state (in a diplomatic way) that the person does not recognise when they have been incontinent.
The term is also used in other contexts in the care setting as well. For example, that a person may ‘lack insight’ into their mobility as a result of their dementia. By which the professional may be indicating that the individual’s falls are due to their impaired short-term memory and orientation, and that they are not able to process that their movements have deteriorated due to their Parkinson’s-related dementia which is causing them to have increased falls.
Read More »Mental Capacity and Insight
In the Court of Appeal case of Re Sudiksha Thirulamesh (dec’d) (2024, EWCA Civ 896), the concept of a person’s belief on decision-making was brought to the forefront. For all assessors of Mental Capacity, this case is highly recommended reading.
Read More »Mental Capacity and the role of ‘belief’ in decision-making
Consent and capacity are intrinsically linked. If there is a ‘reasonable belief’ that a person is unable to make an informed decision with support, then… Read More »Consent to treatment under the Community Mental Health Team
Supported capacity is the second principle of the Mental Capacity Act (2005). It directs that all reasonable adjustments should be provided to support the individual to make an informed decision. This is further echoed in associated legislation of the Equality Act (2010) and the Care Act (2014) in terms of empowerment.
Read More »Supported capacity: reasonable adjustments in practice
In October 2024, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published its latest report on ‘The state of health care and adult social care in England 2023/24’.… Read More »Highlights from the CQC report on the state of health care and adult social care in England 2023/24
In Court of Protection (CoP) cases across the past few years there has been increasing reference and cautionary notes regarding professionals working in ‘silos’. This has been discussed by professionals such as Local Government Lawyer (2020) and Barrister, and honorary KC, Alex Keene (2021, 2024). This is a very interesting and thought-provoking topic, that we will try to explain to give readers some important context.
Read More »Mental Capacity and the challenge of ‘silos’
The National Mental Capacity Forum (NMCF) is a working initiative between the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Department of Health and Social Care (DoHSC). The core purpose for the forum is to improve implementation of the Mental Capacity Act (2005), for which it has been releasing annual reports since 2016. The latest report for the period 2022-2023 has just been published (May 2024), and is recommended reading for anyone working in the field.
Read More »Reflections on the NMCF Annual Report 2022–2023
Learning from Lives and Deaths – people with learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR) was established in 2017 as a collaboration between several UK universities along with NHS England and several leading charities in the area. Its report for 2022, which was only published as recently as November 2023, includes some really interesting and important observations in relation to Mental Capacity and how it is applied in practice in England.
Read More »Learning from Lives and Deaths: Mental Capacity in the spotlight