News release, 2 May 2008
In the months leading up to the implementation of the Mental Capacity Act, many health and social care staff felt confused about mental capacity issues, according to a new report from the Mental Health Foundation and the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities. 98% of staff interviewed for the report, Whose Decision?, said they felt they needed more training on mental capacity and making capacity assessments.
Whose Decision? will interest directors and chief executives in the health and social care sector, who are responsible for ensuring that their staff are up to speed with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act, which came into full effect last October. The report recommends they take a fresh look at their procedures in light of the research.
Dr Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation, which incorporates the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities, said:
“Senior managers in health and social care must take note of these findings, and review the training and support they‘ve offered their staff as the Mental Capacity Act has been rolled out. The learning curve for many people has been quite steep and getting things wrong in this area could land you in court.”
The report’s recommendations include:
Researchers spoke to professionals working with vulnerable adults throughout the social care and health sectors, as well as to service users themselves and their carers. While they found some good practice, the overall picture was one of confusion about what mental capacity means and the criteria needed for assessments of capacity to be made.
The report found large variation in the definitions of capacity being used in practice, with only 12% of staff interviewed giving a complete definition similar to the one used in the Act.
Many staff were also unclear as to when capacity assessments should be made, with 82% giving the ‘best interests’ of the person being assessed as the reason for undertaking an assessment.
However, the Act states that assessment should be a continuous process and that a person can only be found to be lacking capacity for a particular decision, rather than in general terms. ‘Best interests’ decisions on their behalf should only be considered if they are found to be lacking in capacity.
Rowan Myron, Associate Head of Research for the Mental Health Foundation, who led on the research, said:
“The Mental Capacity Act is one of those once-in-a-generation pieces of legislation that fundamentally affects the rights of the individual. It applies to everyone and it’s likely that most families will come into contact with the Act’s provisions at some point. For these reasons it’s vital that health and social care professionals feel confident in their own understanding of mental capacity and how it should be assessed.”
The next stage of the Foundations’ work will look at how people’s attitudes and knowledge about mental capacity have changed since the Act came into force.
Read the Whose decision? report
Notes to Editors
Whose Decision? is the first of two reports from the Mental Health Foundation and the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities on the implementation of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, which came into full effect on 1 October 2007. The research was carried out in the year leading up to the Act’s implementation.
For more information please contact the press office on 020 7803 1130/28/26.
The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities promotes the rights, quality of life and opportunities of people with learning disabilities and their families.
The Mental Health Foundation uses research and practical projects to help people survive, recover from and prevent mental health problems. We work to influence policy, including government at the highest levels. And we use our knowledge to raise awareness and to help tackle the stigma attached to mental illness. We reach millions of people every year through our media work, information booklets and online services.
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