Publish date: 14 February 2022
As part of the ongoing work to consolidate the understanding and application of the Mental Capacity Act across the Trust, the Legal Services team has developed the following resource to support staff in thinking about issues of consent and mental capacity. This is intended to be a helpful resource for all patient-facing colleagues who provide care and treatment to individuals, and it aims to prompt staff to ‘Think MCA’ in their day-to-day practice. Please save this for your reference and share it with your colleagues. For any queries about consent or the application of the Mental Capacity Act, you can contact Nicola Peet (Trust Mental Capacity Act Legislation Lead) at Nicola
Did you know that the Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice is currently being reviewed, in preparation for the implementation of the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) scheme? The LPS will replace the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and will introduce new statutory responsibilities for NHS Trusts, who will be required to oversee and authorise deprivations of liberty for those patients who lack the capacity to consent to their care and treatment.
While this is yet to be confirmed, the revised Code of Practice for the MCA/LPS is expected to be published for consultation in Spring 2022. Within the Trust, plans are underway to coordinate a shared response to the public consultation and we will invite colleagues, service users and carers to attend engagement sessions on this topic. As soon as we know more, information on the consultation will be shared via a number of channels, including YourSpace.