The Mental Capacity Act is important for people with a learning disability.
It lays out the law regarding who can and who cannot make decisions for themselves.
The 5 Key Principles within this Act are -
1. A presumption of capacity (you can make decisions)
2. The right for an individual to be supported to make their own decisions (people should support you to do this)
3. The right to make eccentric or unwise decisions (just because you make a 'strange' decision it doesn't mean people should stop you making other decisions)
4. Best Interests - anything done on behalf of a person without capacity must be in their best interests (if someone makes a decision for you it must be for your benefit)
5. Someone making these decisions must choose the 'least restrictive' ones. (The people who make the decisions should make sure you have as much freedom as possible)
For Guidance from CSCI (Commission for Social Care Inspection) re the MCA and social care click here.
There is a lot of good 'easy read' information available about the Act on various websites.
A good place to look is the MCA page on the SCIE (Social Care Institute of Excellence) website which has lots of useful resources you can access
These can be accessed via the links on the right of this page or by clicking the link below -
Easy read information - Mental Capacity Act
An easy read newsletter about the Act is produced by the Public Guardianship Office
Update 20 (Feb 09) Update 21 (May 09) Update 22 (July 09)
update 19 (Oct 08) update 18 (July 08) update 17 (April 08)
2007 July, the Sept or the Oct Newsletters.
To read some information regarding the Mental Capacity Act and people with a learning disability written by the local authorities in Kent click here
MENTAL CAPACITY ACT
Useful information (in a well presentent format) about the Act from this website.
Click on the link for the external website
CONSENT AND BEST INTERESTS
Two hopefully simple to use flow charts are included below about an individual's ability to consent and acting in their best interests.
Many thanks to Allyson Kent and Mike Hood from Humber Mental Health Teaching NHS Trust for these documents.
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