eLearning: Mental Capacity Act
Published 2011
These elearning resources are freely available to all. They provide audio, video and interactive technology to assist in exploring the many areas of the Mental Capacity Act.
Click on a title below to open the resource.
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Supporting people to make their own decisionsExplores why the Mental Capacity Act 2005 was introduced and who is affected by the Act (Estimated sudy time: 20-30 minutes). |
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Making day-to-day decisions about care and supportExplores what is meant by making day-to-day decisions and how we can assess a person’s capacity to make their own decisions. |
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Best interest decisions about day-to-day care and supportExplores what the Act means by ‘best interests’ as well as when best interests decisions need to be made. |
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Making more complex decisionsExplores why, when and how to carry out a formal, recorded assessment of capacity. |
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More complex best interests decision makingExplores how you begin to work out a person’s best interests in a practical context and the limits and challenges associated with best interests decision making. |
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What to do when there is disagreementExplores what kinds of disagreement can arise in relation to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and possible solutions to resolve these. |
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Planning for the futureExplores who can make decisions on behalf of other people and when those decisions can be made. |
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A guide to the deprivation of liberty safeguardsLooks at the law on deprivation of liberty safeguards (DOLS). |
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Interface between the MCA and MHAExplores the relationship between the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and the Mental Health Act (MHA) of 1983 (as amended by the Mental Heath Act 2007) the difference between the two laws in relation to detention and deprivation of liberty. |
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Who they are suitable forOpen
This elearning resource is targeted at all staff working with people who lack or may lack capacity in the health and social care sectors. This includes paid and unpaid carers as well as Families. Trainers and students will also find these resources useful. The elearning resource can be integrated into the higher education social work curriculum either as directed or self directed study.
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AuthorsOpen
Janet Badger
Janet has twenty five years experience of working with people with a learning disability and for the majority of that time has been involved in listening to and representing their views to others.
Janet is currently the chief officer or Advocacy Resource Exchange and was involved in writing the modules for the New National Advocacy Qualification. She has also written other learning materials for the implementation of the Mental Capacity Act. Janet’s keen interest in the Act stems from her commitment to ensure that people are involved in directing the course of their own life in whatever ways possible. She has delivered significant training for service providers on the Act and has undertaken a number of research projects to identify how effectively the Act is being implemented.
Janet is the Chair of an Advocacy organisation in her area and is also a volunteer advocate. She works with the Office of the Public Guardian as a visitor to monitor Deputies appointed under the Mental Capacity Act through the Court of Protection.
Capacity Care
Capacity Care (Capacity) is a non-profit social enterprise that was established to raise awareness of the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 among professionals and non-professionals alike.
Capacity’s activities centre upon helping organisations and individuals to understand their responsibilities under the Act. It achieves this through the development and delivery professional training, elearning, audit and research services and a dispute resolution service.
At its heart, Capacity has an ethical and socially aware approach to the delivery of all of its services. It is a business with primarily social objectives and is committed to one simple thing - improving the lives and well-being of adults who lack or have reduced capacity through the delivery of better quality services.
W: www.capacitycare.org.uk
E: info@capacitycare.org.ukAlison Picton
Alison is the Mental Capacity Act project manager at the Social Care Institute for Excellence. Her areas of interest include the safeguards that exist to protect the rights of adults who lack capacity, and their supporters.
Alison has a legal background and joined SCIE in December 2008 from the advocacy sector.
David Thompson
Dr David Thompson is a Senior Practice Development Manager at the Social Care Institute for Excellence with responsibility for work on mental capacity. He has a wide experience of direct work, practice development, research and teaching, mainly involving people with learning disabilities. His areas of interest include advocacy, ageing, family carers and sexual issues – the latter being the focus of his PhD. David is also a Court of Protection Visitor.
Carole Wilkinson
Carol is the DOLS Manager at East Sussex County Council. Carol has provided advice to SCIE on several projects and produced a range of audit tools on the MCA focusing on best interests decision making. Carol was also involved in producing 'Knowing You Matter', a documentary which gives a platform for people in residential care to be seen and heard as individuals and challenges professionals within the care sector to do more to make people feel included and valued.
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SCORM Compliant versionOpen
If you are a member of staff from a Higher Education institution who would like to download the activity for use in a virtual learning environment (VLE),such as WebCT, Blackboard or Moodle you should use the SCORM compliant version above.
Please note that this resource was not designed to export any scores or track progress throughout the resource. Therefore, this resource can be imported into a virtual learning environment and freely accessed by users, but there will be no tracking or grading functionality.
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AccessibilityOpen
This elearning resource has been designed to be accessible to the widest audience possible and reviewed for compliance to accessibility standards by the Digital Media Access Group at the University of Dundee.
This page lists some of the features used to make the resources easier to use. If you are experiencing problems using the resources, or have any questions and comments about their accessibility, please let us know.
Using the resources without a mouse
All materials have been designed to be accessible using the keyboard. Use the Tab key to access navigational elements such as buttons and interactive diagrams. Pop-up windows with scroll bars can be accessed with the tab key, with the scroll-bar being operable via the up and down arrow keys.
Changing the appearance of the resources
If you need to adjust the way the resources appear, a Text Only version has been provided for each resource, allowing you to make changes to the resource's appearance through your browser. For example, you can use your browser to make the text larger, or change the font or colour of the text to suit your personal preferences. For more help on how to do this, visit the BBC's My Web My Way website
Accessing the resources with a screen reader
All resources have a narration of the main text. However if you use a screen reader, we recommend using the Text Only version for each resource. These provide broadly the same information and experience as the Flash version, but currently the nature of some features of the Flash resources mean that these features do not work as required in a screen reader
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AcknowledgementsOpen
SCIE would like to thank the peer reviewers: Richard Abbott, Helen Attlesey and Paul Gantley.
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Technical developmentOpen
Programming and graphic design by Cimex Ltd.
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Images and audioOpen
The case studies in this resource use the voices and images of actors. This approach has been adopted to protect the identities of the service users and carers whose accounts have been drawn upon or the accounts have been based on situations indicative of the events or issues being covered.
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Video contentOpen
All the video extracts used in the elearning resources are taken from the Mental Capacity Social Care TV programmes. To view the programmes in full and to see other related programmes on Mental Capacity and other Social Work and Social Care topics please visit Social Care TV.
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CopyrightOpen
All material in these elearning resources, including text, graphics, photographs, video and audio is copyright of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), unless otherwise stated. Use of these resources, and import of the resources into learning management systems, for educational purposes is freely permitted, but commercial use of this learning resource is not authorised unless permission is first obtained from SCIE.
