This factsheet is aimed at service users and is about making sure people are safe in hospital and get the medical care they need. It includes illustrative examples of making decision about capacity and deprivation of liberty.

This flowchart describes the process of assessing capacity and best interests decision making for health and social care interventions.

This document is part of a series of brief guides to help all health and social care professionals navigate through and apply the principles of the Mental Capacity Act for decisions regarding treatment and care. It sets out alternative decision-making approaches in the event that a person does not have mental capacity to give consent to a proposed treatment. It looks at the role of advance decisions to refuse treatment, lasting powers of attorney for health and welfare and discusses situations where the Court of Protection may need to be involved. The guide also covers advance care plans, independent mental capacity advocates, and best interest decisions.

Mental Capacity Act 2005: assessment of capacity form

Describes what an advance statement is, and contains an A5 form patients can use to write down their preferred treatments and strategies for care should they have a mental health crisis.

A social worker describes two cases in which people were assumed to lack capacity,
and how that risks the person’s wishes being overridden.

This poster explains the five principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

This document is part of a series of brief guides to help all health and social care professionals navigate through and apply the principles of the Mental Capacity Act for decisions regarding treatment and care. The guide focuses specifically on the Act requirements for clinical decisions, covering: consent to treatment and care; factors affecting mental capacity to consent to treatment and care; who assesses capacity to consent to treatment and care; checklist for practitioners assessing mental capacity; clinical decisions where the individual lacks capacity to consent to treatment or care.

How can you help a person with dementia to make decisions now and for their future? Explore the links here to find out more about dementia and decision-making.

CPD-accredited e-learning training exploring the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). This online course is for everyone who looks after or cares for someone.

The focus of this report is on the MHA and its interface with the MCA, Deprivation of Liberty and the implications of the Supreme Court judgment (P v Cheshire West and Chester Council and P and Q v Surrey County Council [2014] UKSC 19). The latter has made it clearer and easier for providers and decision makers to identify where a person is being deprived of their liberty but has also led to a considerable increase in the numbers of people in England and Wales who are considered to be deprived of their liberty for the purposes of receiving care and treatment. The paper summarises the findings from a survey on the court judgment impacted on AMHP practice and service delivery. They show that there has been significant impact on AMHPs and service providers, but the situation appears to be more challenging for certain local authorities where a large proportion of their Best Interests Assessors for DoLS are drawn from the AMHP service. Landmark changes impacting AMHP practice and the local authorities on behalf of which the professionals act have been made as result of the Cheshire West judgement but there remain barriers and challenges in fully implementing these changes arising from the complex and bureaucratic DoLS framework. The Law Commission has been tasked to look for a framework that is simpler, while still protecting the rights of vulnerable people with mental health problems and those who lack capacity, with final report and draft legislation due to be published in summer 2017.

Key information on advance decision to refuse treatment, including the role of doctors, how to ensure an advance decision is valid and the effect of it if you lose your capacity temporarily.