This guidance provides information about national plans for workforce training and readiness work to support implementation of Liberty Protection Safeguards in England. The Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) will provide protection for people aged 16 and above who are, or who need to be, deprived of their liberty in order to enable their care or treatment and lack the mental capacity to consent to their arrangements. People who might have a LPS authorisation include those with dementia, autism and learning disabilities who lack the relevant capacity. LPS will replace an existing system (the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLs)) and extend protections to more settings and people, including young people aged 16 and 17. The government has established two English implementation support programmes as follows: Local Government Implementation Support Programme; and Social Care Providers Implementation Support Programme. The government is working with the NHS in England, including Health Education England, on plans for a third implementation support programme for health.

This framework incorporates and links to a number of other competence standards, for example the National Safeguarding Competence Framework and the BIA capabilities. It is divided by staff group and is focused on what different groups need to demonstrate under each of the 5 principle areas. These statutory principles are: presumption of capacity; helping the person to make their own decision; the right to make unwise decisions; best interests; and less restriction. The MCA is relevant to any staff of any public service, whether directly delivered by statutory agencies (e.g. Local Authority, NHS, Police, Fire service, etc.) or via third sector care providers (e.g. private or charitable organisations providing health, social care or other public service support services).

SCIE’s Mental Capacity Act awareness training improves understanding for a range of health and social care staff

An objective of the London NHS Commissioner MCA Board is to support commissioners to implement MCA assurance and compliance. This resource brings together a number of tools and documents to support MCA leads to gain MCA assurance. These tools have been compiled into a toolkit for NHS MCA leads in line with the MCA compliance framework, focusing on MCA policies and procedures to provide the correct framework for staff to follow; MCA training and support to translate MCA policies and procedures into practice; and quality assurance mechanisms that check MCA processes are carried out appropriately.

This document describes the work that has taken place to raise awareness and understanding of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) across the health and care system in response to the recommendations of the House of Lords Select Committee on the Mental Capacity Act in 2014. Using case studies, the report outlines the progress made in a range of areas, including: national governance, monitoring progress, increasing awareness and implementation, digital resources, professional training, system design and partnership, system regulation, care planning, the Office of the Public Guardian, Independent Mental Capacity Advocates (IMCAs), and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS). The report shows that many localities have seized the opportunity to make real strides forward. With the establishment of the new National Mental Capacity Forum, an opportunity now exists to accelerate progress.

A resource to help health and social care staff apply learning from MCA courses to their practice. The document lists the five guiding principles; outlines some of the things care workers do every day showing they are applying the MCA; and contains a reflective log template to help staff identify when they have applied one of the 5 principles in their work.

Pre-training questions for completion prior to attending a Mental Capacity Act 2005 training session.

The purpose of this document is to highlight the quality standards expected of Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) training by NHS healthcare providers.

The purpose of this document is to outline the NHS commissioner Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) training content.

This indicator measures: staff training and organisational development to improve practice in relation to Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (8a); number of Mental Capacity Assessments (8b); and number of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards authorisations (8c).

Technical description of a Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards indicator, used at St Christopher’s, to monitor staff training levels. It measures the extent to which St Christopher’s staff are fully trained and competent in assessing mental capacity, making best interests decisions and applying the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

This poster outlines progress of an MCA project in Croydon and its positive outcomes, including engaging with GP practices, dentists and optometrists to attend MCA workshops and launching a pilot MCA self-assessment tool and Best Interests form for primary care.