The first annual report by Baroness Finlay, the chair of the National Mental Capacity Forum, which provides details of the forum’s membership and its early work and achievements to implement the Mental Capacity Act. It also highlights some of the challenges raised by people implementing the Mental Capacity Act where further progress is needed. The Chair’s priorities to strengthen the implementation of the Act for the following year cover: hearing the voice of the person, improving practitioners understanding of the Mental Capacity Act, improved support for carers of people with impaired capacity, and to reduce and prevent the exploitation of vulnerable people by financial and other scams.

This document is designed to assist practitioners to begin to address the needs of consumers of financial service in vulnerable circumstances. It consolidates tips and resources gained throughout the course of the FCA’s research. The pack is geared towards firm employees tasked with the development of a vulnerable customer policy/strategy.

This page brings together documents and links related to a range of adult safeguarding areas that may assist service users and professional to understand this area. Topics covered include: the Mental Capacity Act; safeguarding vulnerable adult concerns; and reasonable adjustments.

Final report from the Law Commission’s review of the Mental Capacity and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), which considered how the law should protect people who need to be deprived of their liberty in order to receive care or treatment and lack the capacity to consent. The review found that DoLS were overly technical and legalistic, often failed to achieve any positive outcomes for the person concerned or their family, and could not deal with the increased numbers of people considered to be deprived of their liberty following the Cheshire West ruling. The report provides recommendations for the reform of the legal framework and proposes that the DoLS should be replaced by a new scheme, the Liberty Protection Safeguards. The proposed scheme would cover a broader group of people, including any setting that might give rise to a deprivation of liberty and would also cover 16 and 17-year-olds. A draft Bill attached to the report provides details of the new scheme. The draft Bill also includes amendments to other parts of the Mental Capacity Act to provide increased protection for people whose rights to respect for their private and family life and their home, whether or not they risk being deprived of their liberty. The Law Commission also recommended that the Liberty Protection Safeguards should be accompanied by the publication of a new Code of Practice covering all aspects of the Mental Capacity Act. An impact assessment and a summary of the report are published alongside the final report.

Purpose: The Mental Capacity Act (MCA, 2005) provided a new legal framework for decision-making practice in England and Wales. This study aims to explore qualitative research on practitioners’ knowledge and experiences of the MCA in health and social care settings to inform practice and policy. Design/methodology/approach: Four electronic databases and Google Scholar were searched in November 2019 for peer-reviewed, qualitative, English language studies exploring practitioners’ experiences and knowledge of the MCA in health and social care settings. Nine studies were included and appraised for methodological quality. Data were analysed using thematic synthesis. Findings: Data revealed both positive aspects and challenges of applying the MCA in practice within five main themes, namely, travelling the “grey line”, the empowering nature of the MCA, doing the assessment justice, behaviours and emotional impact and knowledge gaps and confidence. Practical implications: The fundamental principles of the MCA appear to be adhered to and embedded in practice. However, practitioners find mental capacity work remains challenging in its uncertainties. While calling for more training, they may also benefit from further MCA skills development and support to increase confidence and reduce apprehension. Originality/value: This is the first systematic review to synthesise qualitative literature on practitioners’ experiences and knowledge of the MCA. Findings offer insight into practice experiences of the MCA and provide a basis for the development of training and supervisory support.

Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs) can be a valuable source of learning to improve mental health care. In light of the government’s commitment to reform the Mental Health Act 1983, this report summarises the qualitative learning from 77 SARs published across 24 London boroughs covering the period January 2017 to November 2020. The premise of this report is that the reform of the Mental Health Act will also prompt a ‘wake up’ of the entire mental health system in London and the rest of England in which parity of social care with health care becomes the ‘new normal’. The SARs analysed for this report tell the stories of Londoners who experienced mental health problems and came to harm or died as a consequence of their condition despite having been in contact with mental health care services and others. From the rapid analysis of the SARs case clusters emerged, with similarities in the individuals’ stories and outcomes. These clusters show that there might be groups of people who require particular attention when it comes to reforming the Mental Health Act – and with it the mental health social care ‘offer’. The stories of these individuals also raise some concerns around human rights, equality and inclusion with the question: Is enough being done to protect the rights of vulnerable people with mental health problems who receive mental health social care and who may rely on social care to respect these rights? The analysis further suggests that there are two major problem areas across virtually all the cases and clusters – professional knowledge and usage of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and inter-agency working and communication.

This web page shares a marketing toolkit designed for organisations to use and raise awareness among customers and employees to spot, stop
and prevent a scam. It includes logos, brochure, banner, posters and social media.

This webinar explores what it means to get the balance right between protecting public health and respecting the human rights of vulnerable people in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance and support for staff to protect adults at risk of abuse who are receiving care in our hospitals and departments. This includes guidance on what to do when a patient lacks mental capacity (Mental Capacity Act), is being deprived of liberty in hospital (Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards), or is at risk of radicalisation (Prevent Strategy).

This guide is for utility organisations of all sizes and in all sectors including energy, water, and communications. It offers guidance on how to increase employees’ understanding of dementia and create processes and practices to make the utilities sector more accessible to people affected by dementia.

This guide is for utility organisations of all sizes and in all sectors including energy, water and communications. It offers guidance on how to increase employees’ understanding of scams and recommends processes and practices to support utility companies in preventing, spotting and stopping individuals becoming a victim of a scam.