Capacity to protect — the Mental Capacity Act explained
| Pages | 25-32 |
| Date | 01 March 2007 |
| Published date | 01 March 2007 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14668203200700004 |
| Author | Toby Williamson |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Sociology |
The Journal of Adult Protection Volume 9 Issue 1 • March 2007 ©Pavilion Publishing (Journals) Limited 25
key words
mental capacity
assessing capacity (or
assessment of capacity)
best interests
safeguards
planning ahead
implementation
abstract
2007 marks a major step
forward in the history of adult
protection with the implementation
of the Mental Capacity Act in
England and Wales. Understandably,
debates about adult protection have
usually focused on the more obvious
types of abuse – sexual, physical,
financial and emotional. The Mental
Capacity Act addresses a much
wider issue of abuse where a
person’s right to make their own
decisions, and to have proper
safeguards and protection if
decisions need making on their
behalf, is overridden or ignored.This
article gives an overview of the
Mental Capacity Act and its
relevance to the files of
adult protection.
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Introduction
Sadly, the history of care and treatment provided to people
who either permanently or temporarily lacked the mental
capacity to make decisions for themselves, such as people with
learning disabilities, people with mental health problems, and
people with dementia, contains many examples of how a
diagnosis or disability has been used to prevent them from
making even simple decisions for themselves. In addition,
wheresomeone genuinely could not make a decision for
themself, for example, consenting to medical treatment, their
needs might be ignored altogether or only catered for in the
most basic of ways. Institutional ‘care’ in the old Victorian
asylums, and the practices it resulted in for much of the 20th
century
,provide many examples of how people with these
conditions were treated this way. Some of these practices
continued even after the closure of these asylums when more
individualised, community-based carewas introduced, as
some well-meaning professionals and families remained over-
protective of individuals who they believed were not safe or
able to make decisions about how they lived their lives.
However, in the absence of any clear legal framework, there
were also a number of other problems. There were no
safeguards or protections for severely disabled people who
were extremely restricted in their mental capacity to make
decisions and needed most decisions to be made on their
behalf. Health and social care professionals and staff were
often confused about what they could and couldn’tdo in
relation to providing care and treatment to people who lacked
the capacity to consent, often resulting in poor practice or
neglect. Family carers had no legal right to be consulted about
decisions made on behalf of a family member who lacked
Capacity to protect –
the Mental Capacity Act
explained Toby Williamson
Stakeholder and Communications Manager,
Mental Capacity Implementation Programme,
Department for Constitutional Affairs
paper
Policy
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