Mental Capacity Act for Support Workers (1 day)
 

The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) provides a statutory framework to empower and protect people who may lack the mental capacity to provide informed consent in many areas of decision making. The Act applies to people over the age of 16.
The course will identify issues of capacity and consent and address those issues which have hitherto been questions of the ‘common law’ alone – best interests, necessity and duty of care. The training will outline the scope of the legislation, the supportive guidance and its implications for professional practice. There will be the opportunity to consolidate learning through practice scenarios.

Learning objectives:

By the end of this course participants should be able to understand:

• The essential elements of the Act.
• The statutory function of the Act to support hitherto Common Law frameworks
• The process of defining capacity
• The process of assessing capacity and the 4 stage functional assessment
• The process of assessing capacity and determining consent and making informed decisions
• Making ‘best interests’ decisions for people who lack capacity and their legal rights
• The MCA 2005 Code of practice and what it means for social workers/support workers/professional carers/family
  carers and volunteers etc.
• The process of referral in complex cases where capacity is questioned or disputed e.g. IMCA, Court of Protection.
• The roles of the new public bodies to support the MCA e.g. The Office of the Public Guardian and The New Court
  of Protection
• The role of Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) and Court Deputies and the referral process
• The process of making advance directives and statements and how to log/record these
• The impact of DoLS on social work/care practice around least restrictive practice
• The role of the IMCA with regard to Safeguarding Adults
• The new criminal Acts introduced in the MCA 2005
• The impact of self directed care (Personalisation) when working with advocates, brokers, family members holding
  an individual budget on behalf of a person who may lack capacity.

Training methods:

• Tutor presentations
• Group work
• Quiz
• Case studies
• OHP/PowerPoint presentation
• DVD presentations
• Chalk and talk
• Handouts

CP92/4.9