The final report of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act is published today.
The Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983 has set out recommendations (pdf) for the UK government on how the Act and associated practice needs to change.
It cites the work of the Mental Health & Justice project on p216 – 217:
The third confidence test is whether an assessment of decision-making capacity can bear the weight that fusion law would place upon it. The following are needed to help determine if this is the case:
…
Research into how the legal test of decision-making capacity in the MCA can be translated into practice. This should include:
- the practical implications of the legal requirement for an “impairment or
disturbance in the functioning of their mind or brain” to be the direct cause for
someone’s inability to make a decision. This research should be multidisciplinary, shaped by service users, and firmly linked to both practice and policy-makers [referencing Mental Health & Justice].
The Department of Health and Social Care has published an ‘Easy Read‘ (pdf) version of the recommendations made to government.