Mental Capacity Act Nvq 5
THE FIVE STATUTORY PRINCIPLESThe five principles are outlined in the Section 1 of the Act. These are designed to protect people who lack capacity to make particular decisions, but also to maximise their ability to make decisions, or to participate in decision-making, as far as they are able to do so.
There is a lot of detail in the MCA but there are some key principles that are important to understand.
1 All adults have the right to make decisions for themselves unless it can be shown that they are unable to make them. This means that people must not assume that someone cannot make decisions for themselves just because they have a particular medical condition or disability, or because they are of a particular age or appearance.
2 Everyone should be given all the help and support they need to make a decision before anyone concludes that they cannot make their own decision. This means that everyone helping to care for someone must make an effort to provide all the necessary information in a way the person can understand and then make it easy for them to try and explain what their preferences are. This may be through different ways of communicating; for example, it may be easier for a person with learning disabilities to understand something presented with pictures, photographs, videos or tapes. A deaf person may need the information explained using sign language.
3 People are allowed to make what we might think is an unwise or eccentric decision. We cannot say because we think the decision is unwise that the person does not have the capacity to make that decision. Many people make unwise decisions but this alone does not mean that they lack capacity to make decisions for themselves.
4 Any actions taken or decisions made on behalf of someone who lacks capacity must be done in their best interests, after considering what is known about their preferences (unless they have made a relevant and valid advance decision to refuse medical treatment. It is still
There is a lot of detail in the MCA but there are some key principles that are important to understand.
1 All adults have the right to make decisions for themselves unless it can be shown that they are unable to make them. This means that people must not assume that someone cannot make decisions for themselves just because they have a particular medical condition or disability, or because they are of a particular age or appearance.
2 Everyone should be given all the help and support they need to make a decision before anyone concludes that they cannot make their own decision. This means that everyone helping to care for someone must make an effort to provide all the necessary information in a way the person can understand and then make it easy for them to try and explain what their preferences are. This may be through different ways of communicating; for example, it may be easier for a person with learning disabilities to understand something presented with pictures, photographs, videos or tapes. A deaf person may need the information explained using sign language.
3 People are allowed to make what we might think is an unwise or eccentric decision. We cannot say because we think the decision is unwise that the person does not have the capacity to make that decision. Many people make unwise decisions but this alone does not mean that they lack capacity to make decisions for themselves.
4 Any actions taken or decisions made on behalf of someone who lacks capacity must be done in their best interests, after considering what is known about their preferences (unless they have made a relevant and valid advance decision to refuse medical treatment. It is still