The Government has recently tabled its amendments to the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill ahead of the report stage of the Bill in the House of Lords on 21st November 2018. This isn’t the amendments in their entirety but the headlines (which are a shift in the direction of the Law Commission’s original proposals) are:
- Extending the Liberty Protection Safeguards to 16 and 17 year olds
- Replacing the term “unsound mind” with “mental disorder”
- Explicitly stating that the cared-for person must be consulted with
- Explicitly stating that the cared-for person’s wishes and feelings must be considered as part of the necessary & proportionate assessment
- Requiring responsible bodies to decide if care home managers should arrange the assessments and statement or if the responsible body takes on these functions
- Requiring that assessments cannot be carried out by someone with a financial conflict of interest
- Confirmation that the responsible body arranges the pre-authorisation review
- A duty to appoint an IMCA if a person doesn’t have an ‘appropriate person’ representing them, unless it is in the person’s best interests not to have an IMCA
- Removing the requirement that a care home manager must notify the responsible body whether or not an IMCA should be appointed
- Requiring that medical and capacity assessments must be completed by those with appropriate experience and knowledge.
If you would like to keep up to date with future amendments, they can be found here.
