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National Conference

Assisted Decision Making- Challenges and Opportunities for health and social care professionals

February 22nd 2016

Hogan Suite, Croke Park, Dublin

10.00 a.m. – 4.00 p.m.

Background:

The Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act was passed by the Oireachtas on Thursday 17th of

December 2015. This Act applies to everyone and has relevance for all health and social care

services.

Key features of the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act:

It applies to everyone and to all health and social care settings.

It provides for the individual’s right of autonomy and self-determination to be respected

through an Enduring Power of Attorney and an Advance Healthcare Directive – made

when a person has capacity to come into effect when they may lack decision-making

capacity.

It provides for legally recognised decision-makers to support a person maximise their

decision making powers.

It places a legal requirement on service providers to comprehensively enable a person

make a decision through the provision of a range of supports and information

appropriate to their condition.

It abolishes the Wards of Court system.

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It provides for a review of all existing wards to either discharge them fully or to

transition those who still need assistance to the new structure.

It repeals the Lunacy regulations governing the Ward of Court system.

It establishes a Decision Support Service with clearly defined functions which will include

the promotion of public awareness relating to the exercise of capacity by persons who

may require assistance in exercising their capacity.

The Director of the Decision Support Service will have the power to investigate

complaints in relation to any action by a decision-maker in relation to their functions as

such decision-maker.

Health and Social Care context:

The Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act will have significant implications for health and social

care providers in the provision of safe person-centred care based on respecting the individual rights

of each person. In response to these implications the HSE is establishing a National Assisted

Decision Making Steering Group to develop a programmatic response to the legislation to ensure

effective compliance and implementation. This group will be established by the end of February

2016 and will be supported by an Independent Chair. One of the principle roles of this steering group

is to develop a code of practice applicable to the health and social care context and to input into the

development of other codes through the Decision Support Service (a new service to be established

under the Act) and Department of Health. Other roles include:

The development an Assisted Decision Making (ADM) education and training

implementation plan for health and social care services

The development of an ADM information and communications plan for health and social

care services

The development of an Advanced Healthcare Directive Implementation plan for health

and social care services

Conference 2016

This conference is being organised through the HSE Quality Improvement Division on February 22nd

2016 in Croke Park, Dublin to create an awareness of the Act, its implications, challenges and

opportunities for health and social care professionals. The Conference is aimed at managers and

staff who are involved in planning, managing or delivering services to patients, service users or

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clients across health and social care settings. It brings together key Irish and UK experts to inform

staff and managers about the legislation and to explore the impact this Act will have on current

practice

Conference Details:

10.00 a.m. Welcome, Opening statement, Chair of morning session- Dr. Philip Crowley, HSE

National Director, Quality Improvement Division

10.10 a.m. Key note speaker- Ms. Patricia Rickard-Clarke, Solicitor, Former Law Reform

Commissioner and Chair of the National Advisory Committee of Sage (Support and

Advocacy for Older People)

11.10 a.m. Questions

11.30 a.m. Coffee break

11. 45a.m. Key note speaker- Dr. Siobhán O’Sullivan, Chief Bioethics Officer, Department of

Health

12.15 p.m. Questions

12.30 p.m. Implications of the legislation for service users, service providers and families-

perspectives:

Mervyn Taylor, Manager, Sage -Support and Advocacy for Older People

Paddy Connolly, CEO and Sarah Lennon, Training and Development Officer,

Inclusion Ireland

Dr. David Robinson, Consultant Physician in Geriatric Medicine, St. James

Hospital , Dublin

12.50 p.m. Questions, Comments

1.00 p.m. Dr. Philip Crowley- Closing remarks

1.05 p.m.- 2.00 p.m. Lunch

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2.00 p.m. Opening remarks- Ms. Justice Catherine McGuinness, retired Judge of the Supreme

Court of Ireland and Chair of the Forum on End of Life of the Irish Hospice

Foundation

2.10 p.m. Key note speaker- The Hon. Mr. Justice Baker, Judge of the High Court of Justice

(Family Division) England and Wales

3.00 p.m. Panel Discussion and questions from the floor with Ms. Patricia Rickard-Clarke, Dr.

Siobhán O’Sullivan, The Hon. Mr. Justice Baker, Mr. Paddy Connolly and Ms. Sarah

Lennon, Inclusion Ireland, Dr. Rosarie McCarthy, National Disability Authority , Ms.

Patricia Gilheaney, Chief Executive, Mental Health Commission, Dr. David Robinson,

Consultant Physician facilitated by Ms. Justice Catherine McGuinness

3.50 p.m. Closing remarks- Ms. Justice Catherine McGuinness

4.00 p.m. Close

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Biographies of speakers and contributors:

The Honourable Mr. Justice Baker

Mr. Justice Baker was appointed as a High Court judge assigned to the Family Division in November

2009. In April 2011, he was appointed Family Division Liaison Judge for the Western Circuit. In that

capacity he has been heavily engaged in the creation of the single family court. He also sits in the

Court of Protection and is currently involved in the regionalisation of the work of that court. Since

his appointment, he has delivered reported judgments on many topics including care proceedings,

international child abduction, surrogacy, mental capacity and medical treatment. He is the Editor-in-

Chief of the Court of Protection Law Reports.

Prior to his appointment, as Jonathan Baker QC, he was a leading member of the Family Bar with a

particular interest in the law relating to children. He was called to the Bar in 1978 and was a member

of Harcourt Chambers for 29 years. He took silk in 2001 and was elected Head of Chambers in 2004.

During his career at the Bar, he appeared in many reported cases, culminating in Re I, the first family

case in the Supreme Court and his last case at the Bar.

Mr. Paddy Connolly

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Mr. Paddy Connolly is Chief Executive Officer of Inclusion Ireland. He has twenty years experience in

management in the private and voluntary sectors. Prior to Inclusion Ireland Paddy served for 14

years as the Chief Executive Officer of Cairde, a HSE funded not-for-profit organisation which

developed rights-based approaches to ethnic minority health inequalities. He has detailed

knowledge and experience in managing organisational change; managing conflict in organisations;

human resource management; managing uncertainty; strategic management; and the Irish political

and policy system.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Management and a Masters in International Relations. He is also

certified in workplace, commercial, family mediation and is a certified conflict coach. He has worked

as a mediator and conflict resolution specialist.

As part of All Hallows/DCU management programmes Paddy developed and delivered a change

leadership programme which aimed to connect systems thinking with change leadership taking

cognisance of the unconscious processes at play in the workplace. The programme aimed to support

leaders in the community & not-for-profit sector to develop their strategic leadership capacity so

that the organisations they lead can drive progressive change.

Dr. Philip Crowley

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Dr. Philip Crowley is National Director of Quality Improvement with the HSE since January 2011.

Philip is a doctor who trained in General Practice and then worked for five years in Nicaragua,

Central America developing chronic disease care programmes and working with grassroots

community organisations in health development. He then worked in the NHS in Newcastle upon

Tyne and worked with marginalised communities, professional groups and the health service to

tackle health inequalities. He has trained in public health medicine and has worked for 6 years

as Deputy Chief Medical Officer with the Department of Health and Children until taking up his

current post. Philip continues to work as a GP part-time in an inner city Dublin practice.

Ms. Patricia Gilheaney

Ms. Patricia Gilheaney was appointed Chief Executive in October 2011 following a period as Interim

Chief Executive since December 2010.

She joined the Commission as the first Director of Standards and Quality Assurance in October 2003

and led the development and implementation of the regulatory system for mental health services in

accordance with Part 5 of the Mental Health Act 2001 (‘the 2001 Act’). This included the

development of the first set of national safety and quality standards for mental health services in

Ireland entitled A Quality Framework for Mental Health Services in Ireland in accordance with the

Commission’s mandate under Part 3 of the 2001 Act ; Rules for specific interventions as laid down in

Parts 4 and 6 of the 2001 Act and Codes of Practice for the guidance of persons working in mental

health services.

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Patricia has contributed to the development of the national mental health policy Vision for Change

(2006) and Connecting for Life, the National Strategy to Reduce Suicide 2015-2020. She was a

ministerial appointee to membership of the Expert Group established to review the Mental Health

Act 2001.

Ms. Sara Lennon

Ms. Sarah Lennon is the training and development officer with Inclusion Ireland. Sarah

Lennon’s educational background is in law and equality studies with training and assessor

qualifications. Sarah has worked for many years in the areas of disability, equality and social

and legislative change. Sarah has worked with Inclusion Ireland since 2006 and prior to that

time she worked in vocational training for people with disabilities. Inclusion Ireland’s

campaigning work relating to capacity and decision making legislation has dominated

Sarah’s work to date and she led it’s campaigning work in that area. Sarah has worked on

Inclusion Ireland’s training work and authored information booklets such as the popular

‘Who Decides & How; Making Medical Decisions’.

Dr. Rosarie McCarthy

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Dr. Rosarie McCarthy is a Senior Policy and Public Affairs Advisor at the National Disability

Authority (NDA). The National Disability Authority is an independent statutory body

established to provide information and advice to the Government on policy and practice

impacting on the lives of people with disabilities. The NDA strategic priorities include a

specific focus on the inclusion of people with disabilities in mainstream society and to have

a valued role in the community. Rosarie has worked for a number of years in the area of

assisted decision-making and has been the lead in developing and providing NDA advice to

the Department of Justice & Equality in this area.

Ms. Justice Catherine McGuinness

Ms. Justice Catherine McGuinness is a former judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland and

former President of the Law Reform Commission. During the 1980s she represented Dublin

University (Trinity College) in Seanad Eireann. At present she is a member of the Council of

State and is Cathaoirleach of Údarás na hOllscoile Gaillimh (NUIG). She is also Adjunct

Professor of Law in NUI Galway.

Catherine was born in Belfast and educated there and in Dublin. She was called to the bar in

1977 and to the Inner Bar in 1989. She was the first woman judge to be appointed to the

Circuit Court bench in 1994. She has been a member of a number of State and public

boards. She led the Kilkenny Incest Inquiry and was a leader in the movement for the

constitutional rights of children. At present she is Patron of the Irish Foster carers’

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Association and of the Irish Refugee Council, and Chair of the End of Life Council. She was

for many years a member of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland and is Chancellor of

the Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough. She is a Trustee of the Irish School of Ecumenics.

She has honorary degrees from National University of Ireland, Dublin University (Trinity

College), the University of Ulster and HETAC. Her main outside interest is choral singing and

she has been a long-term member of the Culwick Choral Society.

Dr. Siobhán O’Sullivan

Dr. Siobhán O' Sullivan is the Chief Bioethics Officer at the Department of Health and is responsible

for drafting policy advice and legislative instruments on bioethics related issues. From 2002-2010,

Dr. O’Sullivan was Director of the Irish Council for Bioethics, an independent and autonomous body

to consider the ethical issues raised by developments in science and medicine. She is currently a

member of European Group on Ethics in Science & New Technologies, an independent,

multidisciplinary body advising the European Commission in connection with Community legislation

or policies. She is designated representative of the Irish Government to the Council of Europe

Committee on Bioethics (DH-BIO) and former member of the Bureau of the DH-BIO (2012-2014).

She is a member of the National Living Donor Ethics Committee, responsible for drafting the Ethical

Framework for living organ donation in Ireland. She was a member of the steering committee for

Transposition of EU Directive 2010/45/EU on Quality of Organs for Transplant in Ireland. She has also

served on the Irish National Advisory Committee for the National Organ Donation and

Transplantation Office. She is a former member of the Advisory Council for Science, Technology and

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Innovation, the Irish Government’s high-level advisory body on Science, Technology and Innovation

(STI) policy issues. She received her Doctor of Medicine from Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm in 1998

and hold a Masters in Healthcare Ethics and law.

Ms. Patricia Rickard-Clarke

Ms. Patricia Rickard-Clarke is a solicitor and former Commissioner of the Law Reform Commission.

She is Chair of the Law Society’s Mental Health and Capacity Task Force and Chair of the Third AGE’s

National Advisory Council, SAGE, Support and Advocacy Service for Older People. She has recently

been appointed the independent chair of the National Inter-Sectoral Committee for Safeguarding

Vulnerable Adults. She is a member of the Council of the Hospice Foundation and of its Think Ahead

Project Advisory Group of the Forum on End of Life and a member of the Council of the Royal

College of Physicians of Ireland.

Over the years she has contributed to a number of national and international publications, the latest

being a contribution of the Irish section on International Protection of Adults which was published by

Oxford University Press in 2015.

Dr. David Robinson

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Dr. David Robinson is a consultant geriatrician in St James' Hospital, Dublin. He is also a

senior lecturer at Trinity College, Dublin and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of

Ireland. He graduated from Trinity College, Dublin in 1996 and completed his basic and

specialist training in Queensland, Australia and the South Dublin Geriatric Training Scheme.

He was the first Watts Clinical Fellow in the Mercer's Institute for Research on Ageing where

his MD thesis examined vitamin B12 deficiency and its relevance to falls and cognition. He

undertook a Masters in Healthcare Ethics and Law which examined the ethics of the Fair

Deal legislation. He also has an interest in comprehensive geriatric assessment in the acute

setting.

Mr. Mervyn Taylor

Mr. Mervyn Taylor is the Manager of Sage – Support & Advocacy Service for Older People.

Mervyn was Director of M.S. Ireland, CEO of the MS Care Foundation, Manager of Planning &

Organisation with the National Social Service Board (now Citizens Information Board), and European

Development Manager for a consortium of IT companies. From 2006 – 2012, Mervyn was Manager

of the Hospice Friendly Hospitals (HFH) Programme and from 2009 was Project Manager for the

Forum on End of Life and of its flagship project ‘Think Ahead’. He also managed the pilot project for

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the HFH Programme at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, from 2004-2006, which won a

Taoiseach’s Public Service Excellence Award. Mervyn holds a BA and MSc (Community Health) from

Trinity College Dublin, has studied Creativity & Innovation with the Open University and Leadership

with Cranfield University School of Management.