people who cannot make some decisions and have lost their
TRANSCRIPT
People who cannot make somedecisions and have lost their liberty
What we think so far
An EasyRead version ofThe Law Commission Mental Capacity and Deprivationof Liberty: Interim Statement
What is in this paper page
What this paper is about 1
Why we looked at the law 4
What is protective care? 5
Finding out what people think 12
The main things people told us 14
What we think so far 19
What is in this paper page
Hard words 24
Some words in this paper can be difficult to understand. Theyare printed in bold, then put into easy English at the back.
1
What this paper is about
The Law Commission wrote this report.
We look at laws and tell the government ifwe think they need to change.
This paper is about changes to the law forpeople who cannot make some decisions.
Being able to make a particular decision orchoice at a particular time is called havingcapacity.
A law called the Mental Capacity Act sayswhat must happen if you do not havecapacity.
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You might have to stay somewhere to gettreatment or to keep yourself or otherpeople safe.
If this happens, you lose your liberty.
Liberty means being able to go where youwant, with the people you want, when youwant.
In the Mental Capacity Act there are rulesfor people who lose their liberty.
The rules protect people who need to staysomewhere because it is the best thing forthem.
Last year we asked people what theythought about our ideas for changes tothe rules.
3
This is not our final report. It says what wethink so far.
We will give our final report to thegovernment before the end of 2016. Theywill look at our ideas and decide what todo.
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Why we looked at the law
In 1997 a man with learning disabilitiesand autism was being cared for inhospital.
His carers said he should be allowed to gohome but the hospital did not agree.
A court decided the hospital had brokenthe law and the government made rulesto stop this happening again. These rulesare the Deprivation of LibertySafeguards.
People said the rules are difficult to use.
We thought the law needed to change.We called the new rules protective care.
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What was protective care?
Protective care must make life better foryou. It was not just about keeping yousafe.
It would be for people:
● over 16 years old
with a learning disability
or who have problems rememberingand get confused – like dementia.
There were 3 main parts of protectivecare:
1. Supportive care
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●?
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2. Restrictive care and treatment
3. Protective care in hospitals.
1. Supportive care
This would protect people who cannotmake some decisions about where to livefor care or treatment.
It was for when you live in or move into:
●
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a care home
supported living
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● a shared lives home.
It would protect your rights if you need tolive somewhere that takes away yourliberty.
The council must do a proper assessmentto find out what you need. They mustcheck your health and care.
The NHS and council must say how theymade decisions for you.
You should have an advocate if you wantone to help you be involved in decisions.
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2. Restrictive care and treatment
Restrictive care was like the old rules.
It would keep you safe if you lose yourliberty when you live in:
a care home
supported living
a shared lives home
An approved professional (the ApprovedMental Capacity Professional) would be incharge of assessments to find out whatyou need. They would decide what canhappen to you and check you are treatedwell.
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If you have to lose your liberty this mustbe put in your care plan.
The approved professional must say thishas been done properly.
You, your advocate or family can ask acourt to decide if you think you should notlose your liberty.
3. Protective care in hospitals
This would protect people who cannotagree to stay in hospital for treatmentthey need.
If you have to lose your liberty to get thetreatment you would have protective care.
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28 daysYou can only lose your liberty for 28 days.Then an approved professional mustassess you to see what you need.
Protective care must go in your care plan.Everyone in protective care needs anadvocate.
Other changes
We thought the Mental Health Actneeded some changes to deal with mentalhealth patients who lose their liberty.
At the moment coroners have to look intothings if anyone dies while they have losttheir liberty.
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A coroner looks at why someone died ifthere are any worries about their death.
We thought this should not happen ifsomeone dies of an illness or somethingelse that is normal.
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Finding out what people think
We asked people in England and Walesabout these ideas.
We had different meetings and eventsand spoke to:
● patients
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people who use services
families
people who work in health and socialcare services
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people who study health and socialcare
lawyers
organisations that check services
charities
groups that want to make care better.
Thank you to everyone who got involved.
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The main things people told us
Paying for the changes
A lot of people said the NHS and councilshave less money and cannot cope withwhat they have to do at the moment.
They thought the changes would meanmore work and some people might not getthe support they need. They thoughtprotective care would cost too muchmoney.
Protective care
People thought protective care wouldprotect people wherever they live or gettreatment.
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Many people thought protective carewould:
● give people the chance to live good,healthy lives
make sure everyone understands whatis important to the person
make it quicker and easier for peopleto get the right treatment
make it easier for people, their familiesor carers to ask a court if they thinkyou should not lose your liberty
think about what is important to theperson as well as keeping them safe.
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Supportive care and restrictive careand treatment
A lot of people liked the different stages tomake sure people do not always lose theirliberty.
Some people thought this might makethings more confusing or expensive.
They felt it was important to involve thecourts in everything.
Protective care in hospitals.
Most people thought it was good to have aseparate way of working for hospitals.
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But hospital staff must understand anduse the law properly if social workers donot check what they do.
The Mental Health Act
Most people agreed with the changes formental health patients who lose theirliberty.
They said the law is confusing at themoment.
Some people were worried that changesmight mean patients lose their right tohave care when they leave hospital.
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Coroners
Most people agreed that coroners shouldnot be involved for everyone who dieswhile they have lost their liberty.
People said this can upset families andmake lots of extra work for the police andcoroners.
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What we think so far
People agree the law needs to change tosupport people better when they cannotmake some decisions.
We know the system is not working well.
Services cannot cope with everyone wholoses their liberty.
Some people were worried that it will costtoo much money to make the changes.
We understand that services have lessmoney but we think it is important to:
● keep people safe
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make sure the person and their familyhave all their rights protected
have the right to an advocate.
Because of this, we think the governmentshould not carry out all our ideas forprotective care.
We think the changes should:
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keep people safe when they lose theirliberty
use care plans to make sure people getthe right care and treatment
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mean the NHS or council must say whythe person should lose their liberty
say the person should have anadvocate or someone to help themspeak up
use assessments that have alreadybeen done to find out what the personneeds, not do lots of new assessments
think about whether some peopleneed extra support from a approvedprofessional when they lose theirliberty
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not have a different way to work forhospitals
not make as many changes to theMental Health Act
make changes so coroners do not lookinto every death when a person haslost their liberty.
We are still thinking about the best way tomake it easy for people, their families orcarers to ask a court or tribunal if theythink you should not lose your liberty.
People said we need a better name for thenew way of working.
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The favourite name was ‘LibertySafeguards’ and people also liked‘Capacity Safeguards’. But we have notdecided on a new name.
Please tell us if you have an idea for a newname.
Email your idea to:[email protected]
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Hard words
Approved Mental Capacity Professional (or approvedprofessional) – the person in charge of assessments for peoplewho lose their liberty.
Assessment – when a person finds out if the protective carerules apply to you.
Capacity – being able to make a particular decision or choice ata particular time.
Coroner – a person who looks at why someone died if there areany worries about their death.
Liberty – means being able to go where you want, with thepeople you want, when you want.
Protective care - our ideas for new way of caring for people whohave lost their liberty.
Shared lives - when a person who needs support lives with afamily and pays them rent.
Tribunal – a group of legal and non-legal experts who help tostop people being treated unfairly.
The Making it Easier Group,making it easy with LeadingLives.
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