|Name of legislation||Mental Capacity Act 2005|
|Summary of key areas||Capacity should be assumed until proven otherwise.|
An individual cannot be said to lack capacity until all reasonable steps to support them to make a decision have been tried.
Making unwise decisions does not mean lack of capacity.
Decisions made on behalf of an individual must be done in their best interests.
Before a decision is made about an individual, the situation must be reviewed to check that the results cannot be achieved in a less restrictive way.
|Relevance to your organisation/setting||Some clients may lack capacity to make decisions in certain areas.|
|What it means for your team/organisation||Read Care Plans!|
Assume clients have the capacity to make a decision unless it is documented that they cannot.
|Actions needed to be taken by members of your team/organisation||If in doubt about a client’s capacity to makes a decision, this should be raised with senior staff or management.|
Staff should support clients to make informed decisions where they have been deemed to have capacity.
|Who else might need to know about this legislation – people who access care and support/carers?||Clients|
Client’s family and friends
|Who else does the legislation apply to?||Everybody|