Mental Health Law Review turns to capacity assessments

The Scottish Mental Health Law Review (SMHLR) has commissioned a review of how capacity and significantly impaired decision making are assessed by practitioners and clinicians.

Chaired by John Scott QC, the SMHLR's remit includes consideration of

• how far capacity might be a universal threshold for compulsory measures under both mental health and incapacity law;
• how capacity and significantly impaired decision making are assessed by clinicians and practitioners; and
• how to maximise a person’s ability to make decisions for themselves under mental health and incapacity law, including provision of support for decision making.

The current work focuses on the second of these bullet points. Practitioners are invited to offer their views by way of a questionnaire. The reviewer is Sandra McDonald, the former Public Guardian, who is also able to take responses verbally and can be contacted by email at sandra@ex-pg.com.

This exercise is running alongside the broader consultation being run by SMHLR (see this link), and closes on the same date, 29 May 2020. Email responses should be sent to Sandra McDonald at the above address.