I’d like to talk about what happens when you’ve got a capacity assessment that doesn’t match up with the frontline professionals’ views. This has come up for me, most recently, in the context of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards but it can come up in other contexts too. I’d also like to reflect on whatContinue reading “The dangers of capacity assessment shopping”
Category Archives: Ways of working
Making the best use of in-house legal teams
I want to talk today about valuing your legal team, and how legal teams can adapt their ways of working to be more valuable. Because in private practice, lawyers are working in an open market. If they don’t attract clients, and deliver high quality services, then their income dries up. In-house lawyers don’t have toContinue reading “Making the best use of in-house legal teams”
Social care and health care joint working arrangements – what can go wrong
This post discusses a case example from my practice, suitably anonymised, where the local authority and NHS Clinical Commissioning Group should be working together to support a hospital discharge for an incapacitated adult, but that, to date, hasn’t quite worked out. Safety warning: I do work for the local authority here, so I’ll try toContinue reading “Social care and health care joint working arrangements – what can go wrong”
Burn out, fatigue and a hypothetical fresh start
It may (or may not) surprise you to learn that whilst a large number of people study law each year, a fairly small proportion of those people actually have careers in law. And an even smaller proportion actually end up as qualified solicitors or barristers, but it’s true. Using just my own experience, I wouldContinue reading “Burn out, fatigue and a hypothetical fresh start”
A day in the life of: lawyer in lockdown
Like many organisations, we are still working from home as much as possible. Our legal team have been told that we should expect to be one of the last to return to the office because we are doing ‘so well’ from home. Now I would dispute that analysis, given how fragmented the team has become,Continue reading “A day in the life of: lawyer in lockdown”
When everything hinges on a capacity assessment
I want to talk to you today about an issue that I am coming up against more and more at the moment in my day to day practice. Let’s refer to it as the ‘unco-operative patient’ issue. I am finding this to be a particular issue in personality disorder cases, where mental illness and personalityContinue reading “When everything hinges on a capacity assessment”
A massive relief when training goes to plan
Today I delivered some virtual training on analytical thinking as a practice skill for Best Interests Assessors and practitioners more generally for a lovely group of our in-house BIAs. This was the brain child of our DoLS manager and I and had been causing me no small amount of concern. Because I’ve never delivered skillsContinue reading “A massive relief when training goes to plan”
Mental Health Awareness Week
It is, I believe, Mental Health Awareness week. Whilst the purpose of this blog is largely to address legal issues, I am aware that none of those issues occur in a vacuum. Being a professional does not make us immune to emotion and stress, however much we wish it did sometimes. And working in theContinue reading “Mental Health Awareness Week”
Assessments, but do them remotely
So with the recent announcement that social distancing is likely to continue in one form or another for a while, we are all having to get used to ways of working more remotely. Remote assessments have been approved, in principle, by the government in the guidance on the MCA/DoLS that is available here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-looking-after-people-who-lack-mental-capacity. TheContinue reading “Assessments, but do them remotely”
Knowing what you bring to the table
Bear with me here, this might get a bit cheesy, but I think the message is important. I want to talk about how we get by, working in teams across different disciplines. Because that in itself is an important skill. So we are going to talk about planning a metaphorical dinner party. The first thingContinue reading “Knowing what you bring to the table”