Let’s talk about court processes: part 4 – concluding proceedings

The, rather delayed, final post in my series on Court of Protection processes looking at the conclusion of proceedings.

LPS implementation delayed – I hate to say I told you so…

For any of you that missed it, it has been announced today that the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 will not be implemented until April 2022. If you’ve read my previous post about all of the work local authorities still need to do to be ready for the implementation, you’ll not be surprised. If youContinue reading “LPS implementation delayed – I hate to say I told you so…”

Let’s talk about court process: part 3 – hearings

In case you missed them, parts 1 and 2 of my posts about court process follow the same case study and you might want to go back to follow the story through. But now we get to the juicy bit that most people want to know about: court hearings. Don’t get too excited though, orContinue reading “Let’s talk about court process: part 3 – hearings”

Let’s talk about court processes: part 2 – ongoing proceedings

Let’s return to our example of P. At the end of my last post, we had got as far as the application being made, mum being notified of this, and a hearing date being set. So now what? Well the Official Solicitor will have to consider the papers and decide whether or not to acceptContinue reading “Let’s talk about court processes: part 2 – ongoing proceedings”

Let’s talk about court processes: part 1 – making the application

The headline from my series on court process is that the court of protection is not like the courts you see in TV dramas. As a side note, in my career I’ve not seen much evidence that any real court is much like the ones we see on TV but this is especially true forContinue reading “Let’s talk about court processes: part 1 – making the application”

Ordinary residence: the process

This is the third post in my overview series about ordinary residence. I’ve gone over the basics, and outlined some of the problem areas, so now I want to talk about the process i.e. How we actually go about resolving these disputes. I have said it before and I will say it again: this isContinue reading “Ordinary residence: the process”

DoLS, Ferreira and COVID-19

I have been meaning to write this post for a while and just when I was ready to share it, the government updated their MCA guidance in relation to the coronavirus. If you haven’t read it, it is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-looking-after-people-who-lack-mental-capacity As it turns out, I’m glad they did update the guidance, because the additionalContinue reading “DoLS, Ferreira and COVID-19”

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”

Tensions around hospital discharge

Hospital discharge arrangements are often a cause for tension or dispute. This won’t be a surprise to anyone who has had to get involved in these cases. And it’s understandable that this will occur, there are a lot of competing interests involved. For example, pressure on hospital beds are a big driver on NHS TrustContinue reading “Tensions around hospital discharge”