Mental Capacity Act and covid-19 vaccination: the court’s approach so far

There have, to my knowledge, been 2 reported cases on this issue so far: E (Vaccine) [2021] EWCOP 7 and SD v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea [2021] EWCOP 14 Initially, I wasn’t planning on talking about this subject. Primarily because for those of us in local authority this is not really high onContinue reading “Mental Capacity Act and covid-19 vaccination: the court’s approach so far”

A return to the problem of ‘unco-operative patients’

I have written before about the difficulties I have encountered in practice in relation to individuals who do not co-operate with those trying to provide care and support. It’s causing particular issues with one of my cases this week, so I thought I would share. UP has a diagnosis of Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder andContinue reading “A return to the problem of ‘unco-operative patients’”

DP v Hillingdon and the issue that may or may not be

If you practice in this area of law, or work with people who do, you’ll have heard of this case, because it has set a lot of hares running in a number of cases. If you don’t, then you might not have given this case much thought unless your local authority legal team sends bulletinsContinue reading “DP v Hillingdon and the issue that may or may not be”

Back to work and routine

Contrary to popular belief, my team and I do not get the whole festive period off. There are certainly some places where solicitors shut up shop for 2 weeks. But not those of us that work in social care. In fact, December and January are often our busiest periods. After all, nothing triggers a mentalContinue reading “Back to work and routine”

A response to the government’s Christmas present to us all

Just a quick post today that as far as I can tell, the provisions enabling respite that I referred to in my previous post about those in supported accommodation visiting family during the pandemic continue in the latest iteration of the coronavirus regulations in all tiers (even tier 4). My previous post is here. SoContinue reading “A response to the government’s Christmas present to us all”

The dangers of capacity assessment shopping

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”

Coronavirus lockdown: do all planned visits to family homes have to stop?

The answer, in short is, in my opinion, no. However, there are a number of issues to consider before a weekend with the family, or some formal respite, is supported. In this post, I’ll talk about 3 big issues, 2 legal, 1 practical. But before we get started, I just want to detail the kindContinue reading “Coronavirus lockdown: do all planned visits to family homes have to stop?”

Visiting in care homes

This continues to be a hot topic, understandably. And pressure seems to be mounting, with an overdue policy shift towards enabling visits beginning to develop. And rightly so. A ban for a few weeks was one thing, but it’s been months now, and there is no real end in sight. So this post will talkContinue reading “Visiting in care homes”

Human rights and the Coronavirus Act 2020

If you haven’t seen it yet, the Joint Committee on Human Rights has published a report exploring the human rights implications of the Coronavirus Act 2020 and its available here. It makes for interesting reading, and if you are the kind of nerd I am, then I do encourage you to read it. If not,Continue reading “Human rights and the Coronavirus Act 2020”

Revised MCA covid-19 guidance published

Last week, the government published its updated guidance on application on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards during the pandemic. I read this over the weekend (no, I don’t have anything better to do!). If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s here. It doesn’t look to me like a huge amountContinue reading “Revised MCA covid-19 guidance published”