Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

BARONESS FINLAY

The act is there to empower people to make decisions and support them when their capacity for making decisions is impaired. It means that you have to look at what that individual needs, and it is specific to a decision at a specific time. It's not a blanket judgement of their mental capacity.

The five principles of the act underpin the whole act. I think it's easiest to remember them with the five fingers of your hand. First of all, presume somebody has capacity unless you can prove that they don't Secondly, remember people might need support to make a decision.

They might need their hearing aid in, be in a quiet environment, not be tired, not be frightened. Might need their glasses on. Might need things simply explained. And thirdly, remember, that's the one peaking up-- that people can take unwise decisions. We all take unwise decisions sometimes, but we have capacity to do it. But when somebody lacks capacity the fourth and the fifth come in, and that is really awesome power in your hand.

The fourth one is when you take its best interest in behalf of that person. Think what they would want as the decision. Get all the information you can. Consult people. And when you make that decision, the fifth one is it should be the less restrictive option. You cannot keep people under your thumb, even if it's easier for you.

The forum is aimed to bring together people who got a particular interest in improving the application of the Mental Capacity Act everywhere across all sectors. That's not just health and social care. That's in finance sectors, in banking, in shops, everywhere across society. But it also is aimed to not stigmatise people, decrease the fear of the Mental Capacity Act, and help people realise that it applies to all of us in society when we're faced with somebody who lacks capacity for a particular decision.

So we welcome anyone who is working to disseminate and improve the application of the Mental Capacity Act. The information on the forum is logged on the Sky website. And there is a specific section on mental capacity. That's a really good video on there. There's resources on there for people to draw down on, and they can find a link there and register that they are interested in being involved in the mental capacity forum