The Mental Capacity Act

Every day we make decisions about our lives. The ability to make decisions is called mental capacity. People may have difficulties making some decisions either all or some of the time. This could be because they lack capacity resulting from:

• Learning disability
• Dementia type illness
• Mental health problem
• Acquired brain injury
• Stroke

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 introduced a process for health boards and local authorities to assess if a person has capacity to make decisions for themselves, and a framework to protect individuals if they are deemed unable. That framework is called Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).

The Act has since been reviewed and a new Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 is due to come into force soon. It will introduce a new framework called Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS).

The new safeguards will still protect the individual but make the process simpler.