Assessment of mental capacity: a flow chart guide

Abstract

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 provides a new legal framework within which health and social care professionals (as well as informal carers) must act when providing care and treatment for the estimated 2 million people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who lack the capacity to make certain decisions for themselves. Although the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of Practice provides comprehensive advice on good practice in assessing capacity, it does not identify a specific process to be used. Good clinical practice depends on the exercise of clinical judgement within a valid and contestable process. This article outlines a flow chart (Fig. 1) that can be used to guide the process of capacity assessments in more complex cases, in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Code of Practice.