Journal
BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY
Volume 195, Issue 3, Pages 257-263Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1192/bjp.bp.108.059782
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health
- King's College London
- South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
- National Institute for Health Research [NF-SI-0507-10088] Funding Source: researchfish
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Background in England and Wales mental health services need to take account of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Mental Health Act 1983. The overlap between these two causes dilemmas for clinicians. Aims To describe the frequency and characteristics of patients who fall into two potentially anomalous groups: those who are not detained but lack mental capacity; and those who are detained but have mental capacity. Method Cross-sectional study of 200 patients admitted to psychiatric wards. we assessed mental capacity using a semi-structured interview, the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Treatment (MacCAT-T). Results Of the in-patient sample, 24% were informal but lacked capacity: these patients felt more coerced and had greater levels of treatment refusal than informal participants with capacity. People detained under the Mental Health Act with capacity comprised a small group (6%) that was hard to characterise. Conclusions Our data suggest that psychiatrists in England and Wales need to take account of the Mental Capacity Act, and in particular best interests judgments and deprivation of liberty safeguards, more explicitly than is perhaps currently the case.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available