The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) describes itself thus: “A leading improvement support agency and an independent charity working with adults’, families’ and children’s care and support services across the UK. It raise its funds by bidding for work from government departments and organisations, and delivering commercial services including training, consultancy, research and evaluation”.
In recent years, the SCIE’s role as a commissioned agent for those government departments has become more conspicuous and important. It is for example currently working with the Dept of Health to support implementation of the Care Act 2014 reforms, including changes to ‘safeguarding, advocacy, assessment and eligibility, and prevention’. A tranche of new material has just appeared on the SCIE website on how it aims to improve awareness and implementation of the Mental Capacity Act.
On 13 March 2014, the House of Lords Select Committee on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) published its Mental Capacity Act 2005: post-legislative scrutiny report, celebrating the ethos and achievements of the MCA, but calling for awareness and implementation of it to be extended. The Government’s response, ‘Valuing every voice, respecting every right: Making the case for the Mental Capacity Act’ was published in June 2014, and among its commitments to promote use of the MCA was the commission to SCIE to collate, review and share good quality tools and information about the MCA.
The MCA Directory is the outcome of that commission. It contains material about all aspects of the MCA, including resources about the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.
The material was gathered by SCIE researchers, or submitted to us as a result of a call for information via our website and newsletter. Once gathered, the information was quality assured by an expert panel. The panel consists of representatives from the Department of Health, NHS England, SCIE, The College of Social Work, the Office of the Public Guardian, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), London Councils, Compassion in Dying, the Housing Learning and Improvement Network, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), Skills for Care, and RUILS, a south-west London charity led by people who use social care services. The panel also included expert solicitors and trainers acting in an independent capacity.Each panel member reviewed material related to their area of expertise, against the criteria of whether the material was accurate and up to date, always recognising that material produced several years ago can still meet those criteria. Especially good material has been highlighted throughout the Directory.
On its website, the SCIE makes the following appeal:
“The Directory will always benefit from more material. The greater the number of resources, the more likely it is that the MCA is widely and properly implemented. If you have any material you would like to submit, please email it to mca@scie.org.uk. If you have any general queries or comments about the Directory, please use the same email.
The SCIE has also committed itself to providing the following related resources:
More information from local authorities about their MCA and DoLS arrangements,
Information about IMCA providers,
News features,
An online forum to enable you to ask and answer questions, and support each other in the Act’s implementation,
Case studies to show how the MCA has helped empower and support people,
The National Mental Capacity Forum is a joint new Ministry of Justice and Department of Health initiative.
Its purpose is to work with stakeholders from health and social care, together with those from other sectors (for example, finance, legal, police, housing) to identify complementary actions which member organisations can pursue, especially at a local level, to improve implementation of the MCA.
The Forum will “bring together those responsible for implementing the MCA to identify and take forward shared actions that realise benefits for people who use services”. The Forum will consist of a small, core group of stakeholders representing different areas in the sector, and a larger group of associate members.
National Mental Capacity Action Day was on 16th March 2016. Its aim was to increase awareness of the Mental Capacity Act and to highlight good MCA practice.
Its stated intentions were to
● profile current best practice from around England and Wales
● identify MCA improvement priorities for the coming year
● gather commitments from attendees for projects and work to improve MCA implementation at the frontline.
The SCIE used to publish resources for primarily for professionals working in the care sector. Its role has clearly expanded and changed, and will evidently continue to do so. The Resources and Services Section now offers a massive library of useful information for carers – and not just on the Mental Capacity Act. Importantly, the resources listed cover the whole of the UK, with separate sections for the UK’s constituent parts: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland