Welcome to our new podcast series, “Inside NHS Midlands and Lancashire (NHS ML)”, and our first episode about the intricate case of Rose – a patient who divided opinion. “Empowering Rose – supporting patients through the Court of Protection” explores the complexities of Rose’s physical and mental health and tells the story of a multi-disciplinary team as they navigated the Mental Capacity Act and the Court of Protection to ensure that Rose received the care she needed and her wishes were respected.

Cases involving the Court of Protection and Deprivation of Liberty (CoPDoL) are a highly specialised aspect of the work carried out by Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). These cases are vital in safeguarding individuals from unlawful deprivation of their liberty while upholding the principles of mental capacity, best interests, and best practices.

How does one provide care for a patient who struggles to follow medical advice and act in their own best interest? What do you have to consider when doubts arise about a person’s mental capacity to make decisions? How are the procedures of the Mental Capacity Act and the Court of Protection applied, and who is best suited to oversee this process? How can the patient’s needs and desires remain at the forefront of decision-making? These are some of the questions answered by Julie Harrington, Head of Safeguarding at NHS Midlands and Lancashire.

Mental health and conducting mental capacity assessments are complex matters. Often, even the professionals can disagree, and a multi-disciplinary team is needed to find the best solution for the patient.

Rose had complex mental and physical health issues, and our team worked tirelessly to support her when she could no longer make decisions about her care. Throughout this process, we made sure to prioritise Rose’s wishes.

However, mental capacity assessment and Court of Protection proceedings can be resource-intensive and add to the workload of your staff. This is where our team excels – with our highly-specialised experts including mental health nurses and social workers with clinical and non-clinical backgrounds, most of whom have Best Interest Assessor training. We help ICBs with complex cases where deprivation of liberty may be in the best interest of the patient, and we prepare the legal documents at a fraction of the cost.

For more information, visit our Personalised Healthcare Commissioning Services pages.