Exploring a Decade of Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy

Our newsletter this month is in part a gentle reminder that places are still available for our national IMCA conference which is sponsored by Irwin Mitchell solicitors.

The conference is open to all those that work within the Mental Capacity field including solicitors, court appointed deputies, social workers, best interests assessors and others from the health and social care sector. 

Topics and speakers to include:

• Case law developments - how 'best interests' has been shaped by recent judgements and what this now means. Michael Kennedy, Switalskis; Irwin Mitchell solicitors; Jakki Cowley and Annabel Lee, 39 Essex Chambers (Annabel will be speaking at London only)
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• The role of litigation friend - families or IMCAs fulfilling this role - conflict of interest or appropriate independent representation for P? Alex Ruck Keene, 39 Essex Chambers; Celia Walsh, Independent IMCA; Peter Brown, Citizens Advice Sheffield; and Bev Field, PoHwer (Bev will be speaking at London only)
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• Serious Medical Treatment & PEG feeds - how decisions are approached differently dependent on patient need or diagnosis. Dr Martin Vernon, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Professor Celia Kitzinger; Jakki Cowley and Peter Brown, Citizens Advice Sheffield (Peter will be speaking at Sheffield only)
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• Potential Vulnerable Adults Bill - an opportunity to discuss implications, opportunities and reservations. Alex Ruck Keene, 39 Essex Chambers; Ian Burgess / Rob Mitchell, Bradford Local Authority and Mark Neary (Mark will be speaking at London only)

Please note that we are organising this through EventBrite and so there are 2 separate links to book a place therefore please click on the date you wish to attend:

20th October 2017 - Sheffield  (IMCA Conference North) https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/national-imca-conference-2017-tickets-35783384065

10th November 2017 - London (IMCA Conference South) https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/national-imca-conference-2017-tickets-35783450263

Case law update

As many of you will be aware, Jakki was Paul Briggs advocate in the Court of Protection judgment in December regarding withdrawal of clinically assisted nutrition and hydration. Within this, as the application was made via s21a which was appealed, a further recent judgment has been made on this. These are just a couple of views / observations made about that judgment:

David Lock QC, barrister and QC at Landmark Chambers: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/end-compulsory-requirement-apply-court-protection-state-david-lock-qc

Irwin Mitchell: http://www.irwinmitchell.com/newsandmedia/2017/july/court-of-appeals-legal-aid-decision-could-make-it-impossible-for-many-to-gain-justice-jq-756192

Mental Capacity Act Third Sector Forum

The National Mental Capacity Forum is a joint initiative between the Ministry of Justice and Department of Health. It was set up following the House of Lords review of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and is chaired by Baroness Ilora Finlay. Its purpose is to work with stakeholders from health and social care, together with those from other sectors including finance, legal, police and housing, to identify actions which member organisations (both national and local) can take to improve implementation of the MCA.
 
The Mental Capacity and the Third Sector group is a sub-group of the Forum, which brings together third sector organisations that have an interest in the MCA to discuss any issues, share best practice and work together to raise awareness of the MCA within the sector. The group also exists to share the work of the broader National Mental Capacity Forum to the sector and where possible feed in the views of third sector organisations into the work of the Forum.

For further details and to become involved with this group, please contact Rachel at the Alzheimers Society: Rachel.Hutchings@alzheimers.org.uk

Empowerment Matters is part of this group and whilst we are a national organisation, we are based in the North West and so Jakki has been discussing with Rachel how others can feed into this group who cannot attend meetings in London. This may take the form of quarterly meetings, email exchange, social media discussion and so on. We would both be keen to seek others views on this, whether there may be an organisation who is able to offer a venue to meet or individuals who simply wish to submit their own experiences of current practice with regards the MCA and how we as a sector can influence this. For those who may be interested, please contact: jakki@empowermentmatters.co.uk

We hope everyone has had a great summer and look forward to seeing those who are able to attend at the IMCA conference.