The House of Lords Committee on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (‘Is it working?’) continues to take oral evidence. The latest committee hearing was on 30th July, when the committee interviewed Moira Fraser (Director of Policy and Research, Carers Trust), Emily Holzhausen (Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Carers UK) and Oi Mei Li (Director, National Family Carer Network).
These three witnesses were able to cite the experiences (and frustrations) of many carers, and especially family carers. Recurrent issues were whether, how and when carers are consulted about the provision of social and health care; and how best-interest decisions are actually made.
The committee session, which lasted about 1 hour, may be viewed here via the Parliamentary TV archive. A transcript of the session is also available as a PDF download via the committee’s website.
Specific questions to be considered in this session were: Where do carers learn what they have to do under the Act? Are carers aware of their rights to be consulted by healthcare professionals and is this happening in practice? Does the law protect those vulnerable to poor or abusive care? But many other carer-related issues were considered…
For example, towards the end of the hearing Lord Turnberg asked the questions: ‘Is the Court of Protection accessible and effective as a way of resolving disputes? Should there be some sort of less formal dispute resolution system before you get to the Court of Protection?’ The consensus of the witnesses was that it was generally inaccessible – and expensive to access – and not always effective.
Rescare’s committee met on 30th July: they agreed that Rescare should submit a full and substantial response to the Lords Committee’s call for evidence. More news on this, as and when…