The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill has become law

The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill has received Royal Assent, meaning it has become an Act, enshrined in law.

I have been closely following the parliamentary process for this bill as I am a Specialist in Special Care Dentistry, many of my patients are vulnerable and lack capacity to consent to dental treatment and other decisions in their lives.  The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill has received Royal Assent, meaning it has become an Act, enshrined in law. It will reform the process in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 authorising arrangements enabling care and treatment of people who lack capacity to consent to such arrangements, which give rise to a deprivation of liberty.  The older system of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) will be replaced by a new system dubbed the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) which will be less complicated.  New guidance (code of practice) will be available at some point which will show health and social care staff how to put the law into practice.  I suspect this will not affect dental teams to a huge degree, however I will advise on this once the government has published the updated guidance.

This new law is called The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019. This is likely to be implemented in Spring 2020.

Author:  Dr Balqees Bi,  Specialist in Special Care Dentistry

Posted by Gemma