Literature Review on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible ...

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Good practice provisions of the Mental Capacity Act, 2005, England and
Wales
Good practice in relation to the provisions of the Mental Capacity Act,
2005 include:
<strong>Literature</strong> <strong>Review</strong> on Provision of Appropriate and Accessible
Support to People with an Intellectual Disability who are
Experiencing Crisis Pregnancy
Functional approach
The Mental Capacity Act adopts a functional approach based on
establishing the extent to which the person’s understanding, knowledge,
skills and abilities meet the demands of the task involved in making
that particular decision within a given legal context (Grisso, 1986). Any
assessment of a person’s capacity must be ‘decision-specific’, meaning
that it must be about the particular decision that has to be made at a
particular time and is not about a range of decisions; capacity is decision
and time specific, rather than global or permanent. Under the functional
approach to capacity, a new assessment of capacity is required for each
new decision or task (Donnelly, 2007). Just because a person may lack
capacity to make a decision on one occasion does not mean that they will
never have capacity to make a decision in the future about a different
matter; if someone cannot make complex decisions, this does not mean
that they cannot make simple decisions.
The implication is that before making any declaration of incapacity,
consideration needs to be given as to whether it would be possible either
to improve the person’s relevant functional abilities (for example, by
ensuring that he/she is offered education or additional support) and/
or to simplify or otherwise amend the situation to improve the person’s
capacity (Murphy and Clare, 2003). According to Myron, Gillespie, Swift
and Williamson (2008) a functional approach has been increasingly
preferred when assessing capacity and recommended to professionals
such as medical practitioners and psychologists in their professional
guidance. [40]
40 For example, Assessment of mental capacity, British Medical Association/
Law Society (2004), Assessment of Capacity in Adults: Interim Guidance for
Psychologists, The British Psychological Society (2006), see also Suto, Clare &
Holland (2002).