A new internet tool to help practitioners and carers assess an individual’s mental health capacity has been launched by the Mental Health Foundation and its sister organisation the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities.
The free online resource has been created to help health workers, social care professionals and carers evaluate capacity assessments and learn from the assessments they make. Users of the Assessment of Mental Capacity Audit Tool (AMCAT) are asked a number of questions about how they have undertaken an assessment, and their responses generate a report which includes suggestions on how they can improve assessments in the future.
The AMCAT has been introduced following fears that many carers and professionals are struggling to meet their responsibilities under the 2005 Mental Capacity Act (MCA), which requires carers and front-line staff to undertake capacity assessments. The tool provides users with information about how their capacity assessments perform in relation to the Code of Practice that accompanies the MCA.
The AMCAT can be found at:
www.amcat.org.uk
