A Guide to the Mental Capacity Act for Paramedics

Since its introduction into practice in 2007, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) has become the primary piece of legislation governing the management of patients who lack the capacity to give or refuse consent to medical treatment or other aspects of their care. The MCA details the legal standards to be adhered to by anybody involved in caring for this patient group. The MCA is considered so central to good practice that a ‘clear understanding’ of it is a specific requirement in the Paramedic Scope of Practice policy (College of Paramedics, 2017).

In the discussion that follows, the information will be drawn, as far as possible, directly from either the MCA or its accompanying Code of Practice document. In order to allow the reader to easily review these documents themselves, the relevant sections from each document will be referenced by either MCA sections (shown in the form MCA Sec 1[1]) or Code of Practice paragraphs (shown in the form CoP 1.1).