Mental capacity and mental health acts part 2: a gap in statutory provision

The revised Mental Health Act 1983 code of practice will have a new chapter providing clearer information about the interface between the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Both the House of Commons Health Select Committee (2013) and the House of Lords Mental Capacity Act Committee (2014) have argued that poor understanding of the interface has led to flawed decision making by doctors and nurses. In the second of a series of articles, the author discusses a gap in statutory provision that has been inadvertently created by Parliament's eagerness to avoid a conflict between these statutes in relation to a deprivation of liberty.