Mental capacity and mental health acts part 4: a new framework

The increasingly complex interface between the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 has been discussed in this column over the last three months. The boundaries between the two statutes is becoming increasingly blurred with the Court of Protection, a specialist court that considers cases about people lacking decision-making capacity, commonly being asked to make decisions on mental health law as well. Northern Ireland is proposing to resolve the interface problem by repealing its mental health laws and replacing them with a single statutory framework for mental capacity law. If passed, it will give all adults with capacity the right to consent to or refuse any form of treatment. Physical and mental conditions will be on an equal footing and there would be no compulsory detention or treatment of adults with capacity. For those whose lack capacity, treatment will be available in their best interests with arrangements in place to authorise situations where the care arrangements amount to a deprivation of liberty. In this article Richard Griffith considers the new proposals for Northern Ireland and wonders where these proposals point the way for the other devolved nations to develop their mental health and mental capacity law for a 21st century Britain.