Patients who have mental capacity can make any decisions they want to as long as they have been properly informed and the decision is voluntary. In this training programme we will be looking at mental capacity assessments, consider what constitutes a voluntary decision and learn how much treatment information should be given.

If a patient lacks mental capacity he or she will be treated under either the doctrine of emergency or the doctrine of necessity. We will be looking at the application of both of these doctrines in detail.

We will also consider specific patient groups such as children and mental health patients where treatment rules differ from those set out in the flow chart below.

The flow chart, however, should always be your starting point. The flow chart illustrates the stages you should go through (and document) when obtaining informed consent or treating those who cannot give you informed consent.

The training programme will take you through 20 modules, each containing approximately 5 case studies.

Each case study will present you with a question and will ask you to select an answer. Once you have selected an answer you will be told whether you are right or wrong and the principles and law will be explained.

Your selected answers will determine your score for the module. On completion of the module you will be given a score sheet that you will be able to print out. You may wish to keep a record of your score in your education and training diary.

There is no limit to the number of times you may complete a module. However, you may not 'back-track' once you have started a module.

We wish you an enjoyable and challenging learning experience.

InPractice & Dumas 2005

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