Important message for clinical staff: Mental Capacity Assessment (MCA) changes in Meditech as of Monday 17th October 2022

Important message for clinical staff: Mental Capacity Assessment (MCA) changes in Meditech as of Monday 17th October 2022

Following the CQC inspection in August, there were changes with Mental Capacity Assessment (MCA) recording within Meditech. This required immediate action. These are within medical INP and Nursing evaluation/standards of care. 

Medical INP:
The mandatory question on capacity will change to the following:
“Is there any reason to doubt the person has capacity to consent to admission and/or treatment?
Yes /No”
•    If yes, then MCA 1 and 2 will pop up for you to complete. This has been reformatted to make it easier to complete.
•    Once you have completed the above, there will be an outcome on if DoLS is required or consent 4.
•    If DoLS is required, there will be an option to confirm if you (Dr) will complete or nurse.

The DoLS forms have been streamlined with tabs removed. Demographics will automatically be pulled into the form.
Click on the below for screen shots:

DoLS form

MCA 1 and 2
 

Nursing evaluation/standards of care:
There will be no need to complete MCA assessments on over 65’s. This is because all patients through the medical INP changes will have an initial mandatory capacity question. If there are concerns on capacity, nurses can refer to comprehensive MCA 1 and 2 for details.
As per normal practice, standards of care/evaluation is completed on every shift. Moving forward there will be two versions of this assessment. 
•    One for patients who have capacity
•    One for when the patient is lacking capacity, which captures best interest decisions and reasonable adjustments made, in order to ensure all standards of care are met. 
Click below for screen shots:

Nursing SoC Lacks Capacity