King's College London

Over 800 people attended today’s National Mental Capacity Forum (NMCF) webinar on Homelessness, Addiction, and Mental Capacity, where Jess Harris and Stephen Martineau presented the Unit's MCA study, which is entering its reporting phase. Also presenting was Brendan Kelly, Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin.

Alex Ruck Keene KC (Hon) oversaw the Q&A and commented on some of the findings.

The NMCF is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health and Social Care, and is supported by The Autonomy Project at the University of Essex and chaired by Margaret Flynn.

The webinar recording is available here (along with links provided by Alex to further resources; these include his Expert Report to the Nottingham Inquiry that contains, at para 177, a suggested ‘Duty to consider capacity’, in light of the recognized problems with the s.1(2) MCA presumption*) and the slides here.

*The Expert Report can be found here, a transcript of Alex’s evidence here, and a recording of his evidence here.