Adults with incapacity: guide to assessing capacity

Appendix 3: Useful Resources

1 Irenka Suto, Isabel Clare and Anthony Holland (forthcoming August 2007) Financial decision-making. National Institute on Learning Disability. www.bild.org.uk

This guide sets out to promote good practice in the area of financial decision-making. It provides a framework that will help those who support men and women with learning disabilities in thinking through difficult situations involving financial decisions and making judgments that are ethically and legally defensible. It contains structured guidance to maximise independence, with examples of practical, research-based, materials to explore understanding of basic financial concepts and contribute to formal and informal assessments of financial decision-making ability. Suggestions are also made to develop the decision-making abilities of people with learning disabilities and enable those who are unable to make one or more financial decisions for themselves to participate as fully as they can in the management of their money.

The guide has been written for health and social care practitioners, managers in social care provider organisations, social care regulators, support workers, family carers and others who are concerned about the well-being of men and women with learning disabilities. It is also a resource that can be used to complement training courses in health and social care.

2 Lawton, Annie (2006) A Voice of Their Own. A toolbox of ideas and information for non-instructive advocacy. British Institute on Learning Disability.

ISBN 1-904082-98-X www.bild.org.uk

This toolbox is particularly useful for anyone advocating for a person with high support needs by which the authors mean 'anyone who does not communicate using words, has significant barriers to communication and/or complex physical, health or emotional needs and requires lots of extra support as a result. This could include people who have a learning disability with sight or hearing difficulties or those with a mental illness or autism'.

3 Paulsen, J. S. (1999). 'Understanding Behaviour: A practical guide for individual's families and professionals coping with Huntington's Disease'. pp 25-26, Huntington Society of Canada. www.hsc-ca.org

4 Silver, K (2005) Assessing and Developing Communication and Thinking Skills in People with Autism and Communication Difficulties. A Toolkit for Parents and Professionals. Jessica Kingsley Publisher. ISBN 978-1-843-10-352-3

5 National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorder. USAAutism and Communicationwww.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/autism.asp

6 Mencap, Fact Sheet: Communication and People with a Learning Disability. www.askmencap.info/IFM.GenInfo.nsf

7 Assessment of Capacity in Adults - Interim Guidance for Psychologists. April 2006. The British Psychological Society Professional Practice Board. www.bps.org.uk/e-services/find-a-psychologist/expertwitness.cfm

8 Scottish Executive: DVD 'Making Decisions - Your Rights' (2006) This DVD comes in two versions - for people with dementia and for people with a learning disability. It sets out how the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act can help and what a person's rights are under the Act. It presents a series of short 'mini' programmes looking at money, health and decisions about your life. The DVD pack includes a booklet about how to use the DVD. It is designed to be used one to one or with small groups. Available free from the Scottish Government telephone: 0131 244 3581 or from Blackwell's Bookshop.

9 Darzins P et al (Ed) Who Can Decide? The six step capacity assessment process. Memory Australia Press. 2000 ISBN 0-646-40343-5.

10 Joint Centre for Bioethics - Aid to Capacity Evaluation ( ACE)www.utoronto.ca/jcb/disclaimers/ace.htm . The purpose of ACE is to help clinicians systematically evaluate capacity when a patient is facing a medical decision. The ACE may be copied by any person for non-commercial use.

11 Highland Health Board and Highland Council - Joint Good Practice Guidance on Assessment of Capacity. www.highland.gov.uk

12 Ward, Adrian D., Adult Incapacity. W Green 2003. ISBN 0-414-01472-3

This is the key reference book on the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act for lawyers and other professionals working closely with the Act. It provides detailed discussion of issues relating to the formal assessment of capacity.

13 Patrick, Hilary, Mental Health, Incapacity and the Law in Scotland. Tottel Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1-84592-062-7

This is a comprehensive guide to the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 and Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act.

It is an essential handbook for agencies and professionals involved with providing information, support and services to adults with mental disorder and their carers in Scotland.