OVERVIEW

An Introduction to the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and Mental Health Act (MHA) is organized by Maudsley Learning (ML) and will be held on Jan 01, 2026.

Description:
The Mental Health Act (MHA) and Mental Capacity Act (MCA) provide legal coverage for a wide range of mental health and physical health interventions that can be just as relevant in the acute hospital setting as in mental health trusts. Recent challenging cases have highlighted the need for further training in this area for nursing staff at all levels in acute hospitals. In addition, the imminent change from Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards to the new Liberty Protection Safeguards means that understanding the MCA and how it interacts with the MHA in patients under coercive or restrictive treatment is even more important for frontline staff.

This programme seeks to cover principles of the MHA/MCA with a focus on relevant clinical cases and ‘need to know’ learning for nurses, doctors, and allied health professionals working in inpatient medical environments.

Course format:
The programme is comprised of 4 eLearning modules:

Module 1 – Capacity, an introduction
Module 2 – The Capacity Assessment
Module 3 – Making decisions for those who lack capacity
Module 4 – The Mental Health Act in Acute Hospital

Learning objectives:
By the end of the course you will have learned how to:

Recognise when a capacity assessment may be required
Make a capacity assessment at a level appropriate to your role
Making decisions for those who lack capacity
Identify when the Mental Health Act should be used instead of the Mental Capacity Act
Provide care for patients detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act