The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) came into force in 2007. It is designed to protect and restore power to those vulnerable people who may lack capacity to make certain decisions, due to the way their mind is affected by illness or disability, or the effects of drugs or alcohol. The MCA also supports those who have capacity and choose to plan for their future.
We asked the MCA team at Dorset Council how the Dorset Care Record (DCR) is helping them in their day to day work and here are their replies:
Val: “It has been useful to check on whether people have been discharged from hospital as it has the information very quickly. I was also recently able to find out that a person who moved out of our area had died… and was still on our Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS) waiting list. This information was not on Mosaic (Dorset Council’s adults system), so I was able to click straight onto the DCR tab for the update. Also (it) can confirm a diagnosis has been made of a mental disorder, eg. dementia and when.”
Rachelle: “I am using it for duty at the moment so that we can see if referrals or deaths are Covid related. I know admin are using it a lot for Not Granted (DOLS authorisation). The information about mental disorder diagnosis is very helpful too.”
Holly: “I occasionally use if to find out people’s addresses when they aren’t stated on the referral. We can then find out which Local Authority is funding. Also, it helps with Not Granted’s as it sometimes states hospital admissions/discharges and will always give a date of death when someone passes away.”
Jo: “I too have recently started using it to find out where people have been admitted/discharged from hospital and also to help gather information before going out on a Mental Health Act Assessment.”
Maggie: “Yes, I have used DCR. Quite useful so far.”
Alexandra: “The DCR access has been useful for both accessing background health information and discharge information. But yes, very helpful.”
Both MCA and DOLS teams at Dorset Council and Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP) are frequent users of the DCR.