Incapacity on agenda

The government must put mental incapacity higher up the legislative agenda or leave thousands of people and their carers without protection or guidance, solicitors and mental health professionals said last week.

The warning came at the launch of a mental capacity and decision-making charter - produced by the Law Society, the British Medical Association and charity the Making Decisions Alliance - which the trio hope will form the basis of new legislation.

The charter suggests that the new law should be rights based, that it should include the presumption of capacity, and any intervention should depend on the individual circumstances and on the best interests of the patient.

Past and present wishes of the patient should be taken into consideration, along with carers' views.

Law Society vice-president Carolyn Kirby - scheduled to take office as president this week - told Lord Chancellor's department minister Rosie Winterton, who attended the launch, that she hoped to see incapacity laws get a mention in the next Queen's speech to bring the system into line with Scotland, which legislated soon after devolution.

'I would suggest that we have had sufficient debate and clarification of the issues - we now need to move on,' Ms Kirby argued.

Ms Winterton welcomed the charter and hoped it would form the basis for more discussion on the issue.

She added: 'I can only reiterate that the government is committed to reforming this very important area of the law as soon as parliamentary time allows.'

Paula Rohan