Care and treatment must only be provided with the consent of the person you support.
This area of CQC inspection looks at how you manage and support people’s consent.
The CQC will want to know how your service is always supporting people to make their own decisions in line with the latest legislation and guidance.
Inducting new staff and refreshing learning is important … but you should also remember to check staff understanding and assess their confidence. Discussions in one-to-ones, team meetings and when shadowing colleagues can help.
Your managers should have a deeper understanding of consent, enabling them to respond to escalated issues from the staff team.
The regular monitoring of people’s mental capacity and associated assessments is important, as well as recording this information.
Where people lack capacity, best interest decisions may need to be made on their behalf.
The inspection may also focus on awareness and understanding of people’s liberty safeguards.
CQC inspectors will seek to interview people, their family, friends, and advocates when looking at consent.
Documented evidence may be asked for, including:
- consent to care and treatment records
- records of assessments of mental capacity
- best interests decision-making records
- DoLS application forms
- Do Not Attempt CPR ‘notices’ in files
- and associated policies and procedures.
To learn more about how to be effective at People’s Consent, look at GO Online’s recommendations, examples, and resources.
Watch the film here: https://vimeo.com/788207221