title: How to tell whether patients can make decisions about their care.
abstract: Emergency care professionals must ensure that each patient has the capacity to give valid consent to treatment. If a patient does not have such capacity, professionals must ensure that all decisions about his or her treatment are made in the patients' best interest. This article describes how emergency care professionals should assess patients' capacity and abide by the principles of the Mental Health Capacity Act 2005.
authors.affiliation: Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. shelley.cummings2@nhs.net
authors.forename: Shelley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cummings
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003657:Decision Making; D016529:Emergency Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D008297:Male; D016743:Mental Competency; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D055815:Young Adult