Assessment for Component 1
Choose from one of the following two scenarios.
Scenario 1
All names in the case study are pseudonyms.
Mr Jones was born in 1980 in Greyhurst, Greyhurstshire. He was born with Downs Syndrome and an associated learning disability. He has lived his entire life with his parents in their home. As an adult he has regularly attended a day centre/care home close to his parent’s home. He has been trained to use public transport and takes a bus three times a week from his home to the day centre and returns at the end of the day.
He has in the past had regular periods of respite care in the care home when his parents have gone away on holiday which he enjoys. He usually stayed for approximately a week at a time up to 6 times a year. Mr Jones had previously been deemed to have capacity to consent to staying at the care home.
In 2010 when Mr Jones was 30 he met and married his wife Cecelia and they lived with the agreement of his parents, together, in his parents’ home. In 2015 Mr Jones and his wife sought fertility treatment from the local hospital, during which time a consultant psychologist concluded that Mr Jones lacked capacity to consent to sexual relations. Mr Jones and his wife were informed of the outcome of the capacity assessment.
Mrs Jones was advised that she must abstain from sexual intercourse with Mr Jones as that would, given his incapacity to consent, be a serious sexual offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Mrs Jones was informed that she should move out of their bedroom and reduce any expression of affection towards him so not “to give him the wrong message”. She was told that if she failed to comply, safeguarding measures would be taken to remove either Mr Jones or herself from Mr Jones’s parents’ home.
Mrs Jones complied with the request but Mr Jones was very upset about his wife moving out of their bedroom and not showing him the same affection he was used to and he became very distressed. Mrs Jones spoke to the consultant about this.
The consultant psychologist was concerned about whether Mrs Jones was following advice and raised a safeguarding concern to the local authority inferring that Mr Jones was at risk of sexual abuse at the hands of his wife.
A senior social worker in the central referral unit received the concern and immediately called the police. Arrangements were made by the local authority and the police to attend Mr Jones’s house as a matter of urgency. Mr Jones was alone in the house when they arrived, his wife was out, and his parents had popped into town to do some shopping.
Mr Jones was said by the local authority to have “left the house willingly” with the police and social services and he was taken to the care home where he had previously enjoyed respite. He was informed that this temporary arrangement had been “agreed” by his wife and parents.
Once at the home Mr Jones was assessed as not having capacity to keep himself safe or to agree to stay at the care home, and the social worker informed the registered manager that he “should be kept at the home to keep him safe” as he was at risk of sexual abuse and he should be “dolled” immediately.
The registered manager was unhappy about what she had been told and decided that she ought to seek an urgent authorisation from the local authority and completed the appropriate forms and sent them off along with a standard application.
Mr Jones became increasingly distressed about being in the care home and being told he was unable to leave or see his wife, and a GP was called and asked to prescribe him “something to calm him down” as his behaviour had become “challenging”.
Mr Jones’s wife and parents came home to find Mr Jones missing and called the police who did not inform them of his whereabouts for 12 hours. Mrs Jones was told to refrain from seeing her husband in light of the allegations of abuse. Mrs Jones was extremely distraught and upset about the allegations because as far as she could see she had done nothing wrong.
Once Mrs Jones found where her husband was being kept she rang the local authority stating that she thought her husband had been “kidnapped” and was “being held against his will” and that threatened that “they were ruining her family life and someone would pay”.
The local authority on hearing from the registered manager that Mr Jones was “trying to leave” decided the best thing was to issue an application to the Court of Protection for a declaration that it was in Mr Jones best interests to reside in the care home and for a deprivation of liberty order.
The local authority commenced a section 42 enquiry under the Care Act 2014 at the same time as issuing an application to the Court of Protection.
Assessment Criteria
Your essay will be assessed on your ability to:
• Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge and critical understanding of law relevant to the best interest assessment.
• Demonstrate critical understanding of the importance of providing record-keeping and reporting of best interest assessment.
• Critically review the application of the process, procedures and documentation of the DoLS and its code of practice.
• Adhere to the School of Health & Social Care policy for confidentiality and consent.
• Adhere to the School of Health & Social Care guidelines for presentation and referencing.
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