Policy

A new volunteer advocacy service for older people who lack mental capacity is being developed by Age Concern England.  The Mental Capacity Advocacy Project (MCAP) for older people (formerly known as the Mental Health Advocacy Project) - is a three year pilot project that started in October 2006‚ funded by the Department of Health and Age Concern England.

The MCAP mission is: “To develop‚ explore and evaluate a volunteer advocacy service for older people who lack mental capacity.” 

What does lack mental capacity mean?  Whenever the term ‘a person who lacks mental capacity’ is used‚ it means a person who lacks capacity to make a particular decision for themselves at the time the decision needs to be taken.  Thus‚ mental capacity is time and decision specific.  A person may‚ for example‚ have the capacity for small decisions such as what to eat for breakfast but lack the mental capacity to make complex decisions about finances or deciding where to live.

Older people may lack mental capacity because of various illnesses and conditions.  It is envisaged that a large proportion of the beneficiaries of this new service will be older people with dementia but the MCAP will also be advocating for older people that may lack mental capacity due to other causes such as learning disability or brain injury.  It is hoped that a large proportion of the volunteer advocates will be older people‚ taking on an active role in their local communities and being part of the solution to some of the problems our ageing society faces.
 
Neil Mapes‚ Project Co-ordinator‚ Age Concern England said: “Older people who lack mental capacity are some of the most vulnerable people in our society today.  This is an exciting project because it will truly support some of these older people by linking them together with trained volunteer advocates from their local communities.”

Pilot sites

The Department of Health has provided funds to test this innovative service in four pilot sites.  The following organisations have been selected to provide the MCAP as the pilot sites:

• Age Concern Blackpool and District (in partnership with N-Compass)
• Age Concern Cheshire
• Age Concern Slough and Berkshire East
• Age Concern Warwickshire

These pilot sites enable the MCAP to work across three different regions in England‚ with rural and urban communities‚ with Black and Minority Ethnic groups and other “harder to reach” groups.  There is a Project Manager and an Admin Co-ordinator at each pilot site who will be responsible for recruiting‚ selecting‚ training and supporting the volunteers for the MCAP.  If you would like more detailed information on volunteer advocates then please download the guidance pack which details current best practice on volunteers and the law‚ recruitment ideas‚ MCAP core and additional training and MCAP minimum support requirements.

The MCAP is a national pilot being delivered by four local Age Concerns as the pilot sites‚ to find out more about the advocacy delivery please download the advocacy resource pack which provides greater detail on: what the MCAP is and what the MCAP is not‚ MCAP referral criteria‚ MCAP referral checklist and engagement protocol‚ MCAP quiz and case note recording.  The MCAP will work in accordance with the guidance produced in the Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice.
 
Getting involved in the MCAP

• If you are interested in volunteering at one of the MCAP pilot sites or would like to get involved with the MCAP locally in another way then please contact the relevant Project Manager directly.
• If you would like to receive the e-bulletin “Friends of MCAP”‚ which is sent out periodically to mark significant steps in the delivery of the project to all interested parties‚ then please email Neil Mapes.
• The National Advisory Group is a twice yearly meeting that brings together expert representatives from local‚ regional and national organisations‚ if you would like to know more about this group then please email Neil Mapes.
• The MCAP is being independently evaluated.  The central theme of the work of the evaluation team Frameworks for Change will centre on capturing how effective volunteer advocacy is for people who lack mental capacity.  If you would like more detail about the MCAP evaluation please download the MCAP Evaluation Framework.  If you would like to know more about Frameworks for Change then please email frameworks4change@ntlworld.com  

Contact your local Age Concern

Local Age Concerns provide a range of support services which may be of help.  This may include advocacy‚ where they do not provide this service they may well know local advocacy organisations they can put you in contact with. 

Please phone the Age Concern Information Line on 0800 00 99 66 who can give you the contact details for your local Age Concern.

Contact the MCAP pilots

Neil Mapes
Mental Capacity Advocacy Project Co-ordinator
National Development Division
Age Concern England
neil.mapes@ace.org.uk  
07767 693357

Age Concern Blackpool (in partnership with N-compass)
Project Manager: Pamela Hill
Tel: 01253 753 480
Advocacy.manager@ageconcernblackpool.co.uk 

Age Concern Cheshire
Project Manager: Alison Kettlewell
Tel: 01606 305 015
Alison.kettlewell@ageconcerncheshire.org.uk

Age Concern Slough and Berkshire East
Project Manager: Sally Blackden
Tel: 01753 822 890
sallyb@ageconcernsabe.org.uk

Age Concern Warwickshire
Project Manager: Kate Richmond
Tel: 01926 458 114
kate@counselling.ageconcernwarks.co.uk