Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA)
About the service
What services do Advocacy Together’s IMCAs offer?
Our IMCAs work with people who lack capacity to make a specific life changing decision for reasons including, but not limited to, learning disabilities, dementia, mental health needs and acquired brain injury. These decisions concern:
- Serious medical treatment
- Accommodation changes that are for more than 28 days in hospital or 8 weeks in non-hospital accommodation
- Care reviews in relation to accommodation arranged by the LA or NHS
- Safeguarding Adults (i.e. for Protection of Vulnerable Adults Investigations (POVA) cases)
- Deprivation of Liberty
Who is eligible?
Under the Mental Capacity Act (2005) the following criteria need to be met in order for individuals to be eligible to be appointed an IMCA:
1) The person must be assessed as lacking capacity to make the specific decision which the IMCA is referred to for, such as:
- Lacks capacity to consent to or withhold consent for a serious medical treatment
- Lacks capacity to choose a place of residence
- Lacks capacity to fully participate in a care review
- Lacks capacity to consent to formal safeguarding measure/s
2) An IMCA can only be involved if there are no appropriate family or friends that can be consulted on the specific decision. The one exception to this are Adult Safeguarding referrals, where an IMCA may be instructed regardless of whether the person has appropriate relatives or friends.
More Information
Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA) Referral Form
IMCA referral form