The SLT/P role in supported decision-making and mental capacity assessment

Biography

Mark Jayes is Research Fellow in Communication Disability at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. His applied research explores how people with communication disabilities access information, participate in decision-making, and can be involved and participate meaningfully in research. Mark has investigated policy-practice gaps in the implementation of mental capacity legislation within care and research processes for this underserved population and potential ways to address observed inequities. Mark’s expert testimony informed the 2018 “Decision-making and mental capacity” NICE guideline. The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists used Mark’s research to inform policy briefings for members of the House of Lords when the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 was reviewed by parliament. Mark’s research outputs include actionable tools to enable care practitioners and researchers to improve their practice. These include the Mental Capacity Assessment Support Toolkit (MCAST) and the Consent Support Tool, which can be used by researchers to ensure the informed consent process is more accessible to, and inclusive of, participants with communication needs. Mark has extensive clinical experience as a speech and language therapist. He is Associate Editor of the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. In 2022, Mark was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Research suggests that people with communication disabilities want to be involved in making decisions about their lives. This includes decisions about treatment, care, where they live, how they spend their time, and their financial arrangements. Across the world, healthcare laws, policies and best practice guidance make it clear that people should be given support to make decisions, if they need and want this support. However, research also suggests that people with communication disabilities do not always receive the support they need to make informed decisions and may be excluded from decision-making entirely. In this presentation, Mark Jayes will explore the reasons for this disparity. He will use international research evidence to argue that, due to our unique expertise in communication disability, SLT/Ps can play a range of important roles in supporting people with communication disabilities to protect their decision-making rights and to maintain their autonomy. Mark will describe how SLTs in the UK are developing a key role in supporting and/or leading assessments of mental (decision-making) capacity and in educating their multidisciplinary colleagues about the support needs of people with communication disabilities. He will describe practical resources and transferable approaches that may be useful to colleagues engaged in this work in other countries.