Lack Of Consent In Nursing

Consent can be defined as the voluntary agreement to an action by a mentally competent person (Diamond 2009).Patients must give their permission before any treatment is given, regardless of how simple or complex the procedure may be (NHS 2012).For consent to be valid or informed, the decision must be made voluntarily by the patient without any duress from nursing staff, family or friend (Department of health 2009).The patient must be given enough information regarding the treatment. That is, the importance, the risk factors and other alternative to the treatment (Griffith and Tengnah 2014).The person giving consent must have the capacity to make the decision. They must understand what they are consenting to (NHS 2012).Hence, communication is
Therefore, nurses should recognise and respect patient’s involvement and contribution in the decision making about their health and care (NMC 2015). Mental capacity is the individual’s ability to make their own decision whether simple (like daily activities) or complex (such as planning to die). Mental capacity of a person may vary from time to time (Daniel and Dewing 2012).Lack of capacity cannot be assumed because of someone’s appearance, age, or for making an unwise decision. A person lack capacity if there is any temporary or permanent impairments or disturbance that affect the brain and mind’s functioning of the person, preventing him from making a particular decision (RCN 2015).A patient is considered to be incapable of making a decision if he is unable to understand ,retain, and weigh the information relevant to make a particular decision and cannot communicate that decision in any way (Department of health
Therefore, they should be given enough support and time needed to make their decision (Department of health 2001).Those with learning disabilities have some complex needs, such as, impairments in functional skills, additional sensory and communication impairments. Thus, may be confused and unable to make decisions (Chapman 2010).People with learning disability have the same right as others. Which means, they have the right of self-determination and autonomy in making decisions, provided the necessary capacity is present (Diamond 2015). Nobody can legally make decisions for a competent person with learning disability (Mencap n.d).Consent should be an ongoing process not just a one off and it is very important that the information is given to the patient in a way that he can easily understand (Department of health 2001). This involves, speaking clearly, explaining the treatment in simple terms and using short sentences. Communication aids such as, pictures, photos and symbols to support the information (RCN 2013). To determine the mental capacity of an individual, functional tests of capacity will need to be carried out also. Although the assessment process in learning disability field of nursing may