Plain-English explanations of the technical terms and legislation used in this document.
- Advance decision to refuse treatment
- A legally binding statement made in advance by a person with capacity, setting out treatment they do not want in the future if they later lose the ability to decide.
- Best interests
- A decision made for someone who cannot decide for themselves, choosing the option that is best for them.
- Care Quality Commission (CQC)
- The independent regulator of health and social care services in England.
- Chaperone
- A trained person present during an intimate examination to support and protect the patient and the clinician.
- Court-appointed deputy
- A person appointed by the Court of Protection to make decisions on behalf of someone who lacks the capacity to make those decisions themselves.
- Data Protection Act 2018
- The UK law that sits alongside the UK General Data Protection Regulation and governs how personal information must be handled.
- Deprivation of liberty
- A situation where a person who lacks capacity is under continuous control and not free to leave, which the law allows only with proper authorisation and safeguards.
- Family Law Reform Act 1969
- The law whose section 8 confirms that young people aged 16 and 17 are presumed able to consent to their own medical treatment.
- Fundamental standards
- The minimum standards of safety and quality below which care must never fall.
- General Medical Council (GMC)
- The independent body that registers and regulates doctors in the United Kingdom and sets the professional standards they must follow.
- Gillick competence
- A test that allows a child under 16 to consent to their own treatment if they have enough understanding and maturity to grasp fully what is involved.
- Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014
- The regulations setting out the fundamental standards that providers of regulated care must meet, including Regulation 11 on the need for consent.
- Human Tissue Act 2004
- The law governing the consent needed to remove, store and use human tissue, and how it must be handled.
- Human Tissue Authority
- The regulator that oversees organisations using human tissue and issues codes of practice on its lawful use.
- Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA)
- A trained advocate appointed to represent and support a person who lacks capacity for a serious decision and has no family or friends to consult.
- Informed consent
- Agreement to treatment given freely after the risks, benefits and alternatives have been clearly explained.
- Lasting Power of Attorney
- A legal document by which a person appoints someone they trust to make decisions for them if they later lose the capacity to do so.
- Locum
- A clinician who works temporarily to cover for a regular member of staff.
- Material risk
- A risk that a reasonable patient in the same position, or this particular patient, would consider important when deciding whether to go ahead with treatment.
- Mental capacity
- Whether a person can understand and make a particular decision for themselves at the time it needs to be made.
- Mental Capacity Act 2005
- The law that protects and supports people aged 16 and over who may be unable to make particular decisions for themselves.
- Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of Practice
- The official guidance explaining how the Mental Capacity Act 2005 should be applied in practice.
- Montgomery standard
- The legal test, set by the 2015 Supreme Court case Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board, requiring patients to be told about any risk they would personally consider significant.
- Parental responsibility (PR)
- The legal rights and duties a parent has for a child, including the authority to consent to treatment on the child's behalf where the child cannot consent for themselves.
- Registered Manager
- The person registered with the regulator as responsible for the day-to-day running of a service.
- Regulated activity
- A type of care or treatment the law requires a provider to register with the regulator to deliver.
- Safeguarding
- Protecting people's health, wellbeing and rights and keeping them safe from abuse, harm or neglect.
- Single assessment framework
- The structure the regulator uses to judge a service, built around quality statements and five key questions (safe, effective, caring, responsive, well-led).
- Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
- A written, step-by-step instruction setting out how a particular task or process is to be carried out consistently and safely.
- UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)
- The UK's main data-protection law governing how personal information is collected and used.
- Valid consent
- Permission for care given voluntarily by a patient who has the capacity to decide and who has been given enough information.