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Social services came yesterday to test my friends mental capacity but all they did was spend ten minutes asking him if he looks after himself to which he replied he does, he said he showers daily when he goes weeks without. He kept losing his temper and repeatedly told them he just wants to be left alone and not to believe anything I said! He kept saying he does not want or need help, that he can just wants everyone to go away and leave him be.
They then told me that he has got mental capacity as he knows what he wants!

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Hi Nurse in the UK there are several different types of mental capacity assessment but only one of them overrides all others. Confused you soon will be.

The bona fide overarching test can only be done by a specialist in the field of geriatric mental awareness - usually a consultant and quite often a senior consultant. In a court of law this would override any other claim.

Then there is the test that a lawyer can do to determine that the person concerned is sufficiently aware of the impact of the decisions to make or change a will. HOWEVER should they in their infinite wisdom deci to rewrite a will in a way that an inheritance was switched from familial to the local donkey sanctuary then you can guarantee that there would be a counterclaim in the courts and at this point the dates of assessment would be paramount

Then there is the assessment that a social worker does. This is not a cognitive awareness test but can determine if someone can hold a coherent conversation and may include one or two little tests to avoid any doubt that may emerge.

This for me is the risky one because of show timing which my mother 5 years after diagnosis can do brilliantly still. However they did detect traits and did several tests. She failed miserably despite amazing guess work and the way she tried to get round the question was very clever. She would say next month or last month rather than the actual name of the month. She couldn't remember the date which was actually the birthday of a relative, she couldn't count backwards in stages but counted forward which she could do but I noticed she was using her fingers....my mum used to be a bank manager - she never NEEDED TO USE HER FINGERS, trust me I had my knuckles rapped often enough when adding as an infant.

So there we are various tests designed to meet various circumstances. If you don't like the outcome by a social worker and or a lawyer you can ask for a specialist to test the person but if the GP doesn't agree it would serve a purpose you will be paying to go privately and that will cost (remember in the UK necessary healthcare is free)
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I just went thru this yesterday, we were with the doctor for one hour! You need, initially, a mini-mental exam by a licensed physician, preferably a geriatrician. My loved one failed miserably but failed, as well, to recognize the nature of the questions to which I was sure he would get embarrased and/or angry. Didn't happen and we have another appointment in two weeks for one hour to include immediate family so make d*mn sure you get the right doctor!
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Kay, i don't know if you'd call it a mental capacity test, but my mom insisted on driving after her mini stroke and i hide the keys from her and she kept bugging me so my counselor gave me the name of a rehab that came to my mom's house when i could also be there and gave her a short mental test and a responsive driving test that had foot pedals and other response things and my mom failed the test miserably which i knew she would. Then she blamed me because she failed. She couldn't concentrate and tried every excuse like she needed water or go to the bathroom like a child. Before the test she agreed if she failed, she would not drive. After that i sold her car. I was afraid not for her life, but of her hitting someone walking in a parking lot of the grocery store.
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In the UK there is no requirement for a mental capacity test unless requested by a physician who will send the person to a clinician who specialises in elderly mental health. Social services are there to establish that a person can hold a coherent consistent conversation. They will not address self neglect unless they appear not to be coherent. Social services workers are not and never will be clinicians
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When I took my aunt to an elder-lawyer, she was taken in a room without me to determine if she was competent, but she was also asked questions about her daily life to see if there was any abuse of her by us. This I gathered from what my aunt told us after. Ruling out elder abuse is the only possible thing I can think of from the questions your friend was asked, and that's a stretch.
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Enjoy Kaydi, enjoy your time at your daughters. That kitty will eventually come out from under the bed... I DID!!! hahaha!!!

M88
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Just a quick post to say I am now at my daughters. 5 of my cats are coping well but the one I was least worried about went straight under my grandsons bed and has been there ever since! I'm just settling down for my first smoke free night since Don was in hospital last July 🚬👍
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as long as i can make a fist and punch somebody in the face i hope to be left alone and live the way i want too also . i dont want to hear about whats best for me .
i may need somebodys help some day but living and dying on my own terms is a right that no one has to give me .
hospice implied once that i might have to make decisions for my mothers well being . mom was out of her mind and still smarter than the hospice people all combined . she remained in control of her household till she died . my job was to battle away the opposition .
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Good for you calling the MP. Social Services sent you an unqualified idiot.
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Thanks a lot, that really helps. I now know what I have to do - to speed up the assessments I wrote to my local MP who not only helped us get them but is also going to investigate why they were delayed. I am now going to write to him again telling him Don did not receive a proper mental capacity test which I have in writing in Chris's email that Helen was supposed to perform. Chris also mentioned in an email that he is not a fully qualified social worker. I will also tell the MP this as there is no way social services should have sent someone unqualified to a case as complicated as ours.
Cwillie, my daughter is picking me and the cats up tomorrow evening.
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I suppose they may have spent enough time for a few probing questions such as would have been used in some of the quick assessment tests and found no reason to go farther, this was not meant to be a full neurological workup after all.

Kaydi, have you gotten yourself away to your daughter's?
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First, one has to be qualified to give a competency test. Then there needs to be some actual testing done, not just having a little chat about his needs and desires. Here is a quote from a Canadian gov't website:

The General Competency Test: Level 1 (GCT1) consists of 50 multiple-choice questions. There are three types of questions:

Understanding Written Material,
Solving Numerical Problems, and
Drawing Logical Conclusions.

The GCT1 takes about one hour and 45 minutes to write, including time for administrative purposes.
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Well Kay, that is not quite what my Mom had from a geriatician! That test wasn't long but much more comprehensive. I am not sure what precipitated the test or your relationship with the friend but I would say this is not a comprehensive test --- for whatever that is worth.
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