making choices about your health - surrey health action · making choices about your health an easy...

Making choices about your health

An Easy Read guide to capacity and consent for adults

The ‘Getting Ready’ series of factsheets are also free to downloadGetting ready for my visit to hospital, Getting ready for my stay in hospital

Getting ready to go home from hospital, and Getting ready for my health check.

Go to: www.surreyhealthaction.org

Developed and designed by The Clear Communication People Ltd

Version 1 - November 2013

Getting ready for my stay in hospital

An Easy Read guide to planning for your stay in hospital

The illustrations above are from The Hospital Communication Book. This picture book is free to download and use while you are in hospital.

Go to: www.communicationpeople.co.uk


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Version 1 - August 2013

Getting ready for my visit to hospital

An Easy Read guide to planning for your hospital appointment

The illustrations above are from The Hospital Communication Book. This picture book is free to download and use while you are in hospital.

Go to: www.communicationpeople.co.uk



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2.8

Getting ready for my health check

An Easy Read guide about having a health check at your doctor’s surgery



We all need good healthcare

If you have a problem with your teeth it is important to get treatment from your dentist.

Here are some examples of healthcare.

You might need help to make choices about your healthcare.

It is important to have a eye test every two years at your optician.

Sometimes you might need to have a check up at hospital or at your doctor’s surgery.

Sometimes you might need to have an operation at hospital to make you better.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005

This is the law about making important choices.

To have health treatment you are asked to give consent.

The law says that you can make choices about your healthcare unless it is proved that you can’t.

People can’t just say that you will not understand your choices.

You must be given help to try tounderstand your choices.

Consent is when you say yes to having the treatment.

To give consent you usually have to sign a form.

Consent needs to be checked first

Understanding your choice

Don’t go to an appointment for health treatment if you haven’t checked consent first.

To give consent you must show that you understand the choice about your health treatment.

This is called having ‘capacity to consent’.

If there is a problem with consent your health treatment may not happen.

You need to be able to understand:

• Why you are having the treatment.

• What might happen when you have the treatment.

• What you need to do after you have the treatment.

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You also need to be able to communicate your choice.

Helping you to understand your choice

These things can help you to understand your choice.

Easy Read information

Visits to find out more

DVD’s and films on websites like YouTube

Talking with a nurse or doctor

Talking with friends and family

People must give you the time you need to understand your health choices.

Some people can consent to some health choices but not to others.

Each choice must be looked at on it’s own

Some choices are easier to understand than others.

A decision about having a test or treatment can be made in your ‘Best Interest’.

Many people find it easy to choose to have an eye test.

Choosing whether to have an eye operation is a harder choice.

This is when other people decide if having the treatment is the right choice for you.

What if you can’t make the choice?

Best Interest

The health professional doing the test or treatment decides whether you should have it or not.

They don’t decide on their own.

They will talk to your family and other people who know you well to find out what they think.

People will think about how much the treatment could help you.

They will also think about the risks of you having the treatment.

They should make a plan so the treatment causes you as little worry and stress as possible.

They should make sure you have the support you need to get better after the treatment.

Example of a ‘Best Interest’ decision

The dentist talked to Karl’s family and the staff who supported him.

Everyone agreed that Karl’s tooth should be fixed as the pain was making his lifemiserable.

The dentist thought the best way to do the treatment was for Karl to have a general anaestetic so he would be asleep.

Everyone agreed that this would cause Karl the least stress.

• He was in pain all the time and couldn’t sleep properly.

• He wouldn’t let anyone near his mouth to look at his teeth.

• It was found that he couldn’t give consent to have his tooth fixed.

Karl had a bad toothache

The treatment went well and Karl was soon back to his old self again.

An MRI scan does not hurt, but it is very noisy and you have to lie still.

• Angela was having trouble walking.

• Her doctor wanted the scan to check if there was any damage to the muscle.

• It was found that she couldn’t give consent to have the scan.

Angela’s doctor wanted her to have an MRI scan to check the muscle in her leg.

Example of a ‘Best Interest’ decision

The radiographer had a meeting with Angela’s family and the staff who supported her.

People were worried that Angela would find the scan very upsetting and would not be able to lie still enough.

The Radiographer decided it was not in Angela’s best interest to have the scan as the risks were greater than the benefits.

Angela’s family went back to talk to the doctor about other ways they could help Angela.

Independent Mental Capacity Advocate

Emergency healthcare

An Independent Mental Capacity Advocate is often called an IMCA.

They help people who lack the capacity to make important decisions about serious medical treatment.

If a person has no family or friends to talk to about a health decision the advocate can get involved.

The advocate works with the person and represents their views to those who are working out their best interests.

There will be an IMCA service in your area.

In an emergency you may be given health treatment without your consent being asked.

If you are very ill or very badly hurt a paramedic or a doctor will treat you without needing to check your consent.

This is to make sure you get the help you need very quickly.

To find out more

For more detailed information about The Mental Capacity Act 2005 go to the NHS Choices website.

www.nhs.uk/CarersDirect/moneyandlegal/legal/Pages/MentalCapacityAct.aspx

RUBBER DESIGN, 2nd Floor, Afon Building, Worthing Road, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 1TL P: 01273 25 1117 E: [email protected]© Rubber Design 2013

The Clear Communication People[ Option Set One - Prism ]

The Clear Communication People Ltd

Developed and designed by The Clear Communication People Ltd as part of a project funded by The Learning Disability Partnership Board in Surrey.

This booklet can be downloaded free of charge from www.surreyhealthaction.org

About Easy Read information

Go to: www.communicationpeople.co.uk to find out more about our work

Please do not:• Make multiple copies of the booklet - we can supply multiple copies at a reasonable price.

• Use for any commercial purposes.

• Put the booklet on your website or edit or adapt the booklet in any way.

© The Clear Communication People Ltd,The Clear Communication People Ltd give permission to use this booklet for non-commercial purposes only. You are free to download and print a copy to use with a person you are supporting.

Easy Read information using larger print, easy words and pictures to make information easier to understand. Easy read is a summary of the key points. Whilst it is useful to help people understand complex subjects it should not be relied upon soley in the process of supporting people to make decisions about their health care and treatment,

Using this booklet

• Easy Pics imagenbank © The Clear Communication People Ltd• Some photosymbols used - go to www.photosymbols.com

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