Mental Capacity Act 2005 and multiple exclusion homelessness
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Use of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 with people experiencing multiple exclusion homelessness in England
IRAS ID
327441
Contact name
Kritika Samsi
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
researchregistry9952, Research Registry
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 7 months, 0 days
Research summary
What? This study will examine how health and social care practitioners across England work with people who are homeless, and how they ‘assess’ if a person can decide if they will accept help or refuse it. We will find out if a special guide can help improve these assessments and lead to better action to support people who are homeless.
Why? People who are homeless have very bad health compared to the rest of society and die young. These deaths might have been prevented, but there are lots of reasons why it can be hard to support people. People may have problems that can stop them getting support, for example with mental health, drugs or drink, or they feel they cannot trust services. When these problems all come together we call it ‘multiple exclusion homelessness’. Workers need to assess if a person can decide to refuse help - this is called the ‘mental capacity’ to make a decision. But we know that assessments are not always done well, so people who are not able to make a decision may not get the support they need.
How? The study will last 2.5 years. We will look at everything written on this area; talk to national experts; then survey a sample of workers across England for their opinions. We will next focus on three English councils and talk to 45 workers and 30 people with diverse experience of homelessness to learn from them. We will bring together experts to look at everything we have learned and to improve a special guide to help workers assess people. We will ask workers to test the guide. Did it change what they decided to do or what happened to the person who is homeless? People with lived experience of homelessness are involved throughout the study.REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/LO/0509
Date of REC Opinion
26 Jul 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion