At OFH, we pride ourselves on providing excellent quality mental capacity assessments, case management services, and social care assessments, coupled with efficiency and professionalism.

A mental capacity assessment becomes necessary when a person is required to make an important decision but, there are concerns that, due to an impairment in the way the person’s mind or brain works, they may be making a wrong decision or a choice they will not make if they did not have an impairment.

Our mental capacity assessors have extensive skills and knowledge, which ensures that we always provide quality and reliable assessments to meet the relevant legal requirements. Each assessment we provide is quality checked to ensure our reports are robust. There is a range of reasons why a mental capacity assessment may be required. For example, it may be necessary to determine an individual’s capacity to manage their property and financial affairs, their capacity to make health and welfare decisions, appointing a lasting power of attorney (LPA) or an application to the Court of Protection for the appointment of a Deputy. Other decisions include the capacity to litigate, which is also referred to as capacity to conduct proceedings, the capacity to gift or testamentary capacity assessment, which is also known as the capacity to write a will. There are occasions where a mental capacity report is required to determine a person’s ability to consent to sexual relations, capacity to marry, receive medical treatment, or enter into a pre-nuptial agreement, for example. When an application to the court of protection is being made, this has to be accompanied by a COP3 assessment of capacity. The Mental Capacity Act, 2005, sets out that mental capacity has to be assessed separately for each decision and at the specific time the decision needs to be made. The mental capacity act also sets out a two-stage test.  The first stage requires that there must be “an impairment of, or a disturbance” in the way the person’s mind or brain works, which impacts their ability to make the decision at the time. To meet these criteria during a mental capacity act assessment, it is not necessary that the person has a diagnosis. For example, acute confusion, memory loss, and drugs or alcohol effects are some of the aspects that could result in brain impairment or disturbance. These could either be temporary or permanent. The second stage requires the assessor to establish whether, the impairment impacts the person’s ability to understand, retain and weigh-up or use the relevant information to make up their own mind about the decision. Finally, the person must communicate their decision by any means (verbal, none verbal or other communication methods the person can use).

All our assessors understand the intricacies of carrying out specialist assessments with people of all ages, varying complexities, diagnosis, and presenting needs. Our team consists of experienced independent social workers, psychiatrists, and psychologists with a background in mental health capacity assessments, addressing unmet needs, rehabilitation, funding applications, placements, etc.

We support our clients, their family and friends, carers and deputies by providing Case Management services that promote optimum recovery and rehabilitation, as well as physical and emotional wellbeing.

At OFH Care, we understand that sustaining an injury can have a significant impact on the person and their loved ones. The life-changing effects of an injury cannot be under-estimated, whether they occur during birth, or later in life during childhood or adulthood. For this reason, all our Case Managers have considerable experience in identifying needs, working in a way that suits each client to introduce the right approaches and help achieve the goals of our clients, their family and legal team.

We know that offering the right support and rehabilitation early on can greatly enhance the level of recovery a child or adult can achieve. We understand that people’s needs change, especially children and adolescents, as they go through different stages of brain and physical development. Similarly, the needs of adults change due to health, age, physical injury and/or psychological injuries. We believe that providing tailored support  to meet a person’s needs significantly increases the chance of recovery and quality of life for our clients. This is why our case managers are skilled in identifying and introducing the appropriate therapies at the right time. This ensures that our clients develop skills in keeping with their recovery journey.

Our Case Managers understand the need to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team with solicitors, therapists, education professionals, statutory organisations and other professionals  to achieve the best outcomes for our clients. This may be in the form of:

• Initial Needs Assessments (INA)
• Providing therapies
• Sourcing suitable equipment for a client
• Adapting accommodation or finding more suitable housing
• Recruiting, training and managing care staff
• Education or vocational support
• Community support and leisure activities
• Care planning and risk assessments
• Mobility and transportation
• Working within financial budgets
• Securing funding from Health and Social Services

Equally we understand that, as Case Managers, our work can form part of the client’s litigation process and claim for damages. This responsibility, coupled with our professional duty as healthcare professionals, means we maintain up-to-date, clear and robust records to demonstrate what we do for each client and our clinical reasoning for the decisions we make.

At OFH Care, we believe that each stage of our client’s life is equally important. Our Case Managers consider carefully how we can support our clients through that journey.