Staff who work in Learning Disabilities and Dementia care settings could face imprisonment if they allow their residents to engage in sexual activity. The warning emerged from a recent annual conference of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Many Learning Disabilities and Dementia care settings strive to provide patient-centred care which may include affording the residents the right to have sexual relations. This warning appears to suggest that once a person with Learning Disabilities or Dementia is admitted into residential care then they are deemed to lack capacity to consent to sexual relations. So what is the way found?
The Mental Capacity Act may provide staff in residential care settings with the opportunity to determine whether or not a resident has the capacity to consent to a sexual relationship. However, the sad truth is that the majority of staff in residential care settings have not received training in the application of the Mental Health Capacity Act and therefore lack the confidence to use it for the benefits of their clients.
There is also a pressing need to clarify how staff can accommodate sexual activity among residents with Learning Disabilities and Dementia while protecting against abuse.
Two important points emerge from this article:
1. That staff need training in the application of the Mental Capacity Act.
2. That staff need training in Prevention of Adult Abuse
The above training needs to take a multi-agency approach as staff in residential care settings cannot be expected to make decisions about residents' capacity to consent to sexual activity in isolation.
Sifiso Ndlovu is the Manager and Training Consultant of Steven Lodge, a care home in the UK for people with Learning Disabilities. She has a special interest in dementia care and has presented her work at several International Dementia Conferences.
Please feel free to comment on my articles and visit the link to the site of Steven Lodge.
stevenlodge.co.uk stevenlodge.co.uk
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