Mental Capacity Assessment reports

How long does it take to complete a Mental Capacity Assessment report?

In May desuto introduced a free evaluation service for new customers to help them measure the impact of using our decision support and report writing system. The evaluation consists of a baseline survey to be completed by all staff, who are required to understand and implement the Mental Capacity Act, within the service. The survey is then repeated at the end of the trial period to measure any changes. This data provides service owners and managers with valuable information about staff confidence and perceived knowledge and competence in applying the act.

Over time we will be able to combine the results from numerous surveys to gain an overall picture of the standard of MCA implementation nationally. We will report these findings in full when we have sufficient data.

Time taken to write reports

One of the aims of desuto is to reduce the burden of report writing for staff by reducing the time it takes for a staff member to complete a comprehensive detailed report of a capacity assessment. We are therefore extremely interested in the data on the length of time staff spend writing reports. Although it is too early to report follow up data the baseline data is eye opening!

• 10% of staff reported that they would not know how to report an assessment of capacity.
• 40% of staff said it would take them more than 2 hours to write a comprehensive report.
• 40% of staff said it would take them more than 1 hour to write a comprehensive report.
• 10% of staff said it would take them less than 30 minutes to write a comprehensive report.
• 0% believed it would take them less than 15 minutes to complete a comprehensive report.

According to this early data, it takes staff, on average, over 1.5 hours to write a comprehensive capacity assessment report.

Time saved!

We estimate that, by using our tools, a detailed and comprehensive Mental Capacity Assessment report can be completed in approximately 5 minutes. This would represent an average time-saving of 85 minutes every time an assessment report is required.

If our estimate is borne out by the survey findings it is easy to see the enormous potential for saving time through the use of the tools. We would invite care providers to look at their numbers and “do the maths” so to speak, to calculate what this could mean to them in hours.

We will present the finding of the survey in a future newsletter but keep your eyes open for more interesting data as it emerges.