Advice centre

Dr Lucy Hanington, Medicolegal Consultant at Medical Protection, stresses the importance of having a diverse pool of medical experts to call on.

A medical student considers their early learnings from medical school so far and what they wish they had been told to consider when starting their gruelling studies.

This two and a half hour eLearning course is divided into nine modules of interactive content. It features interviews with leading experts working with the Mental Capacity Act.

Nearly half of healthcare professionals in the UK (46%) say their mental health is worse now than it was during the pandemic, and three quarters (75%) feel the Government is not doing enough to help healthcare professionals with mental health issues.

When a specialty trainee was asked to self-refer to the GMC after his conduct outside clinical work, Medical Protection provided support and guidance.

Both legislation and the GMC’s guidance emphasise that doctors should presume that adults have the capacity to consent to or refuse a proposed treatment unless it can be established that they lack that capacity.

Consent is an individualised process based on respect – it is more than a signature on a form, says medicolegal adviser Dr Gordon McDavid