Caroline Wills explains how a multidisciplinary team assessed a client’s capacity to agree to be given instruction that would alleviate his sexual frustration

The Mental Capacity Act and the code of practice (Department of Health (DH) (2005) make it clear that people should not be treated as unable to make a decision about their own lives unless all practicable steps to help them to do so have been taken without success. In the case of Peter, not his real name, a young man with severe learning disabilities and a degree of sexual frustration, the multidisciplinary learning disabilities community team used guidance from the act to discern his capacity to consent to treatment and how to work with him. This ensured that he, his family and the staff involved were fully supported throughout.