Ms Ber Grogan:

With advanced healthcare directives, one can plan for future healthcare issues, whether physical or mental healthcare. One of the things the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act will do is make advanced healthcare directives legally binding for everyone whether in terms of physical health or if one is receiving voluntary mental healthcare treatment. People will have sat down with their supports or advocates and made a plan for the type of treatment they want or do not want. For example, people might say electroconvulsive therapy is not something they want or that certain medications do not work for them. Everybody will have their rights and their will and preferences respected unless they are detained under Part 4 of the Mental Health Act or the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2010. Every other person will have the right to have their advanced healthcare directives followed in healthcare settings, except people who are involuntarily detained. In the work we have done around it, people are more likely to make advanced planning for their care if they have been through a mental health crisis before. People do not necessarily sit around on a Saturday night thinking what they will do in case something happens next year. People are making informed choices about their treatment and body when they are well. A lot of mental health admissions are readmissions. If we are to be trauma-informed and recovery-oriented in our approach to mental healthcare and to people with intellectual disabilities and psychosocial disabilities, then, as Ms Loughlin said, it is about listening to them and to their voices. At the moment, there is going to be a cohort of people excluded from that right.