Not everyone has the ability to give consent or permission. This ability is called the Capacity.
Capacity is defined in the Mental Capacity Act 2005. A person has capacity if they are able to make the decision based on 4 factors:
1. They can understand the information relevant to the procedure. It is the clinician’s job to ensure they communicate in a manner that is appropriate for their patient.
2. Be able to retain that information. This is ascertained by asking the patient recall questions.
3. They can use or weigh that information to make their decision.
4. They can communicate their decision( which may be other than verbally and in another language perhaps).