My newest project is a blatant rip off. The materials are my own but the format is very definitely inspired by two bloggers and tweeters whom I admire so much I intend to emulate them. They do say (whoever ‘they’ might be) that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Recently Twitter’s excellent @nurse_w_glasses who is responsible for the immensely popular 20 commandments for mental health workers and the ’20 commandments’ blog has seen her 1 page summary of the commandments posted in nurses’ stations all across the globe. It’s such a good format.

Even more recently a Leicestershire police inspector @MentalHealthCop who hosts his own extremely popular blog has begun posting ‘quick guides’ for serving police officers who may need fast access to pithy information as situations arise.

My project is based upon a combination of both these ideas. I plan to create relatively brief ‘quick guide’ summaries of mental health and social care principles that can either be used for quick online reference (like Mental Health Cop’s guides) or posted in staff rooms and offices (like Margreeth’s 20 commandments). I’m essentially ripping off two basic formats to create my own hybrid. Fortunately neither Margreeth nor Mental Health Cop seem to object. After all – we’re all chasing the same thing – information getting ‘out there’ to the people on the front line.

So my first offering in this series is a single page summary of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 for front line workers in England & Wales.

You can download it here: MCA 1 page summary

Feel free to print it off and post it in the office, nurses’ station or keep it in your bag for quick reference should you need it.

You can also download my longer PDF that explains the Mental Capacity Act in more detail if you fancy something a bit more meaty