Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA) in Suffolk

We provide IMCA services across the whole of Suffolk.

Who should be referred to the IMCA service?

gentleman with mental health illness talking to an advocate The local authority/NHS decision maker MUST refer any person who has no ‘appropriate’ family and friends and lacks capacity to make a decision about either:

Serious medical treatment
Long term moves (more the 28 days in hospital/8 weeks in a care home)
Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards

The local authority/NHS decision maker MAY refer any person who lacks capacity to make a decision about either

Care review - with no ‘appropriate’ family or friends
Safeguarding referral - victim or alleged perpetrator, regardless of family and friends

How do you know if someone lacks capacity?

A person can be assessed as lacking the ability to make a decision, and needing an IMCA, if they cannot do one or more of the following:

Understand information given to them about the decision.
Retain the information for long enough to make the decision.
Use or weigh up the information as part of the decision making process.
Communicate their decision (by any means, e.g. talking, sign language or blinking).

The assessment must be specific to the decision which needs to be made, for example, not a generic test of capacity. Whether and how such assessments are recorded may vary according to the seriousness of the decision made.

How to Refer

Our role is not just to work with clients on their issues, but ensure that people around Suffolk know about the service.

If you are not sure whether an IMCA is relevant or not, call our referral line and we can talk you through the situation and advise you of the best route forward.

Referrals can be made by authorised staff in the local authority or the NHS to the IMCA service by answering some key questions about a person's capacity.

Alternatively, you can download our referral form from our IMCA page

We also provide Deprivation of Liberty Safeguarding (DoLS) services. You can find out more about DoLS in our IMCA pages.

You can refer clients via the below contact details: