Janice.Thompson, Author at Research Matters

An image of a doctor and a couple having a discussion (Image: Rhoda Baer)

Advance decisions to refuse treatment: Where are we now?

by Janice.Thompson
22nd June 201631st March 2024

An advance decision to refuse treatment (sometimes known as a living will) is a decision a person can make now to refuse a specific type of treatment at some time in the future.

The Mental Capacity Act was passed late in the last Assembly mandate and received Royal Assent on 9 May 2016. With it, Northern Ireland became the first jurisdiction in the world to fuse mental health and mental capacity law as first recommended by the Bamford Review in its legislative report published in 2007. Under the new law, it will no longer be possible to treat a person who retains capacity (for a particular treatment decision) against their will. This principle will apply to both contemporaneous and advance decisions to refuse treatment, and to treatment decisions regarding both physical and mental conditions.

Transforming Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland: A Recent History

by Janice.Thompson
27th April 201631st March 2024

Across the developed world, governments are striving to transform how they deliver and manage health and social care in a way which is fit for a modern context. That context includes the increasing demands placed on these services by ageing populations (often living with multi-morbidities), constrained resources, technological advances and rising patient expectations.

Northern Ireland has not been immune to these increased demands and to the realisation of the need for real strategic change in delivery and suitable governance of its health and social care services.

Janice.Thompson

Advance decisions to refuse treatment: Where are we now?

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