Deciding right app update - UK

Claud Regnard writes: You may already be aware of the NHS Deciding right app which is part of the Deciding right programme in the north east, Cumbria and London (see www.nescn.nhs.uk/deciding-right).

The app is a guide to support any health or social care professional through the process of making care decisions in advance for people who will or may lose capacity in the future, who have already lost capacity for those decisions or never had capacity. This app does not provide answers, but will ensure that the way an individual's care decisions are made comply with the Mental Capacity Act.

The app covers decision making in individuals with and without capacity, including children and young people. It includes a checklist for assessing the validity and applicability of a care decision made in advance.

The app has now been extensively revised and updated throughout and includes new sections on Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and withdrawing life sustaining devices.

The app is free to all and available on:

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.indigomultimedia.decidingright&hl=en_GB

Apple iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/deciding-right/id918441387?mt=8

As soon as the NHS app site has been upgraded, the app will be submitted there.

The content of the app has had input from a large number of experts who are listed in the acknowledgements. We have done our best to eliminate errors but if you spot errors or have suggestions, please let me know.

Claud Regnard, FRCP
Honorary consultant in Palliative Care Medicine, St. Oswald's Hospice, Regent Avenue, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 1EE