End of life care: Maximising capacity to make decisions

12. If a patient’s capacity to make a decision may be impaired, you must provide the patient with all appropriate help and support to maximise their ability to understand, retain, use or weigh up the information needed to make that decision or communicate their wishes. You must assess their capacity to make each decision, at the time it needs to be made. You can find detailed guidance about maximising and assessing a patient’s capacity in Consent: patients and doctors making decisions together and in the codes of practice supporting the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000⁶.