Rachel Hubbard - The Best Interests Assessor Practice Handbook

First published in Great Britain in 2018 by

Policy Press University of Bristol 1-9 Old Park Hill Bristol BS2 8BB UK Tel +44 (0)117 954 5940 e-mail

North American office: Policy Press c/o The University of Chicago Press 1427 East 60th Street Chicago, IL 60637, USA t: +1 773 702 7700 f: +1 773-702-9756 e:

Policy Press 2018

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ISBN 978-1-4473-3555-9 paperback
ISBN 978-1-4473-3554-2 hardcover
ISBN 978-1-4473-3556-6 ePub
ISBN 978-1-4473-3557-3 Mobi
ISBN 978-1-4473-3558-0 ePdf

The right of Rachel Hubbard and Kevin Stone to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Rachel Hubbard is a registered social worker, qualified teacher and Best Interests Assessor (BIA). She has more than 25 years practice experience in adult social care and mental health work for both the National Health Service and local authorities. She has worked as a training officer for North Somerset Council where she was the training lead for safeguarding adults, the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), the Care Act 2014, and continuing professional development (CPD), including the social work Assessed and Supported Year in Employment (ASYE) and post-qualifying training for social workers, Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) and BIAs. She has worked for Bristol City Council as DoLS Coordinator and as a BIA for both Bristol and North Somerset. She is now Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of the West of England, Bristol, where she teaches on their undergraduate and CPD social work programmes, acts as Module Leader for the BIA module and is now social work CPD Programme Lead.

Dr Kevin Stone has worked within health and social care for over 20 years. During this time he has worked in both voluntary and statutory mental health agencies. He was an Approved Social Worker, converting to become an AMHP when the former role was abolished, working as a mental health team manager and later as an emergency duty team officer. Following this he trained as a BIA. Kevin has remained in practice as an AMHP/BIA working within the former Avon area. Kevin is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work and Researcher at University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol, and AMHP Programme Leader at UWE for the South West Region. He teaches law, social policy and mental health practice to undergraduate and masters students. His research interests relate to the application and impact of mental health legislation in the UK and internationally.

The authors would like to thank Julia Mortimer, Isobel Bainton, Catherine Grey and all at Policy Press for their guidance, patience, understanding and hard work, and also the Gurt Lush Choir for giving the opportunity for the laws of coincidence to work for us to find you.

Thanks to Tammy Richards, Dameon Caddy and Julie Phillips for reading draft chapters and offering expertise and guidance and to Don Jones for sharing his personal experiences. Our gratitude also goes to Jim Bagnall, Susannah Thomson, Fran Lawrence, Sam Baldwin, Jane Buswell, Sharron Price and Gary Underhill for their views and Emma Dmitriev for invaluable legal expertise.

Rachel Hubbard gives personal thanks to Alistair, Austin and Floyd Hubbard for reading, editing, word finding, patience, support and tolerance.

Kevin Stone would like to thank his wife Helen for her understanding while this book was being written, and Rachel Hubbard for her support, motivation and literary abilities in bringing the book to completion.