John Brassil
Question:342. Deputy John Brassil asked the Minister for Health the status of the establishment of the decision support service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52705/18]
View answerTuesday, 18 December 2018
Questions (342)
Written answers
The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 which provides a modern statutory framework to support decision-making by adults with capacity difficulties, is the policy responsibility of the Department of Justice and Equality. I understand that the Deputy also has a parliamentary question on the Decision Support Service (DSS), which was established by the 2015 Act and is located within the Mental Health Commission, down today to the Minister for Justice and Equality who sets out the position in relation to the DSS.
I should add that the commencement of Part 8 of the 2015 Act, which provides a legislative framework for advance healthcare directives, is a matter for this Department. The Minister for Health, under the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 (Commencement of Certain Provisions) (No. 2) Order 2016 (S.I. No. 517 of 2016), brought some provisions of Part 8 of the Act into operation on 17 October 2016. The provisions commenced in Part 8 were the definition of “Minister” in section 82; the definitions of “code of practice” and “working group” in section 91(1); and section 91(2). The commenced provisions provide for the establishment by the Minister for Health of a multi-disciplinary group to advise in relation to codes of practice on advance healthcare directives. The multi-disciplinary group has been set up and is currently finalising its recommendations.