# REQUEST FOR A DECISION-SPECIFIC MENTAL CAPACITY ASSESSMENT
Date: 18 March 2025
Parties: From Eleanor Hughes, daughter and attorney-contact for Margaret Hughes (DOB 14 February 1941), to Dr Aisha Khan, Riverside Medical Practice, and Oakfield Care Home manager Daniel Price
## 1. Addressee and decision
I ask you to arrange an assessment of Margaret Hughes’s capacity to decide, on 18 March 2025, whether to consent to Oakfield’s proposed reduction of her daily personal-care support from four hours to two hours from 1 April 2025. This is a request about that decision, not a general conclusion about Margaret’s capacity.
## 2. Chronology and concern
Oakfield proposed the change at a meeting on 11 March 2025. Margaret agreed once, then asked why staff would no longer help her wash, and on 15 March said she thought the proposal concerned her meals. She has an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, but that diagnosis is not itself evidence of incapacity; my concern is her apparent difficulty understanding, retaining and weighing this particular information.
## 3. Basis and process
Please apply the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and its Code of Practice, including the presumption of capacity and the decision-specific, time-specific test. Margaret should receive practicable support and an opportunity to decide without pressure. If she lacks capacity, any best-interests process should involve her wishes and feelings and the appropriate family or advocate; please consider whether an IMCA is required rather than assuming that I can decide for her.
## 4. Requested outcome and deadline
Please confirm by 25 March 2025 who will assess, how Margaret will be supported, and whether the proposed 1 April change will be paused pending a lawful decision. I ask for the assessment record and any best-interests decision to be shared with Margaret and me where lawful. I understand the current professional and local-authority route and forms must be verified, and this request does not itself determine capacity.
## 5. Evidence and status
Enclosed are Oakfield’s 11 March proposal, the current care plan, my dated notes of conversations on 11 and 15 March, and Margaret’s written preferences about personal care. I remain a family contact, not a deputy or attorney with authority over this decision. Signed electronically, Eleanor Hughes, 18 March 2025.