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The purpose of this paper is to measure nurses’ knowledge about Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 before and after a one-day training course using participants’ favoured methods of training activities.

A repeated measures design was used to evaluate the impact of a one-day Adult Support and Protection training on pre-training knowledge of community nurses across one NHS area. Participants’ favoured methods of training activities were used in the training. Participants were community nurses working in learning disability, mental health, older people's services, acute services, substance misuse, and accident and emergency. All completed a training needs analysis and training preferences study. Individual and group scores on an Adult Support and Protection knowledge questionnaire were analysed pre- and post-training.

There was a statistically significant increase in scores post-training (Wilcoxon's signed-ranks test). Individual increases ranged from 2.5 to 27.5 per cent, with a mean score of 15 per cent. Evaluation of the impact of nationally approved Adult Support and Protection training is needed and training should take account of participants’ existing knowledge and preferred methods of training delivery to improve the transfer of learning into practice.

Participants were self-selecting. Existing knowledge was not controlled for in the sample. No longitudinal follow up to measure retention of any improvements in knowledge. No control group. Training methods used were based on the expressed preferences of 40 nursing staff, but only 18 of these staff participated in the training day.

There is a dearth of research in evaluating the impact of the adult protection training on staff knowledge and understanding. Designing training activities and content to take account of participant preferences, and areas where knowledge is weakest may enhance the effectiveness of training in this area. This research was funded as a Queens Nursing Institute Community Project. It builds on a pilot project

The National Institute of Mental Health England (NIMHE) appointed a Fellow in Ageing and Mental Health to take on a national leadership role for a three‐year period from 2003 to 2006. Starting from a position where the NIMHE website could only address older adult issues under social exclusion, a group of committed individuals in a range of organisations came together and a regional and national work programme in older people's mental health was developed. This paper offers reflections on the issues raised during the Fellowship in respect of older people's mental health services and this Fellowship model of leadership.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the consequences for older people’s mental wellbeing of understandings relating to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). The MCA seeks to maximise people’s abilities to make decisions and provides a framework for decisions to be made in a person’s best interests should they lack the mental capacity to do so themselves (Graham and Cowley, 2015). Practice varies widely amongst health and social care practitioners and little is known about the nature of interventions under the MCA or the outcomes for service users’ lives and health, especially their mental health and emotional wellbeing.

By reflecting upon existing evidence this position paper offers a narrative of how practice in applying the principles of the MCA may impact upon the mental wellbeing of older people. Drawing upon court of protection judgements and existing research the author analyses the way the MCA is understood and applied and how institutional mechanisms might hinder good practice.

There are tensions between policy imperatives and examples of practice linked to the MCA, the spirit of the MCA and tenets of good practice. Despite efforts on promoting choice, control and rights there is growing paradoxical evidence that the MCA is used as a safeguarding tool with the consequences that it constrains older people’s rights and that it may encourage risk averse practice. The consequences of this for older people are considerable and include lack of choice, autonomy and self-determination. This discussion suggests that anxiety in relation to the application of the MCA stills exists in practice and that maximising older people’s capacity and supporting decision making is central in promoting mental health and wellbeing.

This position paper will identify how the MCA might be interpreted in action through consideration of existing evidence. This paper may lead to future research on how understandings of the MCA are constructed and what values underpin its application from conception to outcomes in relation to understandings of risk, risk aversion, decision making and the potential and need for emancipatory practice. Essentially, the paper will discuss how the MCA actually seeks to enhance the mental health and emotional wellbeing of older adults by offering a rather radical approach to understanding people’s wishes and feelings, but how attitudes may lead to misunderstandings and negative outcomes for the individual.

In a climate of serious case reviews identifying concerns and abuses in care it is imperative that understanding of the MCA inform good practice. However, what constitutes good practice requires unravelling and the agendas, requirements and attitudes of interventions need considering from an epistemological perspective as well as to project how the outcomes of decision-making impact upon the mental health of older adults. This paper will discursively add value to the narrative around how the MCA is applied in practice and how chosen practice often constructs the mental wellbeing of older adults.

This article is the first of a series on older people's mental health services (OPMH Focus 2008‐09). It sets out some of the challenges facing commissioners, and uses recommendations from a recent inquiry to outline possible commissioning objectives.

UK policy seeks to shift commissioning of services ‘closer to the people’ with a view to establishing shared visions of local care services grounded in the opinions and priorities of the public. The participation of older people with mental health problems and their carers in the strategic planning process has been patchy, however. This article compares practitioner and public perspectives of the services that should be provided for older people with mental health problems in an area of North West England. Significant differences were found in the services the various stakeholder groups prioritised for development, and in their views on how they should be organised. The implications for commissioning are discussed.

At a time of increasing interest in mental health in later life, the role of public health approaches is potentially heightened. This paper draws on interview data with older people living in London to consider the interplay between personal and public approaches to health and well‐being. The interviews were under taken as part of the midpoint review of the UK government's 10‐year strategy for older people (Healthcare Commission et al, 2006) and the social characteristics of London are considered.

There is growing statistical and research evidence to suggest that the prevalence of alcohol misuse is increasing among older adults in the UK. This has been an under‐recognised problem, but is now a source of increasing concern for health and social care providers. Older adults with mental health problems have increased vulnerability to problematic alcohol use, and this is likely to have a significant impact on older people's mental health services (OPMHS).

This paper discusses some of the problems facing OPMHS in relation to increasing alcohol misuse among services users.

There is also evidence that alcohol misuse in older adults is often poorly identified and untreated within health and social care services including OPMHS. Use of an alcohol‐screening tool as part of a health care assessment is an effective way to improve detection. This paper also reviews the use of alcohol screening tools in the detection of alcohol related illness among older adults with mental health problems and proposes a care pathway for the management of alcohol misuse in OPMHS.

Current evidence indicates that the prevalence of alcohol misuse among older adults is increasing and is likely to rise further due to the reasons discussed in this paper.

This article is a ‘taster’, and summarises the issues identified in the UK Inquiry report on Mental Health in Later Life. It looks at how the Inquiry undertook its work, how older people with mental health problems are often overlooked and what their views and experiences are of accessing services, what actions are proposed for the housing, health and care sectors, and key issues and recommendations. Age Concern is committed to auditing the response to the recommendations and will report progress in 2009.