Reasons why there may be times when you need to support an individual to question decisions made about them by others:

• A person’s right to make the decision independently may have been violated. Someone may have made an illegal decision which contravenes the law e.g. they may have made a decision for someone who has mental capacity when the Mental Capacity Act gives them a right to make it themselves.
• A person’s liberty may have been unlawfully restricted
• Someone’s family member may have put pressure on the person or a service to make a decision which the person does not agree with
• A professional may have put pressure on the person or used their power to oppress the person
• A procedure may be in place which the person, or a group wishes to challenge
• The person may wish to make a formal or informal complaint about a procedure or practice of an organisation (or its staff) e.g. being put on a waiting list; discriminatory practice; the attitude of the worker etc.
• The person may wish to make a formal complaint about another service user’s conduct towards them.

People have the right to disagree, challenge and to assert themselves without fear of negative consequences if they wish to express concern about a service or worker.

Service users may need your assistance to challenge the decisions which members of their family or other professionals may try to impose on them, when they have a right to make such decisions without their interference.

Use to answer question 7.3d of the Care Certificate