Mental Capacity Advisory Group

Dr Louise Warren is a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist and has worked in neurorehabilitation in independent practice and the NHS since 2009. Dr Warren qualified as a Clinical Psychologist in 2006 and has since achieved the Postgraduate Qualification in Clinical Neuropsychology (QiCN) in 2015 and is on the Specialist Register of Clinical Neuropsychologists (SRCN).

Dr Warren has worked as an Associate Clinical Tutor on the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Surrey as well as teaching on the Postgraduate Diploma in Adult Clinical Neuropsychology at the Salomon’s Institute for Applied Psychology on various topics including Assessing Mental Capacity.

Dr Warren has extensive experience in conducting mental capacity assessments in NHS, charitable and independent practice settings.  In addition, she provides expert evidence to the courts on adult neuropsychology and neurorehabilitation issues as well as conducting mental capacity assessments for the Court of Protection.

Jahnese Hamilton is a clinical researcher working with people with mental health conditions, learning disabilities, and autism in Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS, England. 

She leads the delivery of NIHR Clinical Research Network Portfolio studies in NHS and Partnership organisations within clinical and care settings, routinely assessing capacity to consent to research. She works closely with research collaborators, supporting the translation of research policy and the MCA into protocols for including participants who may lack capacity. 

Jahnese has conducted research on how researchers assess capacity to consent and published and presented outcomes of this work in the British Journal of Learning Disabilities and at conferences. 

In 2020, she led the update to the BPS Guideline: Conducting research with people not having the capacity to consent to their participation: A practical guide for researchers.

Dr Emma Fowler is a Senior Clinical Psychologist working across older adult inpatient wards in Manchester. Before qualifying, she worked within the Safeguarding Adults Team in Manchester where she was lead for Mental Capacity Act training, policy and service development for ten years.

She has provided specialist training in the application of the Mental Capacity Act to Health and Social care staff as well as Clinical Psychology trainees. She has also undertaken research on the application of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), contributed to the development of standardised capacity paperwork across Manchester and written, or co-written, four chapters in, ‘Assessing Mental Capacity: A handbook to guide professionals from basic to more advanced practice’, published by Routledge in 2020.

She has a special interest in providing family therapy for older adults with cognitive impairment and for the people in their support system. 

Dr Jane McNeil is a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist and Head of the Clinical Neuropsychology Department at Solent NHS Trust. She manages community Neuropsychological services across Portsmouth, Southampton and Southeast and West Hampshire.

She is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS), and a Member of the Specialist Register of Clinical Neuropsychologists (SRCN) within the Division of Neuropsychology. 

She is a practitioner psychologist registered with HCPC. She is an examiner for the Qualification in Clinical Neuropsychology (QICN) and a Specialist Assessor for the BPS.

She qualified as a Clinical Psychologist in 1991 and has over 30 years of experience working with neurological patients. She has specific expertise in assessing mental capacity on a range of issues.

Dr Clara O’Brien is a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist and Head of the Clinical Neuropsychology service at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. She also has an independent neuropsychology practice based in Sussex.

Dr O’Brien is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS), is on the Specialist Register of Clinical Neuropsychologists (SCRN) and is a member of the BPS Division of Neuropsychology and Division of Clinical Psychology.

She has a broad range of clinical experience working with patients with acquired brain injuries and neurological conditions in acute, community and rehabilitation settings, which has enabled her to gain extensive experience in applying mental capacity legislation in a variety of different clinical situations, including the use of DOLS legislation.

Dr O’Brien has contributed to the development of NICE clinical guidance and provides teaching on a range of topics to local Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology courses.

Dr Kevin Baker is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist who has specialised in working with people who are deaf and/or have a developmental disability. He currently works at St Andrews Healthcare in Northampton in a medium secure forensic service for deaf people and for the National Deaf CAMHS team in the East Midlands.

Kevin’s personal and professional experience is keenly focused on communication and helping people understand each other. For the past two decades, he has worked in a range of inpatient and community services for people who are deaf and services for people with a learning disability.

Kevin also works independently, and is a Special Visitor for the Court of Protection and Office of the Public Guardian, providing capacity assessments and helping with their investigations. He also provides some teaching to clinical training courses on capacity assessments.

As a clinical psychologist Rob has worked across the NHS, social services, private and voluntary sectors.

He has designed and set up services in neuropsychiatry, neurorehabilitation, autism and ADHD, and acted as expert witness in the first use of section 44 of the MCA against a lay person.

Rob is on the GMC rosta of experts for fitness to practice tribunals, having recently given evidence on MDT working and capacity/Gillick competence in paediatric transgender medicine, and also works with the BPS Practice Guideline Review group.

Rob is an active member of the BPS Section of Sexualities where he works towards greater visibility and inclusion for LGBTQ+ communities within psychology and in society more broadly.

Dr Victoria Teggart is a Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist working in Addictions and Homelessness Services at Greater Manchester Mental Health Foundation Trust and as an Expert Witness in independent practice.

She is a Module Lead on the Postgraduate Diploma in Adult Clinical Neuropsychology at the Salomon’s Institute for Applied Psychology.

Victoria qualified as a Clinical Psychologist in 2006, completed the Postgraduate Qualification in Clinical Neuropsychology (QiCN) in 2014 and is on the Specialist Register of Clinical Neuropsychologists (SRCN).

She has extensive experience of working in neuropsychological services across various settings including stroke rehabilitation, adult mental health and brain injury rehabilitation.

She is particularly interested in adapting neuropsychological assessments
and interventions for people with multiple and complex needs.