1.                  The Mental Capacity Act will come into effect on 1st March 2010. The Act sets out a clear legislative framework to empower Singaporeans to appoint trusted persons to make decisions on their behalf in the event they lose their mental capacity due to conditions such as dementia, traumatic brain damage or stroke. It also sets out safeguards to protect some of the most vulnerable members of our society.
 
2.                  The Act also provides for the appointment of the Public Guardian and spells out his statutory functions.  The primary role of the Public Guardian is to protect the interests of the persons who lack capacity and investigate into allegations of ill-treatments or abuses of this vulnerable group of persons.  The appointee is Mr Daniel Koh who is a senior and experienced officer from the Singapore Legal Service.
 
3.                  There will be a Code of Practice that guides proxy decision-makers, family members and caregivers in their roles and responsibilities within the framework of the Act.
 
4.                  Singaporeans who wish to plan ahead to ensure that decisions relating to their personal and financial well-being can be made in their best interest by their appointed trusted persons, can do so through a new legal document called the Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). The LPA must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian. 
 
5.                   If the individual already suffers from the lack of capacity, the Act also provides a process for application to the Court to appoint trusted persons as deputies to make decisions on his behalf. The Act also provides for parents of children with intellectual disability to apply to the court to appoint a successor deputy, to replace the parent as the deputy in the event the parent themselves are no longer able to make the decisions on behalf of the child.
 
6.                  Existing members of the committee of the person and/or the estate appointed by the court under the Mental Disorders & Treatment Act shall be deemed as deputies appointed by the court under the Mental Capacity Act on and after 1st March 2010 with the same powers and functions that were conferred under the earlier court orders.
 
7.                  Come 1st March 2010, the Office of the Public Guardian will start to work with Voluntary Welfare Organisations to take in applications of those who have been waiting to register their LPAs.  This will be followed by full operations in June 2010 to receive direct public applications. 

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