The Mental Health (Approved Mental Health Professionals) (Approval) (England) Regulations 2008

2.    Key Competence Area 2: Application of Knowledge: The Legal and Policy Framework

(1) Whether the applicant has—

(a) appropriate knowledge of and ability to apply in practice—

(i) mental health legislation, related codes of practice and national and local policy guidance, and

(ii) relevant parts of other legislation, codes of practice, national and local policy guidance, in particular the Children Act 1989(1), the Children Act 2004(2), the Human Rights Act 1998(3) and the Mental Capacity Act 2005(4);

(b) a knowledge and understanding of the particular needs of children and young people and their families, and an ability to apply AMHP practice in the context of those particular needs;

(c) an understanding of, and sensitivity to, race and culture in the application of knowledge of mental health legislation;

(d) an explicit awareness of the legal position and accountability of AMHPs in relation to the Act, any employing organisation and the authority on whose behalf they are acting;

(e) the ability to—

(i) evaluate critically local and national policy to inform AMHP practice, and

(ii) base AMHP practice on a critical evaluation of a range of research relevant to evidence-based practice, including that on the impact on persons who experience discrimination because of mental health.

(2) In paragraph (1), “relevant” means relevant to the decisions that an AMHP is likely to take when acting as an AMHP.

(1)

1989 c.41.

(2)

2004 c.31.

(3)

1998 c.42.

(4)

2005 c.9.