Educational draft · awaiting clinical reviewUse Rapid for revision, not patient-care decisions. Check current national and local guidance and the BNF or BNFC before acting.
Functional impact, strengths and protective factors
Essential points for quick revision.
2 min synopsisUK scopeSources checked 27 Aug 2026Clinical review pending
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Collapse of essential function
Inability to obtain food or fluids, use essential medicines, maintain shelter, care for a dependent, avoid exploitation or seek help can create immediate danger even without stated suicidal intent.
Action: Assess physical state, capacity, dependants, accommodation and available support immediately. Address urgent neglect or safeguarding needs, involve crisis and social-care services as appropriate, and choose the least restrictive arrangement that can reliably meet essential needs.
Synopsis
Assess what the person can do, what has changed, what matters and which internal, relational and practical resources genuinely reduce harm or support recovery, translating findings into proportionate care and review.
Establish baseline and current ability with dated examples across self-care, domestic tasks, work or education, relationships, parenting, money, housing, leisure and healthcare use.
Separate capacity from performance: a person may understand a task yet be prevented by fatigue, symptoms, poverty, environment, coercion or lack of opportunity.
Ask what matters, what the person is proud of, how previous crises were survived and which skills or routines remain intact.
Key red flags
Rapid loss of washing, eating, mobility, medication use, money management or caregiving may signal severe mental illness, delirium, neurological disease or coercion.
National guidance is shown before implementation-dependent detail. Typical adult dose examples remain subject to patient factors, contraindications and the live BNF or specialist protocol. Source check completed 27 Aug 2026; clinical approval remains outstanding.