Your Assessment Of Needs

How can I get help from Community Care Services?

Please contact the Community Care Service linked to your main needs or the needs of the person you look after if you are a carer - see Contacting Community Care in Related information for details.

When you first contact us we ask you to complete an assessment of needs. This involves talking to you about your situation to help us understand your needs and find out if you are eligible for support funded by Community Care Services.

When will my assessment start?

 We aim to start your assessment within 48 hours of your initial contact with us.

The first part of your assessment often takes place over the phone - during this call a care professional will ask you (or your carer) some general questions about your situation to find out if you have needs we can support and how urgent your situation is.

What happens after this initial assessment?

If your initial assessment shows that you may qualify for support, a social care worker will arrange a time to talk to you in more detail about your situation. If your situation is critical we may work with you to put some support services in place before this meeting happens.

What does this meeting involve?

During this meeting we will ask you to tell us about yourself and your situation including things like:

• the things that you would like to be able to do which you may be finding difficult at the moment
• the things that are most important to you and what you would like to change in your life
• your thoughts on how you would like to be supported
• the help you already receive.

You can ask a friend or family member to be with you during this assessment.

How quickly will this happen?

This depends on how urgent your situation is.

If your initial assessment shows that you need immediate help, your social care worker will arrange a home visit very quickly. If your situation isn't urgent, your care worker will arrange your assessment with you at a later date.

How long will my assessment take?

This depends on your individual needs. If your situation is very straightforward your assessment may be completed very quickly. However, if your needs are more complex and we need to co-ordinate with other care professionals things can take longer.

We usually complete assessments within 28 days (we are working towards completing most assessments within 14 days). If your assessment is going to take longer than 28 days your care worker will tell you how long it is likely to take so that you know what's going on.

What happens next?

What happens next depends on the outcome of your assessment:

If your assessment shows that you are eligible for support from Community Care we will give you information and advice about the local services that can offer support to help you achieve the outcomes identified during your assessment. We will also encourage you to tell us about any other ideas you have about how your support needs can be met.

We will look at your options and help you decide a way forward. Once everything is agreed we will put this in writing (this is called your SUPPORT PLAN).

See 'Our Eligibility Criteria' in Related Information for details about how we decide if you qualify for support

Who arranges my Support Plan?

That's up to you - you can have DIRECT PAYMENTS and arrange your own services or we can arrange your services for you.

What are Direct Payments?

Direct Payments is a scheme which gives you more choice and control over the support your receive.

We give you the money we would normally spend on your care (less the amount that you are expected to pay towards the cost of your care) so you can buy the support you want - as long as it achieves the outcomes identified through your assessment. You could buy services from an agency or employ a personal assistant - its up to you.

Our Direct Payments Team will provide advice and support to help you through the process.

see 'Direct Payments' in Related Infomation above for more details

What happens if you arrange my support?

If you ask Community Care Services to arrange your support services we will talk to you about the different ways your needs can be met and give you as much choice as possible. Once we have agreed your Support Plan we aim to have your care services in place within 28 days.

What if I'm not eligible

If you don't meet our eligibility criteria we will explain why and give you information about other organisations and services that may be able to offer the help you need.

If you think we haven't considered your needs fairly you can ask us to review your assessment. Please say why you disagree with our decision. The Team Manager will look at your assessment again to make sure that your needs were considered properly and will let you know their decision.

If you are still unhappy with our decision you can make a formal complaint through our complaints process (for more details see "Complaints, Comments and Compliments" in Related Information above). However, you should be aware that although the appeals and complaints processes allow us to re-assess your care needs against our eligibility criteria, we can't change the eligibility criteria.

Please note: If your circumstances change please ask for your needs to be re-assessed.

Downloads

PDF

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File	Type	Size	Download Time
Community Care: Eligibility And Assessment leaflet	PDF	131 KB	56Kbps Modem: 33 Seconds Broadband : 2 Seconds