When you first contact us
If you are being referred by someone else, that person should have told you that they are contacting us and you should have agreed to it. When you first contact us for an assessment or someone contacts us on your behalf, you are likely to be asked some key questions about your personal details and the reason you are contacting us
These questions are the first stage of carrying out an assessment of your needs and it may include questions about what you can and can’t do (also known as the Wellbeing Questionnaire). Once this stage is completed, we may do one or more of the following:
- We may provide you with information and advice and/or signpost you to support available in your community or to a voluntary sector organisation
- We may provide or refer you to other services provided by other organisations which may help delay or prevent your needs from deteriorating and help you live independently for longer
- We may proceed to arrange a full assessment for you and it could be in the form of a supported self assessment (if you wish) or a social worker can arrange a visit to assess you.
- Offer a carer’s assessment if you are a carer
What to expect before the assessment
Where it appears to the council that you have needs for care and support, you should expect the following before an assessment:
- We will ensure that your communication needs are taken into consideration and adapt the assessment process accordingly.
- We will ensure that you are fully included in the assessment.
- If you have substantial difficulties and no appropriate person to help you understand and take part in the assessment process, we will arrange for an independent advocate to help you.
- We will clearly explain the assessment process to you in a way that you understand including useful information about timescales and appeals process.
- We will send you a list of questions we will cover on the assessment day in an accessible format so you are well prepared.
- We may pause your assessment in order to refer you to a service which may help delay or prevent your needs from deteriorating. These are known as preventative and reablement services.
What to expect during the assessment
After we have paused your assessment and referred you for reablement/preventative services and/or provided you with information and advice, we will monitor your progress. If your needs have not been improved, we will proceed to carry out an assessment.
We will always ensure that you are involved as much as possible in the assessment, give your own views on what you need and what is important to you. We will consider the following during the assessment:
- Your needs which stop you from living an independent life
- The wishes and goals you hope to achieve
- The impact of your needs on your day to day life and its effect on your wellbeing
- The impact of your needs on your family, friends and any other relevant person
- How your own strengths and capabilities can help you achieve your outcomes, goals and ambitions
- How your support network and wider community can help you achieve your outcomes
The eligibility decision
Once we have identified your needs and outcomes you wish to achieve, we will determine what your eligible needs are. This will be done using the new national minimum eligibility criteria which will examine your needs, its impact on your wellbeing and outcomes you want to achieve.
What to expect after the assessment process and eligibility determination
After we have determined your eligibility and the assessment process is complete, we will provide you with the following whether your needs are eligible or not:
- A record of your needs also known as the statement of needs, the eligibility decision and how we arrived at this decision.
- A copy of this statement of needs will also be provided to anyone that you have requested for it to be shared with.
If you have eligible needs that we can help you with, we will do the following:
- Agree with you on how your eligible needs will be met by the council.
- Provide you with an indicative personal budget
- Provide information about financial assessments which will determine whether or not you pay towards your care
If you don’t have eligible needs, we will also do the following:
- Provide you with information and advice on what can be done to meet or reduce your needs which may be available in your wider community or support groups
- Provide you with information and advice on what can be done to prevent or delay the development of needs in future.
Appeals process
- If you are not happy with our decisions, we will provide you with information about our appeals process
Further information
- If you need any more information about our assessment process, please call 02087705000.