Assessments, eligibility and support planning

The assessment will begin when you first contact us or if someone contacts us on your behalf. We will talk to you about your current concerns and difficulties and what you would like to improve and change. It will be important to understand any recent changes in your life.

First of all we will ask you for your permission to record the information about you on our social care recording system. We may need to share or collect some of this information from other agencies and organisations if we help to arrange support for you. This could include information from your GP. We will keep this information safe and confidential.

You can tell us if there is someone or somewhere you do not want us to share information with.

We may gather this information in a number of ways, such as:

• On the telephone
• From your self assessment form
• Arranging for you to come and see us
• Visiting you at home or where you are staying
• By email

If you choose to start your assessment yourself by completing an online self assessment. 

The time it takes to complete your assessment will depend on your situation. We may be able to give you information and advice about getting the support you need after the first conversation and in some circumstances, your assessment would then be finished. We will always provide you with a copy of your assessment and any advice we suggest. If your situation is more complicated we may start your assessment over the telephone and then arrange for someone to call you back or meet with you to continue with the discussion.

If someone visits you at home they may want to see how you move around your home and how the rooms are laid out. They may ask you to show them how you carry out daily tasks.

What happens next?

In this stage of assessment we will be looking at ways to reduce your need for ongoing care or prevent development of future needs.

We will look at different types of support that can prevent you from needing longer-term care and give you the opportunity to maintain or regain your independence. For example, we may suggest equipment or changes you could make at home that might help you with the things you find difficult or make it safer for you.

We might talk to you about telecare which is equipment linked to your phone line and a 24 hour monitoring centre that can respond to problems, for example, if you fall over at home. You can have a pendant alarm to press in an emergency but there is also a range of sensors that can detect if you may be in difficulty and raise the alert for you. Trained operators can contact your family or the emergency services if necessary.

It may be that some support provided for a short period could help you regain the skills and confidence to manage more for yourself. This could involve an Occupational Therapist visiting you to practice using the equipment or doing things differently, or a support worker from a care agency may come to help you with things like washing and dressing until you are able to do them yourself.

We will agree a plan with you about how you will be supported, what outcomes you want to achieve and how long the support period will last, usually no more than six weeks. There will usually be no charge for this service.

We will keep in touch with you during this time to review how you are getting on and whether your outcomes have been met. If they have, we will finish your assessment and make sure that you have all the information, advice and equipment you need to continue to manage at home. You will receive a copy of your assessment and a summary of the support and information that has been provided.

If your outcomes have not been met, we will look at whether you need further support and move on to the next stage.

This stage of the assessment includes making decisions about your ongoing needs and whether you are eligible for continued support from the Council. It will also involve having a financial assessment to find out if you need to pay towards the cost of your care.

We will also look at what support your carer can continue to provide. This will be written down in your assessment. If your carer also has a separate Carer’s Assessment we will write it down there as well.