Community Care Assessments

At some time in their lives, many people need some help to live independently and safely. If you or someone you know needs help and you are already in contact with a Health or Social Work professional you should discuss your concerns and request an assessment.

If not, you should contact one of our Community Care Teams (see the Contact Us section). Please explain that you or someone you know is in need of help – give their name, age and address and you will be directed to the appropriate team who will be able to provide or signpost you to the information that you require or arrange with you to undertake an assessment of need.

When undertaking an assessment of need, we work alongside other professionals to take into account the whole of a person's circumstances, including the help and support - both formal and informal - that is currently available to them.  We aim to promote a person's independence and to support them to do as much as possible for themselves.  We look at risk and how to manage that risk, to keep someone safe from harm.  We are also keen to support people to remain physically and mentally active by accessing community-based activity and supports.

The Assessment

If it is agreed that an assessment would be helpful, a member of staff will contact you and arrange to meet with you. That member of staff might be a social worker, a care manager, an occupational therapist or a community care assessor. The meeting could be at your home, in one of our offices, or somewhere else convenient to you – whatever suits you best.

If you want to have someone else with you, that’s fine. If you have a carer, we will also listen carefully to what they say. Your carer will also be asked if they would like to talk to us separately about what might be available to support them to continue in their caring role.

During this meeting, you may be asked about what’s important to you - your lifestyle, your hopes and concerns for the future, and how you manage certain daily living tasks.

The assessment may take more than one visit to complete; it will be written down as a personal record and a copy kept by you and by us. You will be asked to sign the record to show you that agree it is accurate. If you do not agree with us, we will make sure that your views are written down as well as ours.

If you want us to, we will share the assessment with other people who are helping you. This might be your doctor or nurse. This saves you from having to tell other people the same things you’ve just told us. If you want us to do this we will ask you to sign a consent form.  Further information and links primarily for staff can be found on the Single Shared Assessment page.

If you have a care need that we are able to help you with, we can provide and arrange services for you. We will also talk to you about Self Directed Support (including Direct Payments). This scheme allows you to manage your own care. Some people like this as they say it is a good way of giving you more control of your life.