Our Approach to Person Centred Care
First referral
When you realised that you needed care, you may have approached us direct. Or, you may have been referred to us by the social services department where you first went for help, and which has accepted at least some financial responsibility for the cost of your care.
In either case, we will use the information we have about you sensitively and in confidence. Before we provide any services, we will need to talk with you and a member of your family, a carer or a representative (if this applies), and the social services department which contacted us. From the start, we need to be sure that the services we provide are going to be suitable for you, and we can only do this by talking to you.
Assessing your needs
If you are referred to us by a local authority, the social services department will have carried out an assessment of what you need before deciding that care in your own home is going to meet your needs. We will receive a summary of this information, which is usually called a ‘needs assessment’.
If you have approached us direct, we need to assess your needs ourselves. To do this we will need to ask you quite a lot of questions, and probably get information from your carer, your doctor and any other specialist who knows about your health and social needs. Our specially-trained staff will carry out the assessment.
We hope that you will not find this too intrusive. We want to build up a full picture and we will do this as quickly and tactfully as possible. Remember, we will use all your information confidentially. Our aim is always to make sure that we understand what your needs and preferences are, so that we can respond in ways which really suit you.
Assessing the risks
If you have decided to have care provided in your own home, you will know that there are some risks. Our care support workers will not be with you all the time so there will not be the same level of support as you would receive in, for example, a residential home. On the other hand, you will keep your independence and stay in your own home, and many people find that a small amount of risk can be fulfilling. Still, we want to be sure that everybody involved understands the risks and has thought about them responsibly. So, with you (and your family members or representatives, if needed), we carry out a risk assessment, looking at the risks and the advantages. And if it seems appropriate, we will make suggestions as to how unnecessary risks can be reduced.
Service user plan
After we have assessed your needs and the risks in your home, we work with you to prepare a plan for the care we will provide. This is called the ‘service user plan’, because you, as the service user, are central to it and, where possible, we want you to produce it with us. The plan will say what services we will provide, with details like times of visits and the special tasks we will carry out. It will also say what we all hope to achieve and how we plan to do this.
Re-assessing your needs and reviewing the care
Over time your needs may change. You may need more or less care, we may have to change the type or pattern of service or there may be new risks and opportunities. So, again with your help, we will review your needs and make decisions about the care we provide. If at any time there are parts of our care which you would like to change, please let us know. But, we will get your opinion regularly so that we may continue to understand your needs and adapt the service that you receive. We will also need to discuss changes to your service user plan with social services and other health and social-care partners, if they have been involved in it.
