StagesOf Assessment Stages Of Assessment

The Stages of Assessment for the Single Assessment Process §Publishing information about services. §Completing assessment - the four types §Evaluating assessment information §Deciding on what help should be offered §Care Planning (leading to service delivery) §Monitoring and review

4 types of assessment §Contact Assessment (including the collection of basic personal information) §Overview Assessment a holistic approach §Specialist Assessment §Comprehensive Assessment

Contact Assessment Purpose §A first contact between an older person and health or social services § Basic personal information is collected §Nature of the presenting problem is established § The potential presence of wider health and social care problems is explored.

Seven Key Issues 1. The nature of the presenting problem 2. Significance of the problem for the older person. 3. Length of time the problem has been experienced 4. Potential solutions identified by the older person 5. Other problems experienced by the older person 6. Recent life events or relevant changes 7. The perceptions of family members and carers

Overview Assessment §The individual’s problems are such that a more rounded assessment should be undertaken. §All or some of the domains of the Single Assessment Process are explored. §May be started immediately once basic personal information has been collected - OR §Contact assessment may have been carried out - OR §Specialist assessment of a specific problem may have been undertaken first, with the overview assessment providing background later

Who Undertakes Overview Assessment? § Completed by a single professional from either Health or Social Services. § The domains of “clinical background” and “disease prevention” do not require specific health tests to be undertaken; assessing professional to check on past assessments. §Staff training and development should be offered to ensure acceptable levels of professional competence.

Specialist Assessments Purpose §Offers a way of exploring specific problems in detail §May be indicated by a Contact or Overview assessment. §As a result of a Specialist assessment, professionals should be able to confirm the presence, extent, cause and likely development of a health condition or problem, and establish links to other conditions and problems.

Who undertakes Specialist assessment? §Specialist assessments, and associated scales, should be administered and interpreted by the most appropriate professional. §The service user’s needs will determine how the assessment is structured, and who will be involved. §Agencies should ensure that all assessors can readily access appropriate professionals to carry out specialist assessments.

Comprehensive Assessment §May be obvious at the outset that an older person’s needs and circumstances are such that a Comprehensive Assessment involving in-depth assessment of all or most of the domains of the single assessment process should be commenced. Conducting an overview assessment could cause avoidable delay. §OR on initial contact there could be less certainty, and an overview assessment may be carried out to explore areas of concern.

Comprehensive Assessment Comprehensive Assessment (cont) §When all domains of an Overview assessment have been surveyed, and Specialist assessments carried out in most or all of them, the result is also a Comprehensive assessment. §Comprehensive assessments should be completed where the level of support likely to be offered is intensive or complex, including permanent admission to a care home, intermediate care services, or intensive packages of care at home.

Older people’s contribution to assessment §Agencies should encourage older people to contribute fully to their assessment. §Professionals might advise older people of the seven key issues that should be covered. §People can be advised to think about the problems & issues they may wish to raise, and how this might be structured.

Older people’s contribution to assessment (cont) §People may complete customised forms or make written statements that can feed into the assessment process. §Encourage the older person to provide relevant biographical information including problems they have faced in the past, key life events, relationships, motivations and beliefs. §Ask if older people might need, or benefit from, advocates, interpreters or translators.

Carers §Explore the support and treatment people are already receiving. §Where there is support from carers, include the nature of that support, the strength of the caring relationship, and whether the carer requires support and services, either to help them continue caring for the older person or in their own right. §A separate carer’s assessment may be required.

Evaluating Assessment Information Prognosis and risk assessment §Prognosis of people’s conditions or the likely outcomes if help were not to be provided - link to FACS. §Impact of problems and issues on people’s independence - link to FACS. §The risks involved to the older person, their family and others close to them; which risks cause serious concern and which may be acceptable.

Evaluating Assessment Information (cont) §FACS and Eligibility for services §Autonomy and freedom to make choices §Health and safety §The ability to manage personal and daily routines §Involvement in family and wider community life.