Changes to adult social care assessments in Telford
Adult social care assessments will be conducted remotely and may become less detailed, under procedures adopted by Telford & Wrekin Council.
The Coronavirus Act, which became law in late March, relaxed some of the requirements placed on local authorities under the 2014 Care Act.
Adult social services chief Jonathan Rowe writes that “business as usual processes” will remain in many areas, but “non-essential visits” have been suspended in favour of socially-distanced contact.
Mr Rowe’s report will go before the borough’s health and wellbeing board when it meets remotely on Wednesday.
He writes: “One of the council’s strategic objectives for the management of the immediate impact of Covid-19 is to ensure the sustainability of adult social care during the epidemic and ensure that planning and actions to sustain adult social care link with planning and actions in the NHS.”
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Mr Rowe says the Coronavirus Act means local authorities “will not need to carry out detailed assessments of individuals’ care and support needs” as previously required by the Care Act, but must still “respond in a timely way and make an assessment of what care and support is needed”.
He adds that, in Telford and Wrekin, “we have made adjustments to the way we carry out Care Act assessments and carers’ assessments as we have suspended all non-essential visits”. Staff will need to complete pre-visit questionnaires where they are considered essential, he adds.
The changes, Mr Rowe adds, “may impact on the details captured within an assessment and our ability to operate in a strength-based way may also be affected. We will use a variety of ways to carry out assessments including videocalling, the telephone and/or emails.”
The Coronavirus Act also removed councils’ obligation to draw up Care Act-compliant care and support plans and review them.
“They will, however, still be expected to carry out proportionate, person-centred care planning which provides sufficient information to all concerned,” Mr Rowe adds.
In Telford and Wrekin, he says “scheduled reviews will continue to be completed, remotely where possible”.
