Actions and Next Steps (Hospital Social Work Teams)

Online

To access the adult social care pages of our website see: Adult Social Care.

The council operates a shared Live Well website with Cheshire West Place where practitioners and residents can search for local information and services. See: Live Well Cheshire West.

A care and support directory can also be found on the Live Well website. See: Care and Support Directory.

Let’s Talk

As part of the ongoing Community Led Support development programme the council has introduced Let’s Talk sites across the borough with further site developments planned over the next 6 months. 

There are currently four Let’s Talk sites across the borough, which have been developed along with a range of partners and community organisations. Each site provides a warm welcome for residents who are facing challenging issues that are affecting their health and wellbeing. At Let’s Talk everyone is welcome to drop-in for face to face advice about wellbeing support that is available in the local area, as well as for practical advice and guidance. People’s health and wellbeing can be affected by lots of different issues including housing and financial challenges and a visit to Let’s Talk can start the conversation.  

For the most up to date information see: Let’s talk health and wellbeing.

Citizen’s Advice

There are a number Citizen Advice face to face meeting sites across the Cheshire West and Chester Borough, some are drop in and some are bookable only sites.

For further information see: In-person support.

There is also an adviceline that can be called on 0808 2787 806.

Carers

Cheshire and Warrington Carers Trust provides support and services across the borough.

See: Cheshire and Warrington Carers Trust

Helpline: 0300 102 0008

Email: advice@cheshireandwarringtoncarers.org

We have an all Age Carers Strategy in Cheshire West and further information can be found here: All age carers strategy 2021-2026.

If you would like to be involved in the carer groups discussed in the strategy, then get in touch:

Email: engagement@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

Sometimes it is helpful to contact a well-known national organisation with a dedicated information and advice service or help-line. See: National Organisations with Information and Advice Helplines for details of some national organisations offering this service.

Some national organisations do not have dedicated information and advice services but can still provide such support upon request. See: National Contacts for Adult Care and Support for a wider range of useful national contacts for adult Care and Support.

You can also see the Financial Assessment and Charging FAQ Response Support Tool for the answers to some frequently asked questions around financial assessment, including questions relating to Disabled Facilities Grants.

Information and advice must be provided in an accessible way so that the person for whom it is intended can best understand and make use of it.

If you feel the person for whom the information and advice is intended will need support to understand it then you should:

1. Consider whether the person has anyone appropriate who can help them to understand it;
2. Consider any steps that you can take to support them to understand it (for example talking through the information over the telephone or summarising it in a simpler format); and
3. Consider the benefit of independent advocacy.

When the person making the contact requests specifically to speak to or be contacted by a particular person you should establish as quickly as possible whether the contact should be forwarded to that practitioner.

You should check available systems to establish whether the person is allocated to the practitioner they have requested to speak to.

You should not transfer a telephone call to a named worker if it is clear that the worker is not allocated to the person. This will not be helpful to the worker or to the person as they will not be speaking to the right person to resolve the contact.

If the practitioner is not available

If the practitioner is not available you should try and establish when they may become available by looking at any electronic calendars they use or speaking with a colleague or manager who may know.

If you know when the practitioner is likely to become available you should:

1. Inform the person of this;
2. Leave the practitioner a message alerting them to the contact, any action undertaken and confirming the information given to the person about when to expect a call back;
3. Undertake any actions that you are able to in order to resolve some or part of the contact, including any urgent actions that may be required should the practitioner be unavailable for more than a few hours;
4. Agree with the person what they should do if the practitioner does not make contact at the expected time; and
5. Make a proportionate record of all the above.

If it is not clear when the practitioner will become available you should:

1. Inform the person of this;
2. Leave the practitioner a message alerting them to the contact, any action undertaken and what information has been given to the person;
3. Undertake any actions that you are able to in order to resolve some or part of the contact, including any urgent actions that may be required; and
4. Agree with the person what they should do if the practitioner does not make contact within an agreed timeframe; and
5. Make a proportionate record of all the above.

When a written contact is addressed to a named worker you should establish as quickly as possible whether the contact should be forwarded to that practitioner.

You should check available systems to establish whether the person is allocated to the practitioner that the written contact is addressed to.

You should not transfer a written contact to a named worker if it is clear that the worker is not allocated to the person. This will not be helpful to the worker or to the person as they will not be dealing with the right person to resolve the contact.

Before transferring the contact you should:

1. Confirm that the practitioner the written communication is being transferred to is available within a reasonable timeframe for the action indicated by the contact, or that you have agreed with a manager how the contact will be managed;
2. Where the communication is a letter or an e-mail, whether the practitioner wishes to receive the original contact (if not this should be filed securely); and
3. Where a written response confirming the contact has been received is required or requested, agree who will provide this.

The most secure way to transfer a written contact is to send a message to the practitioner alerting them to the contact and where it can be found on the recording system.

Any original copies of e-mails must be sent via internal secure e-mail systems only and any original letters must be sent via internal postal services or secure delivery only.

If the practitioner is not available

If the practitioner is not available you should try and establish when they may become available by looking at any electronic calendars they use or speaking with a colleague or manager who may know.

If the practitioner is not available within a reasonable timeframe for the action indicated by the contact you should:

1. Leave the practitioner a message alerting them to the contact, where it can be found on the recording system and any action undertaken, including what has been agreed with the person if contact has been made with them;
2. Undertake any actions that you are able to in order to resolve some or part of the contact, including any urgent actions that may be required and writing any acknowledgement letter to confirm arrival of the contact;
3. When the practitioner is not available within any timeframes indicted in the written contact or for more than a few days inform the person making the contact of this;
4. Agree with the person what they should do if the practitioner does not make contact within an agreed timeframe; and
5. Make a proportionate record of all the above.

Whenever the outcome of a contact or referral is that the person will be involved in any adult Care and Support process (including any assessment, or safeguarding) the Local Authority has a duty under the Care Act to make an independent advocate available to the person when:

1. There is no appropriate other person to support and represent them; and
2. They feel that the person would experience substantial difficulty being fully involved in the Care and Support process without support.

tri.x has developed a tool that can be used as required to support effective and consistent decision making about when/which advocacy support should be made available.

See: Advocacy Decision Support Tool.

The Local Authority also has a power (but not a duty) to make advocacy available in other situations on a case by case basis if it deems this appropriate and is able to do so. This could include advocacy to support a person to understand information and advice, or advocacy to support a person to explore possible options available to them.

Having substantial difficulty is not the same as lacking mental capacity.

See: Determining Substantial Difficulty for information about how to determine substantial difficulty.

See the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Resource and Practice Toolkit, with guidance about assessing capacity and making best interest decisions.

An appropriate person for general representation purposes is not the same as an appropriate person for independent advocacy under the Care Act.

See: An Appropriate Other Person for information about the difference and how to establish whether there is already an appropriate person.

The role of an independent advocate appointed under the Care Act is not the same as the role of a general advocate or any other type of advocate (for example an Independent Mental Capacity Advocate or an Independent Mental Health Advocate).

An independent advocate appointed under the Care Act must both facilitate and ensure the involvement of the person with substantial difficulty in the Care and Support process that is taking place.

For information about the ways in which an independent advocate should fulfil their role, see: The Role of an Independent Advocate.

People who lack capacity will likely be legally entitled to advocacy under both the Care Act and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

The Care Act statutory guidance recognises that it would not normally be appropriate or practical for a person to have 2 advocates and gives the Local Authority the responsibility to make a decision about the best type of advocacy support.

There are various factors that should influence this decision (such as existing rapport with an advocate or whether any important decisions are likely to be the outcome of the Care and Support process) and the Local Authority must ensure that whatever it decides, it does not deny the person any of the specialist advocacy skills they need or are entitled to.

tri.x has developed a tool that can be used as required to support effective and consistent decision making about when/which advocacy support should be made available.

See: Advocacy Decision Support Tool.

People eligible for an Independent Mental Health Advocate (IMHA) under the Mental Health Act 1983 will likely be entitled to advocacy under the Care Act.

The Care Act statutory guidance recognises that it would not normally be appropriate or practical for a person to have 2 advocates and gives the Local Authority the responsibility to make a decision about the best type of advocacy support.

There are various factors that should influence this decision (such as existing rapport with an advocate or the likely outcome of the Care and Support process) and the Local Authority must ensure that whatever it decides,  it does not deny the person any of the specialist advocacy skills they need or are entitled to.

tri.x has developed a tool that can be used as required to support effective and consistent decision making about when/which advocacy support should be made available.

See: Advocacy Decision Support Tool.

Voiceability provides the advocacy service in Cheshire West and Chester.

To make a referral or general enquiry:

Tel: 0300 303 1660

Email: helpline@voiceability.org

Note: The advocacy referral can be made at any time and should be made without delay as soon as the duty applies.

Regardless of whether or not independent advocacy is available in the local area the duty to provide it still applies. A failure to do so is a breach of this duty and of the law. It is the role of commissioners to ensure that advocacy services are in place and available when required, and it is the role of practitioners to make timely referrals to advocates to prevent unnecessary delays in the meeting of its duty.

If you are aware that advocacy support is required and is not yet available you must not proceed to carry out any Care and Support process until it is in place.

In some circumstances urgent interim measures may need to be agreed without an advocate in place in order to reduce immediate risk to the person from inaction. However, Care and Support processes that will decide long term and important decisions must not be carried out without advocacy support.

The duty upon the Local Authority is to make independent advocacy support available to any person who requires it. Once made available the duty is met.

If a person decides that they do not wish to engage in the advocacy support that has been made available to them they do not have to do so, but the Local Authority must still provide it.

The Local Authority is expected under the Care Act to support the person to understand the role of an advocate and promote its benefit to them so as to reduce the likelihood that they will not engage.

Where the Local Authority requests another party work jointly in some way to benefit the person with Care and Support needs that party has a duty to co-operate with the request (unless by doing so they will be prevented from carrying out their own duties under the Care Act or other legislation).

For further information about the duty to co-operate under the Care Act, see: Co-Operation.

Any decision to request joint work should be made with the person (or their representative). Where the person is unable to provide consent to joint work decisions should be made in their best interests.

Joint work requests should be made in the manner preferred by relevant health colleague. This may or may not take the form of a referral.

The request should explain clearly the nature of the joint work required and any specific skills, knowledge and competence requirements to support allocation.

When you have been asked to work jointly with a health colleague you should contact them to confirm your involvement and discuss the most effective way to work together. The things you should establish include:

1. The work they are doing/will be doing/have done and whether they have any information that you need to know or can use to avoid duplication;
2. Whether there are opportunities to co-ordinate systems and processes and, if so how this will be managed;
3. What the expectations are in terms of joint-working (for example will you be expected to carry out a joint assessment, meet with the person together, produce joint records or just consult and share information);
4. What the anticipated outcome of the joint work is (for example joint funding of support, on-going joint-work to monitor);
5. What does the person with care and support needs know about the joint-work to be carried out (and if they don't know who and how should this be explained);
6. Who will be the primary contact for the person (or their representative) to go to with any queries; and
7. Who will be responsible for communicating progress and decisions to the person.

See: Joint Work for further practice guidance about effective joint working.

Some areas of joint work are specialist in nature. The procedures for these pieces of work can be found in the Specialist Procedures section. The following are examples of the procedures that can be found there:

1. NHS Continuing Healthcare;
2. Continuity of Care;
3. Cross Border Placements.

Where the outcome decision is for the person's case to be allocated to an individual worker to carry out an assessment, review or further intervention this allocation should take place in a timely way so as to:

1. Avoid any unnecessary delays to the person;
2. Reduce the risk of a deterioration in the situation; and
3. Maximise the use of measures that will prevent, delay or reduce needs.

Where there are a significant number of people awaiting allocation for further work or assessment there should be a fair and consistent prioritisation process in place that takes into account:

1. The level of risk;
2. The level of need;
3. Current support in place and the sustainability/effectiveness of this;
4. The urgency;
5. The likelihood of deterioration; and
6. The potential for fluctuation.

An element of monitoring should be incorporated into any allocation process to ensure that you remain aware of every person's situation and are able to respond appropriately to any changes or need to re-prioritise allocation.

The Care Act recognises that each worker (regardless of whether or not they have a professional qualification) will possess specific skills, knowledge and experience that will enable them to carry out different Care and Support functions or work with particular people well.

Because of this there is no expectation that a particular role should carry out a particular function; instead the Local Authority should allocate tasks to the most appropriate person for the job.

Allocation decisions should take into account:

1. The skills, knowledge and experience of the worker in carrying out the function or process required;
2. The skills, knowledge and experience of the worker in working with the particular needs of the person (for example health needs or communication needs); and
3. The views and wishes of the person themselves in relation to the skills required of the worker and who they feel would best support them.

tri.x has developed a tool that can be used as required to support allocation decisions.

See: Allocation Support Tool.