Deciding the Outcome of a Contact or Referral (Hospital Social Work Teams)

The Care Act places certain duties on the Local Authority whenever it is making any decision about a person with Care and Support needs. These are things that you absolutely must consider and are:

1. The impact on the person's individual wellbeing;
2. Whether any prevention service can be provided that will delay, reduce or prevent the need for Care and Support;
3. Whether information or advice can be provided to support the person to find their own solution, or to delay, reduce or prevent the need for Care and Support.

It is vital that you understand your duties in relation to the above. Please use the links below to access further information as required.

• Promoting Individual Wellbeing for information about the duty to promote individual wellbeing;
• Preventing Needs for Care and Support for information about the duty to prevent, reduce or delay needs;
• Providing Information and Advice.

When you are making a decision about the appropriateness of a request for a needs assessment you must answer the following questions:

1. Is the person aged 18 or above?
2. Does the person have an appearance of need?

If you answer 'Yes' to both questions then a needs assessment is appropriate and the person is entitled to an assessment.

If the person is under the age of 18 an adult needs assessment is not appropriate and consideration should instead be given to carrying out a child's needs assessment (transition assessment).

If the person does not have an appearance of need there is no duty under the Care Act to assess. However, you should still consider whether carrying out an assessment will still be of benefit to them in terms of the prevention, reduction or delay of any future need for Care and Support.

You must be satisfied that the person is happy with any outcome provided to them that is not a formal assessment if they:

1. Requested a formal assessment of need; and
2. Have an appearance of need.

If the person is not happy and continues to request a formal assessment of need then the Local Authority has a duty under the Care Act to carry out such an assessment unless there is no appearance of need.

Before undertaking a reassessment of the person's needs a proportionate light touch review of the current Care and Support Plan should take place to answer the following specific questions:

1. Has there been (or will there be) a change in the person's circumstances after discharge?
2. Has there been (or is there likely to be) a change of need after discharge (either temporary or permanent)?
3. Is the current Care and Support Plan likely to be able to continue meeting the person's needs?

A reassessment of need is not required if:

1. There has been no change to the person's needs; or
2. The current Care and Support Plan is able to continue meeting the person's needs.

If there is any doubt about the above a reassessment should be carried out.

See what the Care Act says about Ordinary Residence, including understanding what ordinary residence is, how/when to establish ordinary residence and how/when to meet the needs of people who are not ordinarily resident in the area.

To summarise, a person's eligibility for an assessment is not determined in any way by ordinary residence and is based solely on the appearance of need. Ordinary Residence must however be established before any eligible needs are met as the Local Authority only has a duty to meet the eligible needs of a person that is ordinarily resident in its area.

In practice, most Local Authorities will try to establish ordinary residence before carrying out an assessment, so that the assessment is carried out by the Local Authority that will subsequently be responsible for meeting eligible needs. However, an assessment cannot be declined on the basis that a person is not ordinarily resident in the Local Authority area.

If a person is not ordinarily resident, an assessment by the Local Authority that will not be responsible for meeting their eligible needs may not be in their interests or give them the outcome they are looking for. Information and advice should be provided to support the person (or the referrer) to understand ordinary residency and the benefits of having their needs assessed by the Local Authority in which they are ordinarily resident:

1. That the Local Authority in which they are ordinarily resident will have a duty to meet their eligible needs (as opposed to no duty to do so in this authority);
2. That the Local Authority in which they are ordinarily resident will have a duty to carry out Care and Support planning with the person to determine the best way to meet eligible needs (as opposed to no duty to do so in this authority); and
3. That the Local Authority in which they are ordinarily resident will have a duty to review and monitor the effectiveness of the support provided to meet eligible needs (as opposed to no duty to do so in this authority).

Wherever possible, the person (or referrer) should be provided with signposting information as required to enable them to contact the Local Authority in which they are ordinarily resident. If they are likely to experience difficulty doing so then, with their consent (or in their best interests if they lack capacity), this can be done on their behalf.

If the person insists that an assessment is carried out by this Local Authority, if they have an appearance of need, the assessment should be completed. In this instance, if the person is subsequently found to have eligible needs, information gathered during the assessment should be shared with the Local Authority in which they are ordinarily resident so that they can decide with the person how best to meet their needs moving forwards.

If the Local Authority in which the person is ordinarily resident disputes ordinary residence, declines to carry out an assessment or declines to meet eligible needs following an assessment, legal advice should be sought. In all cases, the process of meeting eligible needs must not be delayed.

See the Ordinary Residence Procedure for further information about assessing and meeting the needs of people not ordinarily resident, and about managing ordinary residence disputes.

Time should not be spent debating whether or not a person is ordinarily resident in the area if this is not clear from referral. The person is entitled to an assessment of need based on an appearance of need, and not whether they are ordinarily resident. To delay the process of meeting eligible needs whilst establishing ordinary residence would be unlawful. The assessment should therefore be completed and the question of ordinary residence resolved afterwards.

If it is clear to you what further action is required, and you are authorised and confident to make this decision you should do so to avoid any unnecessary delays.

If it is not clear what further action is required or you are not authorised or confident to make this decision you should not commit to an action straight away, but discuss this with your line manager or a relevant colleague.

In all cases you should:

1. Assure the person that their views have been heard and will be considered in any decision that is made; and
2. Agree with the person when they can expect to hear from you again.

tri.x has developed a tool that can be used as required to support decision making following a contact or referral.

See: Contact or Referral Tool.

1. If you are sure that the action being requested is not appropriate you should be open about this in a respectful way.

You should:

1. Explain your reasons for thinking the action may be inappropriate;
2. Use professional expertise and evidence to support your rationale; and
3. If the individual making the contact or referral is a person with care and support needs, be able to provide at least one other option for them to consider.

If you are in any doubt you should refer to the guidance in unclear outcomes above.

Where the action remains in dispute you must decide whether you are authorised and confident to make a final decision. If you are then you should do so. If not then you should follow the guidance set out in unclear outcomes above.

If the person is not happy with the outcome of the contact you must make them aware of their right to complain about it.

When providing a person with care and support needs with other options(s) you should also provide them with any support they need to explore those option(s) and to weigh up the pros and cons. Where option(s) have been provided to the person in writing this may need to be followed up with a telephone response and if the person appears to have difficulty communicating over the telephone consideration should be given to a face to face visit.

The purpose of consultation and information gathering is to ensure that the response of the Local Authority is a proportionate and appropriate one to the person's situation and level of need. Only information relevant to this purpose should be gathered and shared during consultation.

All information gathering and sharing should be carried out with regard to the Caldicott Principles, Data Protection legislation and local information sharing policies.

The method of consultation and information gathering used should reflect the individual circumstances of the case. Depending on the level of urgency, risk and need consultation and information gathering can be formal or informal in nature.

For example:

1. A telephone conversation;
2. an e-mail or letter;
3. A video conference; or
4. A face to face meeting.

Where the method of consultation is not face to face you should be satisfied that the information you share will only be seen by the person for whom it is intended.

The Care Act is clear: Apart from cases where the level of risk is paramount you must consult with anyone that the person with Care and Support needs has asked you to consult with before making any outcome decision.

Examples of paramount risk could include:

1. Where urgent action is required, that if delayed to allow consultation would place the person at imminent risk of abuse or neglect leading to serious harm;
2. Where the person to be consulted is deemed to be the perpetrator of abuse and neglect and consulting with them at that time would place the person (or another vulnerable adult or child) at imminent risk leading to serious harm;
3. Where urgent Care and Support provision is required, that if delayed to allow consultation would place the person at imminent risk of harm through the non-meeting of essential needs.

The person should be told why consultation has not occurred, and long term decision making should be avoided until such time when consultation is possible.

Where the person is known to have a carer the Care Act expects you to consult with them before making any decision regarding Care and Support for the person.

The purpose of doing so is:

1. To gather information about the support they provide to the person; and
2. To understand the needs of the carer and fulfil the duty to meet them.

Where the person with Care and Support needs does not consent to you consulting with their carer you should explain to them that you must still do so for the purposes above. However, the consultation should be limited to that purpose and other information about the circumstances of the person should not be shared or discussed.

You should proactively identify anybody else that it may be appropriate to speak with in order to gather comprehensive information upon which to decide the most appropriate outcome. This could be a family member, a health professional, another Local Authority or an organisation (such as a Care and Support provider).

With the consent of the person the Local Authority is permitted under the Care Act to consult with anybody it deems it relevant to consult with, and anybody contacted by the Local Authority has a duty to co-operate with requests for information or support.

See: Co-Operation to read more about the duty to co-operate under the Care Act.

If you have received information that indicates a person may be at risk of abuse or neglect you will need to consider the measures that you (or others) can take to protect them.

Where a safeguarding concern has not been raised already you should raise a concern without delay.

See Safeguarding Adults.

If you are concerned that the person is in imminent danger from abuse or neglect, or that a criminal act has taken place you should contact the police by dialing 999.

If you have received information that indicates that a person may pose a risk to others you will need to consider the measures that you (or others) can take to reduce the risk and protect others.

See: Risk Assessment.

If the risk assessment indicates that a vulnerable adult or child may be at risk of abuse and neglect you must ensure that you raise a safeguarding concern without delay.

See Safeguarding Adults, which also includes information about how to raise a children's safeguarding concern.

If you are concerned that an adult or child is in imminent danger from abuse or neglect, or that a criminal act has taken place you should contact the police by dialing 999.