Community Care

Social Care Services has a duty within its resources to meet the needs of the most vulnerable members of society. In determining who will receive services the County Council has written criteria which are explained below.

To assess someone’s eligibility for services a Community Care assessment will always be undertaken by a member of the local social work team. Contact details for local offices can be found here. The assessment will take account of the individual needs of, and the level of risks to, the person being assessed. The views and wishes of the person and relevant other people will be taken into account during the assessment.

Social Care Services can decide the most cost effective way to provide service and will in appropriate situations require a financial contribution to services (subject to financial assessment)

In assessing need, Social Care Services will assist people towards a basic level of living and independence. People with low dependency will usually only be eligible to receive services where these are designed to prevent deterioration to a greater level of dependency.

Services will only be provided to people who are unable to perform one or more basic tasks of daily living where:-

or

Services will be provided to:

When doing assessments Social Care Services will work closely with Health colleagues, to make sure that where both health and social care needs exist, these can be met in a co-ordinated way. However, the inability of the Health Service to meet its responsibility does not mean that Social Care Services should fulfil all these functions.

Social Care Services expects to meet essential care needs in the most cost-effective manner possible. For example, provision of equipment and adaptations will always be considered where this may be more economic than the provision of paid care.

Before providing for the personal care needs of individuals, existing support from families, carers, informal and voluntary help will be taken into account. The wishes and views of carers will be listened to and where appropriate carers will be provided with advice, information and services required to enable them to continue to provide care.