You will need to have an assessment before we can arrange care services for you. In the assessment, we will work with you to find ways to help you live as independently as possible.
We are currently working on a supported assessment tool which you will be able to use to assess your own care needs, with the help of specially trained Social Care staff. When this becomes available it will give you even more control over your assessment.
If you want to apply for an assessment, please contact us on 0113 222 4401 (minicom 0845 127 0113), or you can email us using the link on the right.
- Or you can speak to someone in person by visiting your local one stop centre.
In your assessment we will ask you:
- what you think you need help with
- what you can do without help
- what difficulties you have
- what help you get now
- what help you think you may need.
The information you give is confidential and we will ask your permission before we share it with anyone we may need to work with, for example doctors.
The assessment will help us to identify
- your needs
- your carers needs, if any
- whether you are eligible for support from Social Services
- information about the services which may be available and how much they cost
The information you give is confidential. During your assessment we will ask you to give us permission to share it with other professionals who we may work with to help you, for example doctors, occupational therapists, nursing staff.
When you have your assessment:
- we will consider your views and wishes
- we will tell you what we are doing
- you can have a friend, relative or someone else (sometimes called an advocate) to help you or speak for you
- we will arrange for an interpreter if you do not speak English or if you use sign language
- we will consider your carer's views (and needs)
- we will tell you about services you can use and, if you have to pay for them, how much they cost.
We will give you a copy of the record of the assessment of your care needs. We can also give a copy to your carer, if you give your permission.
Your assessment will be reviewed at regular intervals. If you are not happy with the result of your assessment or a review, you are welcome to discuss your concerns with the care manager in your local office who will see what they can do to help. If you are still not happy then you can ask the Review panel to consider your case. They can look at either a review or a new assessment. Finally, one further option is to make a complaint.
If you do have a complaint or would like to make a compliment or comment on any aspect of the assessment, you can let us know using our complaints and compliments procedure. There are various ways you do this:
- you can use the complaints and compliments form linked to this page
- you can talk to the member of staff concerned or their manager
- you can phone us on 0113 222 4401 - minicom 0845 127 0113
- you can text us, starting your text with 'cc' to 0778 620 0414
You can get more information about care assessments from the 'single assessment process' (SAP) leaflet which is available to download from this page.