Index

• Free Confidential Carers Assessment
• How Can A Carer's Assessment Help Me?

Free Confidential Carers Assessment

If someone relies on you for practical support or direct supervision for more than 10 hours a week on a regular basis, or is intending to rely on you, then you have the right to ask the Adult Services, Housing and Health Department for a free confidential assessment of your own needs.

An assessment is the term used to describe the way Social Care and Health gathers information about you so they can assess your day-to-day caring difficulties and needs.

You may wish to be supported through the assessment process, perhaps by a friend, relative or someone from a voluntary organisation.

You have a right to an assessment even where the person you care for has refused an assessment of his/her own needs or has refused community care services.

You could ask for the assessment to take place in your own home or at your local Adult Services, Housing & Health office.

Areas covered by the free, confidential carer’s assessment include what difficulties or problems you face and what your views and wishes are. It identifies your support needs and how these might be met.

Depending on the assessment of need, a range of services may be provided or arranged for the person you care for, with their consent, to help you in your caring role.

The person assessing you will usually be from Adult Services, Housing and Health.

The assessment process aims to support carers so the person they care for can live independently in their local communities, with families, friends or relatives, for as long as they want or are able to.

Back to Top

How can a carer’s assessment help me?

A carer’s assessment looks at help you are giving at the moment. The assessment will include discussing how you might be helped to carry on caring (if this is what you want to do) - but it will also look at the wider effects that caring has on your life. This is sometimes called the ‘impact’ of caring.

Examples of some possible effects or impact of caring:

• Your sleep or health is affected
• Your social life is restricted
• You are not able to work the hours you want, or perhaps you are not able to work at all.

The assessment should also look at the positive side of caring, and how to help you carry on with the things you are willing to do. In some cases though, carers will think that they cannot carry on, and help will be needed to consider alternative arrangements in cooperation with the person being cared for.

As a result of having a carer’s assessment, you should:

• Feel that your role in caring is recognised and understood
• Be able to consider options for the future
• Have a better understanding of the help available
• Be able to look afresh at how caring ‘fits’ with other family or job responsibilities that you have, and have considered ways of using support to achieve a balance.

A carer’s assessment is not a guarantee of getting lots of extra help – although many carers find that existing services are ‘adjusted’, or they are put in touch with new sources of advice and support. At the very least it gives you an opportunity to have your needs considered.

Checklist – some examples of things you might want to think about in preparing for a carer’s assessment

The purpose of this checklist is to help you think through the position you are in. Some carers find that they have not had the opportunity to sit down and list the key issues in their situation. This can be very useful, even though there might not be an easy solution to every problem.

Remember that these are only examples – many might not apply to you, and you might have other questions that are not on this list.

• What difficulties do you have in caring e.g., dressing, bathing, lifting the person you care for?
• How much time does caring take?  Are there things you would rather not do?
• Do you get enough sleep? Is your health affected in other ways?
• Do you get any time for yourself?
• Has caring stopped you seeing people, or doing things that are important to you?
• Do you understand the needs/condition of the person you care for?
• Have you someone to help you in an emergency?
• Do you know how to contact those responsible for your relative's care?
• Do you know who to contact out of hours?
• Are you involved in the reviews of your relative's care?
• Do you feel you have much choice in your caring role?
• What would help you have more choice or flexibility?
• What would happen to the person you care for, if you were no longer able to provide care?
• Do you receive support from social services or health staff? Does this support meet the needs of the person you care for? Does it fit in with how you want to live your life? Does the support fit in with other responsibilities you might have, such as being a parent or having a job?
• Are you in touch with any voluntary organisations or carers’ groups who would understand how you feel and might be able to offer additional advice/support?
• Are you sure you have claimed all the benefits and allowances you are entitled to?

How do I get a carer’s assessment?

Contact the Adult Services, Housing and Health Department of Nottingham City Council. If the person you are caring for already has a social worker, you can get in touch with them. If the person you are caring for does not have a social worker, you will need to speak to an access worker – if the person cared for has not had an assessment him/herself, it is usual for that person’s needs to be assessed either with, or separately from, those of the carer. Remember, you might be entitled to an assessment even if the person you are looking after doesn’t want an assessment.

If you already care for a person who receives support services via the Mental Health Services or Learning Disability Team, please contact your worker.

If you have not had contact with Adult Services, Housing & Health, please click here to view contact details for the duty teams.

In any of these situations, you can ask to see a social worker privately, away from the person you are caring for – and of course they can ask for their assessment in similar privacy.

I’m worried about getting in touch with social services – is there anyone else I can ask for help?

The City Council’s Adult Services, Housing and Health department has the legal responsibility for carrying out carers’ assessments. A voluntary sector organisation such as the Carers Federation can advise you about assessments.

You should always inform a doctor or nurse involved in the care of the person you look after that you are a carer. There are limits of confidentiality that affect how much medical staff can tell you about the condition of the person you care for, but they should always consider your needs, for example, when the person you care for is coming out of hospital.

Back to Top