All about the care plan

Before you are assigned a Care Plan, you must undergo a Care Needs Assessment to establish exactly what type of needs you have. You can read all about what happens at a Care Needs Assessment in our guide: The Care Needs Assessment

As a brief overview, however, a Care Needs Assessment usually goes something like this:

• You or your advocate will make a phone call or online enquiry via the relevant local authority – you can find out more here – and you will be contacted via your preferred contact method to let you know when someone will visit. 
• An assessor with appropriate training and experience (such as a social worker, occupational therapist or someone else with the right qualifications) will visit you. During the assessment, they may walk around your home, examining what your specific needs may be and what interventions could help you most.
• You will have a discussion about your daily activities, health conditions or mobility needs, and personal preferences. For example, if you would like to arrange home care rather than moving to a care home, you can let them know. Remember, the end goal of your local council is to keep older adults in their own homes as long as possible if they are safe and well there, so your assessor will do all they can to support this. 
• The assessor might chat to your family members or caregivers if they are present at your assessment, to get a more holistic view of your needs.
• The assessor will clarify what support might be available, and what their recommendations are. This might include anything from a carer, to personal alarms, to home adaptations, to activity groups, and more. 
• Your assessor will give you a rough time frame for when they expect your Care Plan to be ready, and this will be sent to you. 

Data from a 2014 English National GP Patient Survey suggested that 84% of patients with a long-term condition reported some care planning discussion in the last 12 months, but only 12% reported being told they had a Care Plan in place. By not involving patients in their own Care Plan, important needs can be missed. For this reason, it is crucial to continue improving these numbers and involve people in the organisation of their own care. 

As of a review in 2011, getting patients involved in decision-making around their own health is a central theme of national and local policy within the NHS, as this is thought to improve health outcomes and patient satisfaction. Research suggests that patients feel more involved in their own care when they are treated as equal partners in the decision making, when their thoughts are listened to, and when they are provided with all of the information they need. 

Furthermore, research on mental health and wellbeing shows that involving patients in their own care planning can lead to improved service outcomes and mental wellbeing. As a result, steps are now taken to ensure all Care Plans take this into account. 

We’re an award-winning home care provider and part of a worldwide organisation devoted to providing the highest-quality relationship-led care for older people in their own homes. Arranging care for yourself or your loved one shouldn’t be stressful, so whatever questions you would like answered, feel free to reach out to the Home Instead team to discuss your needs.