Homecare

The Care Plan

Once your needs have been assessed, we have to draw up a care plan for you and in partnership with you decide how your needs can be met. We will give you as much choice as possible. However, we aren't obliged to meet your needs in the way you'd like. We might decide that your needs can be met in ways you don't agree with. If this happens, you can request we reconsider by using the complaints procedures, and you can get advice about this from one of the advice or advocacy services.

The Care Plan should be firmly based on your own needs for care and support as identified in your needs assessment. That's why you should make sure you see what we think you need, and tell us if it isn't the whole story.

The case worker isn't limited to services provided by the Department - we can buy in services from outside agencies so long as such services are available, at a reasonable cost, and they're at least as good quality as the Department's standards. A "flexible budget" is available to meet this sort of cost.

Some people are able to get money to pay wages for carers in their own home, through the Independent Living Fund and a special Independent Living Services scheme. Please contact us for details.

When deciding upon what services you get to meet your needs the social worker is allowed to take the cost into account, because the Council usually has to pay most or all of it.

Although it may be acknowledged in your Needs Assessment that you really need a particular kind of help, it may be that this need doesn't get met. This might be either because a decision is made that it would be too expensive to meet that need, or because the worker can't find a way to meet your need. If you are refused help in this way get advice!

The Council must not charge you for information, or for an assessment, but it is allowed to charge for care services. However, we must take into account whether you can afford our charges, and must consider whether to waive them if you ask. If you are concerned about charges, get advice.