How to Access the Team

1. Background

Community and Hospital Assessment team (CHAT) is an integrated care team in Adult Social Care established in August 2021 following the restructure of the Integrated Care service. CHAT is made up of 18 staff (including the managers) and deal with an average of 328 cases in a month. CHAT main role is to support adults who are leaving the hospitals (within the borough and out of Borough hospitals) after admission due to illness to safely return home or to a place of long-term placement. CHAT work with their colleagues in health including the Integrated Care Hub (IDH) to provide adequate support to clients that need help during the time that they are meant to leave the hospital.

CHAT also receive referrals from the community through the Intake team. CHAT has the responsibility to review and complete the Care Act Assessment after 4-6 weeks of crisis package before transfer to the locality team for annual review.

Relevant legislation and guidance

Know your managers

Know your managers

2. How the Team can be Accessed

Locality Teams

Internal referral

An internal referral can only be made by a health professional already based in a Locality Team location.

When making an internal referral please ensure that the following information is included;

  1. All personal details, including the persons full name (and also preferred name or previous surname), address and preferred contact details, date of birth, national insurance number and NHS number;
  2. The name, relationship and contact details of the person making the referral (if not the person themselves);
  3. When and how the person consented to the referral;
  4. If the person has not consented to the referral, was a mental capacity assessment carried out and is the referral being made under Best Interests;
  5. What the presenting issue is from the person's perspective and what they would like to happen;
  6. What the presenting issue is from the referrer's point of view (if the referrer is not the person) and what action they may recommend;
  7. What options have been considered with the person to resolve the issue so far, including what support the person has had from family and community networks;
  8. What information and advice has been provided to the person or what information and advice may be required;
  9. What prevention services have been used, considered or may be of benefit;
  10. Any specific communication needs of the person that need to be considered so they can understand and be involved in any adult Care and Support process;
  11. Whether the person is likely to have substantial difficulty in any adult Care and Support process, and if so whether an independent advocate has been considered;
  12. Details of any previous or current Care and Support services (whether the Local Authority is providing them or not);
  13. With the person's consent the name and contact details of anyone involved in their life who should be involved in any assessment (family member, friend or professional); and
  14. Any other information deemed relevant by the person or referrer (if the referrer is not the person), for example whether the referral is being made as part of a safeguarding action plan or response.

If any of the above information is missing allocation may not be possible, and further information may be required.

Please note that although referral information can be taken the weekly RAC process will determine which team is best placed to provide support, and this may or may not be the Locality Team.

External referral

Anyone else wishing to access support from the team should contact the Community Solutions Service by telephone on 0208 227 2915.

Please note that the Community Solutions Team will explore a range of alternative options and will only make a referral if this is the most appropriate and proportionate response to the presenting issue.

Community and Hospital Assessment Team (CHAT)

CHAT can be accessed in 2 ways:

  • Through the BHR Integrated Care Hub (people that are in hospital);
  • Through the Intake Team (Community Solutions) (people that are in the community).

BHR Integrated Hub referrals

Email: BHRintegrateddischargehub@nelft.nhs.uk
Tel: 0300 300 1743
For more information about the BHR Integrated Hub see: BHR Integrated Discharge Hub.

Intake Team (Community Solutions)

Email: IntakeTeam@lbbd.gov.uk
Tel: 0208 227 2915 (office hours)
Tel: 0208 594 8356 (out of hours)

If the referral is being made to raise a safeguarding concern, use the Intake Team telephone numbers above or email SafeguardingAdults@lbbd.gov.uk.

All Other Teams

Referrals for support from any other team should be made via the Community Solutions Service by telephone on 0208 227 2915.

Please note that the Community Solutions Team will explore a range of alternative options and will only make a referral if this is the most appropriate and proportionate response to the presenting issue.

Access for People who are already being supported by a team

Where the person with Care and Support needs is already in receipt of support from a team contact can be made;

  1. Direct to that team (where contact details are known); or
  2. Via the Community Solutions Service on 0208 227 2915.

3. Steps to Consider before Accessing the Team

Consent

Referral

Referrals for adult Care and Support interventions cannot be taken unless;

  1. The person or carer the referral relates to is making the referral;
  2. The person or carer the referral relates to has given their consent to the referral; or
  3. The person that the referral relates to lacks mental capacity to make a referral and a decision has been made under Best Interests that a referral should be made; or
  4. The person that the referral relates to is at risk of harm from abuse or neglect.

Review

Requests for a review of an existing Care and Support/Support Plan can be made by anyone who has a concern that a plan may not be working as intended or a person's needs have changed. However, the person or carer whose plan it is must be consulted when deciding how to respond to the request, so it is important that wherever possible they know the request is being made from the outset.

Information Sharing

Information relating to a particular person or carer already receiving a Care and Support service cannot be shared unless;

  1. The person or carer to whom it relates is the one requesting it;
  2. The person or carer to whom the information relates has given consent for it to be shared with the person requesting it; or
  3. The person to whom the information relates lacks capacity to consent for it to be shared but has a legally authorised person that agrees to it being shared;
  4. The person to whom the information relates lacks capacity to consent for it to be shared and the Local Authority makes a decision under Best Interests that it should be shared with the person requesting it; or
  5. The person is at risk of harm from abuse or neglect.

What can be provided without consent

Unless one of the above situations applies the service will only be able to provide general information and advice.

Where information is gathered or shared it will be done so with full regard to the Caldicott Principles and local information sharing policies.

Use the tri.x Resources tab to access further information about the Caldicott Principles in the glossary.

Click here to read the Freedom of Information Policy and the Information Sharing Policy.

Click here to access the procedure for providing information about a person.

Consent to Contact/Referral and Mental Capacity

If there are concerns that the person may lack capacity to consent to the contact or referral then a proportionate mental capacity assessment must be carried out to determine whether this is the case. This can be carried out by the person making the contact or referral if they have the necessary skills to do so, or by the Local Authority as part of the referral process.

If the person has capacity to consent following the mental capacity assessment their consent must be obtained before making the contact or referral.

If the person lacks capacity to consent following the mental capacity assessment then a Best Interest Decision must be made to confirm that making the contact or referral will be in their Best Interests.

Click here to access the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Resource and Practice Toolkit, with guidance about assessing capacity and making best interest decisions.

Safeguarding

Adults

To raise a concern or provide information relating to adult safeguarding by telephone dial 0208 227 2915 (office hours) or 0208 594 8356 (out of hours emergency).

To raise a concern or provide information relating to adult safeguarding by e-mail please send a high priority e-mail to SafeguardingAdults@lbbd.gov.uk.

If you are a professional safeguarding concerns about an adult can be raised using the online contact form by clicking here.

Click here to access the adult safeguarding procedures, including how to recognise abuse and neglect, how to raise a concern and how to record safeguarding information.

Click here to access the Local Safeguarding Adults Board Multi-Agency Safeguarding Procedures.

Children

To raise a concern about a child call 0208 227 3811 or e-mail assessmentteam@lbbd.gov.uk.

Click here to access the Local Safeguarding Children's Board Multi-Agency Procedures.

If you are concerned that an adult or child is in imminent danger from abuse or neglect, or that a criminal act has taken place you should contact the police by dialling 999 and seek immediate medical support if necessary.

Information and Advice

The Local Authority has a duty under section 4 of the Care Act to provide good information and advice relating to adult Care and Support wherever it is requested or would be of benefit.

Click here to read more about the duty to provide information and advice under the Care Act, including how information and advice should be provided and the specific information and advice requirements around finances.

To access the procedures for providing information and advice click here.

Prevention Services

Under section 2 of the Care Act the Local Authority cannot provide intensive or on-going long term interventions to adults until it is satisfied that prevention services having been explored and deemed not suitable. To this effect if the person making the contact or referral possesses the necessary skills and knowledge to explore the prevention services available locally it should reasonably be expected that they will do so before making a contact or referral for more intensive support.

There are many kinds of prevention service available. Some are provided by the Local Authority and some are provided by the community or partner organisations, such as health.

Click here to read about the different types of prevention services described in the Care Act.

If you feel that a prevention service may be a more appropriate service for the person click here to access the prevention service procedures, including links to the different prevention services available.

If you are not sure whether a prevention service is appropriate, or you feel that support from the service is going to be required alongside any prevention service you should proceed to make the contact or referral but you should make sure to explain what has already been explored in relation to prevention so that the service does not repeat the same questions of the person.