Accessing Support or Review (Adult Procedures (Life Planning))

1. How to Request Support or Review

Requesting Support (people who are not currently being supported by the Life Planning Team)

Where the person is not yet in receipt of support or services from the team a new referral is required.

This referral should be made through the Community Solutions Service on 0208 227 2915.

Please note that the Community Solutions Service 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.

Requesting Support or Review (people who are already being supported by the Life Planning Team)

Where the person is already in receipt of support from the Life Planning Team contact can be made;

  1. Direct to the Life Planning Team (where contact details are known); or
  2. To the Community Solutions Service on 0208 227 2915.

2. Steps to Consider before Requesting Support or Review

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 section of these procedures, 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.