Actions and Next Steps (OT/ Hearing & Vision)

1. Providing Information and Advice

The Local Authority has a duty under section 4 of the Care Act to provide good general information and advice relating to adult Care and Support wherever it is requested or would be of benefit. This duty applies equally in respect of all local residents regardless of whether the person with Care and Support needs is known to, lives in, or is already receiving services from the Local Authority.

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.

Local Information and Advice Resources

Online

Online information is available via The Local Offer.

By telephone

You can speak to Adult Social Care by calling 01793 463333 (option 2).

Swindon Advice and Information Service

Sanford House is a local resource designed to help you find the right information, advice and support for your situation. 

Drop in to talk to one of their information guides, access one of the organisations listed or use the free public access touch screen computers to look up information online. Confidential space is also available if you would prefer to talk through your situation with an advisor.

Sanford House
Sanford Street
Swindon SN1 1HE 

Centre opening hours are: Mon-Fri, 9.30am-4.30pm.

For more information about how to access the centre, email SAASC@swindon.cabnet.org.uk or call reception on: (01793) 466633.

The centre also provides a link to adult health, wellbeing and support services in Swindon and is home to the following organisations: Citizens Advice Service Swindon, Swindon Carers Centre, Alzheimer's Society, Swindon Mind, Swindon Advocacy Movement, Healthwatch Swindon, Entham Trust, Wiltshire Law Centre, DASH, LIFT Psychology, Royal Voluntary Service, Shopmobility.

For information about these organisations see below.

Swindon Citizens Advice Services

Swindon Citizens Advice Services provide free, confidential and impartial advice and campaign on big issues affecting people's lives. They are an independent charity and part of the Citizens Advice network across England and Wales. People come to CAS with all sorts of issues. You may have money, benefit, housing or employment problems. You may be facing a crisis, or just considering your options.

Find out more at their website by clicking here.

The following are a list of Swindon Citizens Advice Services locations, and details of their drop in sessions:

Main Office
Sanford House
College Street Entrance
Swindon
SN1 1HE

Drop in: Monday and Wednesday 9.30am-4pm, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9.30am-1.30pm.

East Swindon Citizens Advice
Cavendish Square
Park South
Swindon
SL3 2LZ

Drop in: Tuesday 10am-1pm, Thursday 10am-1pm.

North Swindon Advice Point
Pinetrees Community Centre
The Circle
Pinehurst
Swindon
SN2 1QR

Drop in: Monday 10am-1pm, Wednesday 10am-1pm.

Swindon Carers Centre

Swindon Carers Centre is a charitable organisation, which is part of the Carers Trust Network, and were established to provide help and support to the 21,000 carers in Swindon.

Sanford House
Sanford Street
Swindon
SN1 1HE

Tel: 01793 531133
E-mail: info@swindoncarers.org.uk
Website: www.swindoncarers.org.uk/

Swindon MIND

Swindon MIND provide support and services to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem in Swindon. They campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding.

Sanford House
Sanford Street
Swindon
SN1 1HE

Tel: 01793 432031
E-mail: admin@sgmind.org.uk
Website: www.sgmind.org.uk/

Healthwatch Swindon

Healthwatch gives people a powerful voice locally and nationally. At a local level, Healthwatch Swindon works to help local people get the best out of local health and social care services.

Swindon Advice and Support Centre
Sanford Street
Swindon
SN1 1HE

Tel: 01793497777
E-mail: info@healthwatchswindon.org.uk
Website: www.healthwatchswindon.org.uk/

Wiltshire Law Centre

The Wiltshire Law Centre are a registered charity that provides FREE confidential advice on: Housing, Anti Social Behaviour Injunctions, Employment, Welfare Benefits and Debt.

Sanford House
Sanford Street
Swindon
SN1 1HE

Tel: 01793 486926  
Website: wiltslawcentre.org.uk/

Enham Trust

The Enham Trust supports people who are eligible for funding from adult social care. Enham Trust equips vulnerable service users with the tools to live the life they want, regardless of impairments.

Sanford House
Sanford Street
Swindon
SN1 1HE

Website: www.enhamtrust.org.uk/

Swindon Shopmobility

Swindon Shopmobility provide mobility scooters and powered & manual wheelchairs to help people with limited mobility to shop and use other facilities in the town centre.

Sanford House
Sanford Street
Swindon
SN1 1HE

Tel: 07379 689128
E-mail: Shopmobility@vas-swindon.org
Website: vas-swindon.org/services/shopmobility/

DASH (Discovering Autism Spectrum Happiness)

DASH (Discovering Autistic Spectrum Happiness) is an independent local charity whose mission is to improve the quality of life of adults of working age with Asperger's and other high functioning Autistic Spectrum Conditions living in Swindon.

Sanford House
Sanford Street
Swindon
SN1 1HE

Tel: 07554 665 715
E-mail: contactdashswindon@gmail.com

Lift Psychology

LIFT have been providing psychological services to the people of Swindon for the past 20 years and pioneered Primary Care Psychology services within the country.

They offer a high quality service that includes traditional Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) interventions plus additional support.

Sanford House
Sanford Street
Swindon
SN1 1HE

Tel: 01793 836836
E-mail: awp.lift-psychology@nhs.net

Royal Voluntary Service

The Royal Voluntary Service is a national charity built on local volunteering, giving support to people who need it in our hospitals and communities.

Sanford House
Sanford Street
Swindon
SN1 1HE

Alzheimer's Society

The Alzheimer's Society are here for anyone worried about or affected by dementia. They provide information and support, fund medical and social research, and campaign for better quality of life for people with dementia and greater understanding of the condition.

Sanford House
Sanford Street
Swindon
SN1 1HE

Tel: 01793485404
E-mail: swindon@alzheimers.org.uk

Swindon Advocacy Movement (SAM)

SAM provides a free, independent and accessible advocacy service in Swindon.

Sanford House
Swindon
SN1 1HE

Tel: 01793 542266
E-mail: info@swindonadvocacy.org.uk
Website: www.swindonadvocacy.org.uk/

National Information and Advice Resources

Sometimes it is helpful to contact a well-known national organisation with a dedicated information and advice service or help-line. Click here for details of some national organisations offering this service.

Some national organisations do not have dedicated information and advice services but can still provide such support upon request. Click here for a wider range of useful national contacts for adult Care and Support.

You can also click here to see the answers to some frequently asked questions around financial assessment, including questions relating to Disabled Facilities Grants.

Understanding Information and Advice

Information and advice must be provided in an accessible way so that the person for whom it is intended can best understand and make use of it.

If you feel the person for whom the information and advice is intended will need support to understand it then you should:

  1. Consider whether the person has anyone appropriate who can help them to understand it;
  2. Consider any steps that you can take to support them to understand it (for example talking through the information over the telephone or summarising it in a simpler format); and
  3. Consider the benefit of independent advocacy.

2. Following up on Information and Advice

Under the Care Act the Local Authority has a duty to not only provide information and advice where it is needed, but to ensure that the information and advice it provides has been effective.

Therefore, when information and advice has been provided you should agree appropriate arrangements to follow up with the person to whom it was given in order to review how effective it has been.

The timescales for this follow up should reflect the individual circumstances and level of risk.

Where you are making arrangements for someone else to follow up on the information and advice you have given (rather than following up on it yourself) you must make sure that you have recorded this in a way that will ensure the person follows up on it at the agreed time.

3. Accessing another Prevention Service

Occupational Therapy and the Hearing & Vision Team are just two of the services available where the focus is on the prevention, delay or reduction of needs. However other prevention services may also be beneficial and should also be explored. These could include health services or Telecare.

Under Section 2 of the Care Act the Local Authority has a duty to prevent needs for Care and Support/Support whenever it identifies an opportunity to do so.

Click here to read more about the duty to prevent needs for Care and Support, including the types of prevention services recognised by the Care Act, when to provide prevention services and how to charge for prevention services.

4. Minor Adaptations and Low Level Equipment

Sometimes the information gathered at contact, referral or through consultation with others will evidence that:

  1. Allocation for further assessment is not required; and
  2. The most appropriate and proportionate response is to provide minor adaptations or low level equipment.

When arranging minor adaptations and low level equipment (either directly or through a partner agency) you must ensure that appropriate mechanisms are in place to:

  1. Support the person (and any carer) to use the equipment provided safely;
  2. Monitor the effectiveness of the adaptations and equipment; and
  3. Review the need for further assessment or intervention.

You should refer to available local guidance to confirm which adaptations and equipment can be provided.

Click here to access the minor adaptations and low level equipment procedure.

5. Providing Information about a Person

The Local Authority has a common law and legal duty to safeguard the confidentiality of all personal information. As an employee of the Local Authority you are bound contractually to respect the confidentiality of any information that you may come into contact with. Under no circumstances should such information be divulged or passed to any persons or organisation in any form unless you have authorisation to do so.

All information sharing that takes place must be in line with data protection legislation (namely the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018) and local policy.

The Caldicott Principles must also be regarded. The Caldicott Principles are a set of principles that apply to the use of confidential information within health and social care organisations and when such information is shared with other organisations and between individuals, both for individual care and for other purposes. For further information, see: The Caldicott Principles.

Any unauthorised disclosure of confidential information may result in disciplinary action of individual prosecution under the Data Protection Act 2018.

For further information and guidance see: Providing Information about a Person or Carer.

6. Transferring a Contact

It is important that the person making contact speaks to the right practitioner at the right time. Sometimes you may find that you are not the most appropriate practitioner to manage the contact.

Transferring a telephone contact

When the person making the contact requests specifically to speak to or be contacted by a particular person you should establish as quickly as possible whether the contact should be forwarded to that practitioner.

You should check available systems to establish whether the person is allocated to the practitioner they have requested to speak to.

You should not transfer a telephone call to a named worker if it is clear that the worker is not allocated to the person. This will not be helpful to the worker or to the person as they will not be speaking to the right person to resolve the contact.

If the practitioner is not available

If the practitioner is not available you should try and establish when they may become available by looking at any electronic calendars they use or speaking with a colleague or manager who may know.

If you know when the practitioner is likely to become available you should:

  1. Inform the person of this;
  2. Leave the practitioner a message alerting them to the contact, any action undertaken and confirming the information given to the person about when to expect a call back;
  3. Undertake any actions that you are able to in order to resolve some or part of the contact, including any urgent actions that may be required should the practitioner be unavailable for more than a few hours;
  4. Agree with the person what they should do if the practitioner does not make contact at the expected time; and
  5. Make a proportionate record of all the above.

If it is not clear when the practitioner will become available you should:

  1. Inform the person of this;
  2. Leave the practitioner a message alerting them to the contact, any action undertaken and what information has been given to the person;
  3. Undertake any actions that you are able to in order to resolve some or part of the contact, including any urgent actions that may be required; and
  4. Agree with the person what they should do if the practitioner does not make contact within an agreed timeframe; and
  5. Make a proportionate record of all the above.

Transferring a written, e-mail or text contact

When a written contact is addressed to a named worker you should establish as quickly as possible whether the contact should be forwarded to that practitioner.

You should check available systems to establish whether the person is allocated to the practitioner that the written contact is addressed to.

You should not transfer a written contact to a named worker if it is clear that the worker is not allocated to the person. This will not be helpful to the worker or to the person as they will not be dealing with the right person to resolve the contact.

Before transferring the contact you should:

  1. Confirm that the practitioner the written communication is being transferred to is available within a reasonable timeframe for the action indicated by the contact, or that you have agreed with a manager how the contact will be managed;
  2. Where the communication is a letter or an e-mail, whether the practitioner wishes to receive the original contact (if not this should be filed securely); and
  3. Where a written response confirming the contact has been received is required or requested, agree who will provide this.

The most secure way to transfer a written contact is to send a message to the practitioner alerting them to the contact and where it can be found on the recording system.

Any original copies of e-mails must be sent via internal secure e-mail systems only and any original letters must be sent via internal postal services or secure delivery only.

If the practitioner is not available

If the practitioner is not available you should try and establish when they may become available by looking at any electronic calendars they use or speaking with a colleague or manager who may know.

If the practitioner is not available within a reasonable timeframe for the action indicated by the contact you should:

  1. Leave the practitioner a message alerting them to the contact, where it can be found on the recording system and any action undertaken, including what has been agreed with the person if contact has been made with them;
  2. Undertake any actions that you are able to in order to resolve some or part of the contact, including any urgent actions that may be required and writing any acknowledgement letter to confirm arrival of the contact;
  3. When the practitioner is not available within any timeframes indicted in the written contact or for more than a few days inform the person making the contact of this;
  4. Agree with the person what they should do if the practitioner does not make contact within an agreed timeframe; and
  5. Make a proportionate record of all the above.

7. Safeguarding Concern

If, as part of any conversation or information gathering you become concerned that a vulnerable adult or child is experiencing, or at risk of abuse or neglect you must respond appropriately by raising a concern.

Click here to access the adult safeguarding procedure, which also includes information about how to raise a children's safeguarding concern.

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 dialing 999.

8. Using Independent Advocacy

The Advocacy Duty

Whenever the outcome of a contact or referral is that the person will be involved in any adult Care and Support process (including any assessment, or safeguarding) the Local Authority has a duty under the Care Act to make an independent advocate available to the person when:

  1. There is no appropriate other person to support and represent them; and
  2. They feel that the person would experience substantial difficulty being fully involved in the Care and Support process without support.

Click here to see a tri.x tool that can support effective and consistent decision making about when/which advocacy support should be made available.

The Local Authority also has a power (but not a duty) to make advocacy available in other situations on a case by case basis if it deems this appropriate and is able to do so. This could include advocacy to support a person to understand information and advice, or advocacy to support a person to explore possible options available to them.

The Difference between substantial difficulty and lacking mental capacity

Having substantial difficulty is not the same as lacking mental capacity.

Click here for information about how to determine substantial difficulty.

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

An appropriate person

An appropriate person for general representation purposes is not the same as an appropriate person for independent advocacy under the Care Act.

Click here for information about the difference and how to establish whether there is already an appropriate person.

The role of the Independent Advocate

The role of an independent advocate appointed under the Care Act is not the same as the role of a general advocate or any other type of advocate (for example an Independent Mental Capacity Advocate or an Independent Mental Health Advocate).

An independent advocate appointed under the Care Act must both facilitate and ensure the involvement of the person with substantial difficulty in the Care and Support process that is taking place.

For information about the ways in which an independent advocate should fulfil their role click here.

Advocacy for people who lack Capacity

People who lack capacity will likely be legally entitled to advocacy under both the Care Act and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

The Care Act statutory guidance recognises that it would not normally be appropriate or practical for a person to have 2 advocates and gives the Local Authority the responsibility to make a decision about the best type of advocacy support.

There are various factors that should influence this decision (such as existing rapport with an advocate or whether any important decisions are likely to be the outcome of the Care and Support process) and the Local Authority must ensure that whatever it decides, it does not deny the person any of the specialist advocacy skills they need or are entitled to.

Click here to access a tri.x tool that can support effective and consistent decisions about when/which advocacy support should be made available.

Advocacy for people subject to the Mental Health Act

People eligible for an Independent Mental Health Advocate (IMHA) under the Mental Health Act 1983 will likely be entitled to advocacy under the Care Act.

The Care Act statutory guidance recognises that it would not normally be appropriate or practical for a person to have 2 advocates and gives the Local Authority the responsibility to make a decision about the best type of advocacy support.

There are various factors that should influence this decision (such as existing rapport with an advocate or the likely outcome of the Care and Support process) and the Local Authority must ensure that whatever it decides,  it does not deny the person any of the specialist advocacy skills they need or are entitled to.

Click here to access a tri.x tool that can support effective and consistent decisions about when/which advocacy support should be made available.

Making a Referral for Independent Advocacy

The advocacy referral can be made at any time and should be made without delay as soon as the duty applies.

What to do if Independent Advocacy is not available or delayed

Regardless of whether or not independent advocacy is available in the local area the duty to provide it still applies. A failure to do so is a breach of this duty and of the law. It is the role of commissioners to ensure that advocacy services are in place and available when required, and it is the role of practitioners to make timely referrals to advocates to prevent unnecessary delays in the meeting of its duty.

If you are aware that advocacy support is required and is not yet available you must not proceed to carry out any Care and Support process until it is in place.

In some circumstances urgent interim measures may need to be agreed without an advocate in place in order to reduce immediate risk to the person from inaction. However, Care and Support processes that will decide long term and important decisions must not be carried out without advocacy support.

What to do if the person does not want to use advocacy

The duty upon the Local Authority is to make independent advocacy support available to any person who requires it. Once made available the duty is met.

If a person decides that they do not wish to engage in the advocacy support that has been made available to them they do not have to do so, but the Local Authority must still provide it.

The Local Authority is expected under the Care Act to support the person to understand the role of an advocate and promote its benefit to them so as to reduce the likelihood that they will not engage.

9. Maintaining Existing Equipment

You should familiarise yourself with available local guidance that confirms who is responsible for maintaining or repairing equipment in a range of circumstances.

Where equipment maintenance is not the responsibility of the Local Authority you must remain mindful that meeting the person's needs remains the duty of the Local Authority at all times. There could therefore be a need to support the person to get the equipment maintained (for example by contacting the repair service on their behalf) or to provide interim equipment or an alternative measure to meet the need whilst any equipment maintenance is carried out.

10. Direct Support

Direct support refers to the range of ways that a practitioner works directly with a person or a carer to ensure safe and effective use of equipment, aids or an adaptation.

Direct support includes:

  1. Training of informal and paid carers in the safe and proper use of equipment; and
  2. Supporting the person to safely and confidently use equipment or adapt to their environment after an adaptation.

Direct support:

  1. Builds the person's confidence to use equipment and access their adapted environment;
  2. Builds the confidence of any carers to use the equipment;
  3. Ensures that people using the equipment are suitably skilled to do so;
  4. Ensures that people using the equipment know when it may be faulty;
  5. Reduces the risk of unsafe use of the equipment;
  6. Reduces the risk of injury from unsafe or improper use of the equipment;
  7. Maximises the effective use of the equipment or adapted environments to promote independence or prevent, reduce and delay needs.
If direct support is required following contact or referral you should refer to the direct support procedures by clicking here.

11. Allocation for Assessment or Support

Equipment or adaptations cannot be provided without allocation for a formal assessment of the person's needs in their environment unless:

  1. Adequate information has been gathered at contact, referral or through consultation; and
  2. A decision has been made to provide minor adaptations or low level equipment only; and
  3. Arrangements are in place to appropriately monitor the safe use and effectiveness of the minor adaptations and equipment provided.

When to allocate

Where the outcome decision is for the person's case to be allocated to an individual worker to carry out an assessment (or other intervention) this allocation should take place in a timely way so as to:

  1. Avoid any unnecessary delays to the person;
  2. Reduce the risk of a deterioration in the situation; and
  3. Maximise the use of measures that will prevent, delay or reduce needs.

Where there are a significant number of people awaiting allocation for further work or assessment there should be a fair and consistent prioritisation process in place that takes into account:

  1. The level of risk;
  2. The level of need;
  3. Current support in place and the sustainability/effectiveness of this;
  4. The urgency;
  5. The likelihood of deterioration; and
  6. The potential for fluctuation.

An element of monitoring should be incorporated into any allocation process to ensure that you remain aware of every person's situation and are able to respond appropriately to any changes or need to re-prioritise allocation.

Delays in Allocation

If a person is likely to remain unallocated for some time you must consider whether:

  1. There is appropriate support in place to meet any needs that they appear to have in the interim (either though a carer or an existing Care and Support Plan); and
  2. If not, the steps that need to be taken to ensure any urgent needs are met.

If there are unmet urgent needs you must take steps to ensure that these are met.

If a social work team is already involved with the person you should:

  1. Inform them that allocation has been delayed and that the person appears to have unmet urgent needs;
  2. Advise them of a possible timeframe for allocation; and
  3. Provide them with access to any information gathered through contact or referral so they can prioritise and consider the most appropriate course of action.

If a social work team is not already involved you will need to make the relevant referral.

How to allocate

The Care Act recognises that each worker (regardless of whether or not they have a professional qualification) will possess specific skills, knowledge and experience that will enable them to carry out different Care and Support functions or work with particular people well.

Because of this there is no expectation that a particular role should carry out a particular function; instead the Local Authority should allocate tasks to the most appropriate person for the job.

Allocation decisions should take into account:

  1. The skills, knowledge and experience of the worker in carrying out the function or process required;
  2. The skills, knowledge and experience of the worker in working with the particular needs of the person (for example health needs or communication needs); and
  3. The views and wishes of the person themselves in relation to the skills required of the worker and who they feel would best support them.

Click here to access a tri.x tool that can support consistent decision making when deciding who to allocate work to.

12. Transferring a Case

Sometimes it becomes clear that the required intervention would be better carried out or led by a different service area or team.

Any process for transferring a person's case between service areas or teams should be as simple and seamless as possible. It should involve the person and the potential services with the aim of reaching a shared agreement. Any transfer should not negatively impact the person or put them at risk through the delay of any Care and Support needs being met.

Though not a requirement, it would be prudent to apply the same criteria that the Care Act requires to be applied when deciding the most appropriate worker:

  1. The views and wishes of the person about which service/team would best support them must be regarded;
  2. The service/team must possess the skills, knowledge and competence to carry out the anticipated Care and Support functions; and
  3. The service/team must possess the skills, knowledge and competence to work with the particular person in question.

Click here to access a tri.x tool that can support consistent decision making about team suitability.

The service area or team receiving the case should make effective use of the information gathered thus far and not make the person (or anyone else previously consulted) repeat information unnecessarily.

13. Joint Work

Interventions by Occupational Therapy or the Hearing & Vision Team are often an integral part of many other adult Care and Support interventions. As such many referrals will require an element of joint working, for example when made by:

  1. A social work service carrying out a needs assessment;
  2. A health professional (for example, a community nurse);
  3. A service provider (for example a domiciliary care provider or a day service);
  4. A reablement or rehabilitation service.

The Care Act encourages joint working within organisations and across organisations, permitting anyone carrying out a Care and Support process to make any arrangements it deems necessary in order to facilitate joint working.

The duty to co-operate

Where the Local Authority requests another party to work jointly in some way to benefit the person with Care and Support needs that party has a duty to co-operate with the request (unless by doing so they will be prevented from carrying out their own duties under the Care Act or other legislation).

For further information about the duty to co-operate under the Care Act click here.

Responding to a request for joint work

When you have been asked to work jointly with another service, team or professional you should contact them to confirm your involvement and discuss the most effective way to work together. The things you should establish include:

  1. The work they are doing/will be doing/have done and whether they have any information that you need to know or can use to avoid duplication;
  2. Whether there are opportunities to co-ordinate systems and processes and, if so how this will be managed;
  3. What the expectations are in terms of joint-working (for example will you be expected to carry out a joint assessment, meet with the person together, produce joint records or just consult and share information);
  4. What the anticipated outcome of the joint work is (for example joint funding of support, on-going joint-work to monitor);
  5. What does the person with care and support needs know about the joint-work to be carried out (and if they don't know who and how should this be explained);
  6. Who will be the primary contact for the person (or their representative) to go to with any queries; and
  7. Who will be responsible for communicating progress and decisions to the person.

Further practice guidance about effective joint working can be found in the Joint Work procedure by clicking here.

If there are likely to be delays in your commencement of joint work the person who requested the joint work will need to:

  1. Consider whether to proceed with their intervention; or
  2. Await your availability.

It is the responsibility of the person requesting joint work to make this decision (in agreement with the person and any carer) and to take steps to ensure that any urgent needs for Care and Support are met.

How to request joint work or assessment

Any decision to request joint work should be made with the person (or their representative). Where the person is unable to provide consent to joint work decisions should be made in their best interests.

Joint work requests should be made in the manner preferred by the service, team or professional to which the request is being made. This may or may not take the form of a referral.

The request should explain clearly the nature of the joint work required and any specific skills, knowledge and competence requirements to support allocation.

14. Taking a Telephone Referral for Assessment or Support (OT Duty)

If the information gathered during a telephone contact suggests the person would benefit from further assessment or intervention a referral should be taken so long as:

  1. The person the referral relates to is making the referral;
  2. The person 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.

The following information should be included in a referral:

  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).