How to get care and help in your home - assessment
How to get community care
The process for getting community care services has three stages:
Step 1 - the local authority must first decide what the client’s needs are. It does this by carrying out a community care assessment
Step 2 - once the authority has assessed a client’s needs and eligibility for support, it will discuss with the client the choices available for meeting and arranging those needs and the resources that are available. There are rules about how it makes this decision
Step 3 - the local authority and the client will agree a care plan and decide how the support services will be organised and who will manage the budget, for example, whether the local authority will arrange the services or the client will receive direct payments to arrange her/his own services.
If you need help
It may be useful for some clients to have the help of an independent advocate to assist in expressing their own views about what they need. There may be a service locally or you can check what is available on the website of the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance at www.siaa.org.uk.
If there are problems within the family or existing carers about what help someone might need, a specialist mediator may be able to get involved to help to resolve the difficulties. Mediators are available from the Scottish Mediation Service at www.scottishmediation.org.uk.
Age Scotland
Causewayside House
160 Causewayside
Edinburgh
EH9 1PR
Age Scotland does not provide advice at its office. People who want advice should contact the Helpline.
Age Scotland Helpline: 0800 12 44 222 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm)
Email: Contact form available on the website
Twitter: @agescotland
Website: www.ageuk.org.uk/scotland
The Age Scotland Helpline assists older people and their carers in Scotland with a wide variety of issues. It is a free and confidential service available Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.
Care Information Scotland
Helpline: 0800 011 3200 (local rate) (every day 8.00am - 10.00pm)
Website: www.careinfoscotland.scot
Care Information Scotland is a telephone and website service that provides information about care services for older people in Scotland and their carers and families. It offers detailed information on the range of community care services available from local authorities, the private and the voluntary sector. Their website has a 'where to start' page for care services at www.careinfoscotland.scot.
There is a leaflet called Free Personal & Nursing Care on the Scottish Government website at www.gov.scot .
The organisation that regulates and inspects community care services is called the Care Inspectorate. The contact details are:-