Reviewing your situation

Assessment

A review is a re-assessment of your support needs. We should review your social care support at least once a year. You can also ask for a review any time your situation has changed.

Why do we review your situation?

We review your situation to make sure that you are getting the best, most cost-effective support to meet your needs, help you achieve your outcomes and improve your wellbeing. If we can help you to be more independent, while staying safe, then we will do so. For many people, being more independent means better physical and mental wellbeing.

What could change?

Read some of the stories from other people who have benefitted from their review.

What will happen at the review?

We will usually arrange to visit you at home. If you want, you can invite other people who help look after you to the review. Sometimes, instead of visiting you, we may contact you by telephone or ask you to fill in a review form and send it back to us.

We will look, with you, at:

What you need support with.
Whether you are achieving the outcomes in your support plan.
If your support needs have changed.
If there are other, better ways of meeting the outcomes in your support plan - for example, using equipment or telecare instead of staff visiting you.
Whether family, friends or neighbours are able to support you.
Whether other services can support you or you have other suggestions.

Equipment: things like walking frames and sticks, commodes, shower seats, kettle tippers, beakers, bed grab handles and even stair lifts.

Telecare: equipment such as sensors which know when there is a problem and automatically alert either Care on Call mobile warden service or your carer.

If your situation has changed, or there are other ways of helping you to achieve the outcomes in your support plan, it is likely that your personal budget will change.

Personal budget: the amount of money you need to meet your support needs. You can use your personal budget to buy your own support (a direct payment), or we can use it to arrange services for you.

What will happen next?

After your review, you and the social care worker may need to write a new support plan, with new outcomes. However you choose to spend your personal budget, it must help you to achieve your outcomes. If there are changes to your support plan and you still need money to pay for support, we will encourage you to think about a direct payment. This gives you more choice and control over the support you use.

The support you use is not set. If your situation has changed, it is likely that the support you need will also have changed. This means that your new personal budget could be more or less than you currently get.