Main heading

Introduction	Meetings	Contact CSAP
Background	Project Team	Links
Partners	News and Views	FAQ
Data Sharing Protocols	Information for Professionals	Operational FAQ

Background

The single assessment process (SAP) for older people was introduced in the National Service Framework (NSF) for older people published by the Department of Health in February 2001. Detailed guidance was published in January 2002. It made reference to the need to move towards more “person centred” care in the NHS and Social Care. The NSF also recommended that a single joint assessment process with agreed high standards would assist this.

The purpose of SAP is to ensure that older people receive appropriate, effective and timely responses to their health and social care needs, and that professional resources are used effectively. In pursuit of these aims, SAP should ensure that:

• Individuals are placed at the heart of assessment and care planning, and these processes are timely and in proportion to individuals' needs.

• Professionals are willing, able and confident to use their judgement.

• Care plans or statements of service delivery are routinely produced and service users receive a copy.

• Professionals contribute to assessments in the most effective way, and care co-ordinators are agreed in individual cases when necessary.

• Information is collected, stored and shared as effectively as possible and subject to consent.

• Professionals and agencies do not duplicate each other's assessments.

The Health and Social Care community in Cheshire have agreed on the use of an electronic Minimum Data Set - Home Care (MDS-HC) assessment protocol to support the Single Assessment Process across all Cheshire agencies. MDS-HC is one of a small number of protocols accredited by the Department of Health giving intelligence to the electronic forms and covering a broad range of assessment domains. It has been designed specifically for use with older people with complex care needs by social care professionals in non-institutional settings.

Their specific responses to certain items, ‘trigger’ reference to 30 client assessment protocols (CAPs), contained in the MDS-HC Manual, guiding the assessor towards good practice.

The purpose of the system is to improve the quality of service provided to older people and to ensure that the process of evaluation of need and service provision is co-ordinated across the partners.

There are two key elements to the successful implementation of Single Assessment Process, one strand relates to operational staff across a range of professionals working together. The second strand relates to the transmission of assessment and integrated care plan information between professionals supported by an electronic system. The combination of the transmission of information between professionals and organisations, within one standardised, high quality electronic document, reduces duplication of work/assessments. This multi-agency working benefits both client and professional.