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Comprehensive assessment of older people with complex care needs: the multi-disciplinarity of the Single Assessment Process in England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2010

DAVID CHALLIS ,
MICHELE ABENDSTERN ,
PAUL CLARKSON ,
JANE HUGHES  and
CAROLINE SUTCLIFFE
DAVID CHALLIS*
Affiliation:
Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
MICHELE ABENDSTERN
Affiliation:
Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
PAUL CLARKSON
Affiliation:
Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
JANE HUGHES
Affiliation:
Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
CAROLINE SUTCLIFFE
Affiliation:
Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: David Challis, Personal Social Services Research Unit, Dover Street Building, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, ManchesterM13 9PL, UK. E-mail: D.J.Challis@manchester.ac.uk
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Abstract

The quality of assessment of older people with health and social care needs has for some time been a concern of policy makers, practitioners, older people and carers in the United Kingdom and internationally. This article seeks to address a key aspect of these concerns, namely whether sufficient expertise is deployed when, as a basis for a care plan and service allocation, an older person's eligibility for local authority adult social-care services requires a comprehensive needs assessment of their usually complex and multiple problems. Is an adequate range of professionals engaged, and is a multi-disciplinary approach applied? The Single Assessment Process (SAP) was introduced in England in 2004 to promote a multi-disciplinary model of service delivery. After its introduction, a survey in 2005–06 was conducted to establish the prevalence and patterns of comprehensive assessment practice across England. The reported arrangements for multi-disciplinary working among local authority areas in England were categorised and reviewed. The findings suggest, first, that the provision of comprehensive assessments of older people that require the expertise of multiple professionals is limited, except where the possibility arose of placement in a care-home-with-nursing, and second that by and large a systematic multi-disciplinary approach was absent. Policy initiatives to address the difficulties in assessment need to be more prescriptive if they are to produce the intended outcomes.

Keywords

comprehensive assessmentmulti-disciplinary assessmentolder peopleSingle Assessment Processlocal authority adult services
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 30 , Issue 7 , October 2010 , pp. 1115 - 1134
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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