The UK Care Act 2014 underscores the right of individuals to have a needs assessment, and stipulates that local authorities must:

• Carry out an assessment of anyone who appears to require care and support, regardless of their likely eligibility for state-funded care

• Focus the assessment on the person’s needs and how they impact on their wellbeing, and the outcomes they want to achieve

• Involve the person in the assessment and, where appropriate, their carer or someone else they nominate

• Provide access to an independent advocate to support the person’s involvement in the assessment if required

• Consider other things besides care services that can contribute to the desired outcomes (e.g. preventive services, community support)

• Use the new national minimum threshold to judge eligibility for publicly funded care and support.

 

CHALLENGES
 

Because GPs are constrained by time and sometimes resources, the task of collecting and collating social and financial information about a patient may be delegated to members of a Multidisciplinary Team (MDT), or via questionnaires to the patient themselves, or a well-informed carer, a nurse or health care assistant.

There are examples of the voluntary care sector undertaking Easy Care assessments of patients (Philp I, 2012).