Assessment must back good practice

Tools used to implement the single assessment
process must support good practice not replace it, a Department of
Health’s spokesperson said last week.

Raymond Warburton, head of social
care for older people at the DoH, told a London conference that
assessment tools and scales can “ensure that good practice becomes
the norm”. They can also provide a consistent approach to
assessment and a ready means of recording and sharing assessment
information.

“The
single assessment process is about a standardised and efficient
approach and one in which professionals trust each other’s
judgement,” he said.

An
overview assessment tool should make clear how older people
contribute to their assessment, should be suitable for NHS and
social care professionals, and cover the impact of older people’s
environments, relationships and other external factors.

One of
the reasons for introducing a single assessment process was because
“hitherto, many assessments missed key health and social care
conditions and misdiagnosed them,” he explained to the conference
organised by Harrogate Centre for Excellence in Health & Social
Care.


Tools and guidance can be found at www.doh.gov.uk/scg/sap/toolsandscales/index.htm

 

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