Key Questions
- Why should care and support plans be reviewed?
- When should care and support plans be reviewed?
- Who should be involved in reviews?
- What should be covered in a review?
- What are the different types of reviews?
Why should care and support plans be reviewed?
The Care Act says that councils must regularly review care and support plans, and carry out assessments when the person’s circumstances have changed.
Reviews can:
- give people the opportunity look at what is working, what is not working and what might need to change;
- make sure that plans are kept up to date and are relevant to the person’s needs and what they want to achieve;
- give the person confidence that people who are working with them understand what is important to them;
- reduce the risk of crisis situations.
A review should be seen as a positive opportunity for everyone to take stock and to have a say in how the plan is working.
When should care and support plans be reviewed?
Reviews should take place at least every 12 months.
A light touch or short review – which checks that the plan is working as It was meant to and to spots any problems early on – should be considered six to eight weeks after the care and support plan has been agreed.
If someone’s physical or mental health is getting worse, reviews may need to be much more frequent.
If a person has few or no family members or friends to support them, the risks of problems occurring may be higher. So reviews may need to be more frequent.
Who should be involved in reviews?
All reviews must involve the person, their carer and anyone else the person wants to be involved, where appropriate.
If it is difficult for the person to be being fully involved and there is no family member or friend who can represent or support them, an independent advocate must be considered.
All efforts must be made to make sure the person is involved in the review, as much as possible.
What should be covered in a review?
Reviews should not be difficult or complicated.
They should cover the following:
- Has the person’s circumstances and / or care and support needs changed?
- What is working in the plan, what is not working, and what might need to change?
- Have the outcomes identified in the plan been achieved or not?
- Does the person have new outcomes they want to meet?
- Could improvements be made to the plan for the person to achieve better outcomes?
- Is the person’s personal budget helping them to meet their needs and outcomes identified in their plan?
- Is the current way of managing their personal budget still the best one for what they want to achieve, for example would direct payments be better?
- Are there any changes in support the person gets from family and friends that might affect the plan?
- Have there been any changes to the person’s needs or circumstances that might mean they are at risk of abuse or neglect?
- Is the person, their carer and / or independent advocate satisfied with the plan?
What are the different types of reviews?
There are several different types of review including:
- Planned review – dates are set with the person during the care and support planning;
- Unplanned review – results from a change in needs or circumstances, for example a fall or hospital admission of their main carer;
- Requested review – the person or their carer, family member, advocate asks for a review. This may happen because of a change in the person’s needs or circumstances.
Depending on the circumstances reviews can be:
- conducted over the telephone or video call;
- be face to face r with a social worker or other professional.
