Adult Social Care Glossary, v 0.6

Care and Support Statutory Guidance

15.14 Local authorities, together with their partners, should consider combining or aligning key processes in the care and support journey, where there may be benefit to the individual concerned from linking more effectively. Combined assessments should only take place in suitable circumstances and where assessors are trained to do so. For example, combining assessments may allow for a clearer picture of the person's needs holistically, and for a single point of contact with the person to promote consistency of experience, so that provision of different types of support can be aligned. A number of assessments could be carried out on the same person, for example a care and support needs assessment, health assessment and continuing healthcare assessments. Where it is not practicable for assessments to be conducted by the same professional, it may nonetheless be possible to align processes to support a better experience, for example, the second or third assessor could be obliged to read the first assessment (provided there is a lawful basis for sharing the information) and not ask any information that has already been collected, or the different bodies could work together to develop a single, compatible assessment tool. Local authorities have powers to carry out assessments jointly with other parties, or to de-delegate the function in its entirety.