Adult Social Care Glossary, v 0.6

'Event' is used in MODS, where it has three data elements:

Event date
Location
Performing professional

MODS does not yet supply a definition for 'Event', but it appears (a) to be broader than the ASC-CLD definition (Request, Assessment, Service, Review), and (b) to be different from 'Adverse event'.

Events that occur within the reporting period should be recorded for service users and carers. This includes:

• Requests for support completed during the reporting period. This is the point at which the initial contact outcome has been finalised.
• Assessments and reviews completed during the reporting period. Open or ongoing requests, assessments or reviews should not be included. Assessments started before the reporting period start date and completed during the reporting period should be included.
• Services that are active during the reporting period. This includes services that are active at the end of the reporting period, as well as those that started or ended during the reporting period. Service events are the only event type in CLD that can be open and ongoing with an event start date but no event end date.

Cancelled events should be excluded from the collection. For CLD submissions, a cancelled event is an event where the process was not completed. Events that were erroneously recorded but didn’t happen are considered cancelled. Requests, assessments and reviews should be considered cancelled where they are halted prior to completion for an unexpected reason such as an admission to hospital. A service should only be considered cancelled if it is terminated prior to any support being provided. Suspended services should be included as ongoing until the service is confirmed as being no longer provided.

These events represent four key steps in the social care pathway.

We recognise that different local authorities operate different front-door services and commission services in different ways. We also recognise that terminology, IT case management systems and recording practices vary. The guiding principle when mapping events to one of the four event types (detailed in the Event Type section below) is that it should most closely match the activity. Local authority data leads should use their professional judgement to decide this, alongside the guidance. Annex C sets out the rationale for how local authorities should record events if they operate the ‘three conversations’ model or similar strengths-based approaches.

We also recognise that individuals may have multiple care needs involving multiple referrals to different services and interrupted by unplanned events, such as a hospital admission. In these situations, selecting a single Event Outcome for reporting purposes is not straightforward. Guidance on this is given under the Event Outcome field with worked examples provided in Annex D.

For carer services, local authorities have a range of arrangements with third party organisations to provide assessments and services. In some instances, the local authority funded sector partners will be able to provide records containing the relevant details of carers they assess and support. Subject to appropriate data sharing agreements, these can be used to submit carers information within CLD. In other instances, the funding may be more general (block grant funded) and the local authority would have no expectation that the funded sector partner could provide carer records. In such cases, we would not expect an authority to submit records for this group. At the time of submission, the comments box on the Data Landing Portal (DLP) should be used to describe this context.

Person level data is required for carers in direct contact with the local authority during the reporting period – for a request, an assessment, a service or a review. This can include direct contact with a commissioned provider.

This section of the specification is designed to collect additional information specifically relating to carers and to enable linkage to records for cared-for people in the submitted data.

These fields should be completed for event rows that have the Client Type ‘Carer’ or ‘Carer known by association’.

Carers who are not the direct subject of events still need to be included in the dataset if the carer is linked to a client and has been actively involved in the assessment and care management process for the person they care for. This is the only instance where a row of data will show the person details for the carer and the linked service user Person IDs only, but not contain any event details. This record will be used for linking purposes only using Client type of ‘Carer known by association’. Worked examples of how to use ‘Carer known by association’ are provided in Annex D.

Carer-specific events should represent the direct interactions of local authorities and carers in respect of their needs as a carer i.e. a carers request, a carers assessment, carer review or ‘carer support: direct to carer’

If an adult carer is also interacting with the local authority as a service user, and are aged 18 or older, events related to their needs as a service user should be recorded using Client Type ‘service user’.

Where either a carer is receiving local authority support, but the cared for person is not, the details of the latter should not be shared, since there is no purpose / consent to hold and share this data.

This field records requests for support (contacts from people or their representatives, or someone acting on their behalf) being made in relation to the provision of adult social care services, excepting ‘casual contacts’ where no client details are captured. In a change from SALT, this should be for existing as well as new clients, and for carers.

Where the first contact is also an initial conversation in a multi-stage assessment approach, this should be recorded as a request. See Annex C for details.

Assessments are a key event in the social care process and has therefore been included in the CLD specification to capture the full care pathway.

At minimum, local authorities should provide records for assessment events that involve a full assessment of eligibility for services under the Care Act 2014. Local authorities should also provide records for other types of assessment, including occupational therapy assessments of equipment including assistive technology and adaptations and reablement assessments. Where no eligibility assessment is made, the Assessment Type should be recorded as a Short Term Assessment.

DoLS, safeguarding, mental capacity and Mental Health Act assessments should not be included in CLD.

As set out under the ‘Events (All)’ section, carer assessments should be included where these records are available.

Service records should be submitted for people who are either:
• funded fully or jointly by the local authority
• full cost clients whose care is organised by the local authority under S18(3)

In these groups, everyone currently in receipt of services should have a service event record submitted as part of CLD. This covers active or ongoing services that started before the reporting period as well as those starting or ending during the reporting period.

In relation to services that have been suspended during the period, these should be treated as open with the client 'on the books' for the purposes of the return. If it is decided that the suspended service will be terminated, for example following an extended stay in hospital where needs are likely to change, or the care home is unable to keep the bed available, this should be recorded as an ended service with an end date matching the suspension date and a new service recorded as appropriate.

Only services provided by adult social services in respect of needs as an adult should be included in reporting. Services for young people who have turned 18 whose service transitioned to adult social care before they turned 18 should be included. Services provided by children’s social services during the transition should be excluded.

Packages of care can be reported either using a single service line or as multiple service lines, depending on how the care is locally commissioned and recorded. This will be accounted for at the analysis stage.

A review event should be an examination of an existing care and support plan. This may be planned as a regular event or initiated by a change in circumstance.
Where it is found that there is a change of circumstance that affects a care and support plan, this may trigger a re-assessment of needs, carer’s assessment, short term assessment and/or financial assessment. These should be recorded as separate assessment events in addition to the review event.

Where a review and re-assessment is recorded on case management systems as a single combined event, this should be submitted as a review.

A review cannot be completed without input from the client and/or their representative. The outcome must include offering of new or continuation of current services as well as services being ceased. Closing case files or checking that services have stopped following the death of a client does not count as a review for CLD purposes. Similarly, reviews that are not completed before a client dies (or for any other reason) should not be included.

SALT reviews (LTS002b) are limited to reviews of those who are in receipt of long-term support. All reviews of client and/or carer needs should be recorded as review events in CLD. This covers people receiving long-term support (LTS002), those receiving short-term services (STS002) and unpaid carers (LTS003). Inclusion of all reviews in CLD will allow existing metrics to be derived, as well as collecting additional new insight on local authority adult social care activity.

Review events should only be submitted if they are completed. Reviews that are terminated before completion should not be submitted. For example, closing case files following the death of a client does not count as a review for CLD purposes.