Adult care services - our priorities and criteria
We must make sure that the resources we have are used to help people in greatest need of support. It is important that we support people where their problems mean that without help they wouldn’t be able to continue to live at home safely or independently.
It is important that you tell us as much as you can about your problems, because we'll use what you tell us to decide whether or not we can help you. We'll probably be able to help you if
- you can't manage to do essential things, and there's no other way of getting them done
- you are struggling to manage, but you or a carer are at serious risk of injury, and there's no other way of getting things done
If it seems you might be better off getting help from someone else, we'll tell you who to get in touch with.
Once we have a clear understanding of the problems you are having we will decide which problems are creating a risk to your independence. The areas we look at include
- problems you are having communicating your wishes or making choices
- problems with your health and safety
- problems managing your personal care or carrying out domestic routines
- problems maintaining work/studying, or problems getting involved in family responsibilities or community life
For each of these areas your risk could be low, moderate, substantial or critical.
To make sure we help the people in greatest need of our support we will always give top priority to those people who face a critical risk to their independence. We will then give priority to people who face a substantial risk to their independence.
This means that if your problems create only a low or moderate risk to your independence we may only be able to provide information and advice about other sources of help.
We will also look at whether your situation will get worse in the future, and if other services could help with the problems you are having - such as housing services or the health service.
