Children's Care Reviews and ensuring good quality care
In Children and Young People’s Disability Service (CYPDS), we ensure that the child or young person receives good quality care by providing a person-centred approach. This means we listen to the child or young person and their family about what is important to them and we put their voice at the centre of care that they receive. We use this approach to agree your child’s Support Plan and Care Reviews.
Find out more about how CYPDS ensures children and young people receive good quality care.
- Ongoing support
- Short breaks care plan
- Short breaks care plan review
- Preparing for adult life and young adult's Support Plan
- Getting a direct payment changed
- How to make a complaint
In CYPDS, we have systems in place to ensure concerns about quality are addressed. Concerns can be raised in the first instance with the Children and Young People Disability Service Duty Manager, Tel 020 7974 3597, or Email [email protected].
1. People Plus independent support service
As part of Camden Council’s Direct Payment service, independent specialist support is available to help you manage your direct payment. The service is for anyone who receives a direct payment, including their carers and families.
The specialist support is provided by People Plus. They can help you to set up a direct payment and provide ongoing support the whole time you receive direct payments. If there are any changes to a Care Plan, or you have any queries about the direct payment, People Plus can assist and advise you.
People Plus's contact details are:
Email [email protected]
Phone 0330 123 2815
Approximately 6 weeks after you have received your first direct payment, People Plus and/or the Social Worker will aim to get in contact with you to find out how the direct payment is going and whether you have any questions about the care you are buying as agreed in your child’s Short Breaks Care Plan.
If you have any questions, do not wait for People Plus or the Social Worker to contact you. You can get in touch with them any time that you require further information.
2. Employing Support Workers
If you are a young adult or a parent that uses a direct payment to employ a Support Worker there is help available to guide you through the employment process and ensure the quality of care provided by your employee is to a standard you expect.
People Plus can provide information and advice on managing your staff and ensuring the quality of care is maintained.
People Plus can support you to:
- communicate with your staff from the outset reasonable expectations for the role such as time keeping and boundary setting
- provide a code of conduct for your staff
- consider risks and how they can be mitigated
- explore training that your staff could attend such as lifting and handling; health and safety; epilepsy; how staff can support you to make day to day priorities about your care and make good choices (eg. Talk for Health training https://talkforhealth.co.uk/training)
- provide written guidelines for supporting you to meet your care needs.
Should there be an emergency outside of working hours in relation to providing care and support, please contact the Emergency Duty Team on 020 7974 4444.
When your child’s Social Worker from Children and Young People’s Disability Service (CYPDS) is assessing the family’s care needs, they will work with the family to produce an agreed Short Breaks Care Plan.
A Short Breaks Care Plan is unique to the child or young person and their family.
The Care Plan sets out what actions and services will be put in place to address the child’s needs and improve their outcomes, such as:
- what is important to the child/young person and their family
- what the child or young person’s care needs are
- how the needs will be met
- how Children and Young People Disability Service will ensure the care is of the best quality
- the individual outcomes that are agreed for the person and how they will be achieved
- what the person’s personal budget or personal health budget is
In making a recommendation for support, the Social Worker will also consider the parent/carer’s own need for a ‘Short Break’ as part of the overall package of care. This requirement is in line with the Children Act 2004.
Putting the child or young person first in decisions about their care
In Camden, a Short Breaks Care Plan is produced using the Camden model of social work principles. If the Care Plan is for a young adult over 18 years, it is written using the principles from Adult Social Care’s ‘what matters’ approach to supporting you.
Both the model and approach in Children and Adult services are guided by the principles that put the child or young adult first in everything that we do. This means the child and family are at the heart of all decisions made about them and what is important to meeting their care. This person-centred approach also means we involve the child’s support network to gain a clearer picture of their history, current circumstances, and understand what their future goals are so that the support put in place reflects what is important to them and is what the family consider to be good quality.
Each Short Breaks Care Plan will:
- recognise and build on the child or young adult’s strengths as an individual and within their social networks
- support the child and family to stay connected to their community
- work with them to identify problems and intervene early. This will help to tackle the root causes of any problems, not just the symptoms
- ensure the family are supported in their role as the main carer and they are able to continue to ensure the child or young adult’s needs are being met
An allocated Social Worker in Children and Young People’s Disability Service (CYPDS) is responsible for drawing up the Short Breaks Care Plan. The Care Plan includes a provision for care that can be made in the form of a direct payment or from services that CYPDS works closely with. This may include: after school clubs, services and support for non-disabled siblings, specialist services such as a referral to MOSAIC CAMHS or other behavioural support.
The Short Breaks Care Plan will also include a finance plan detailing specific provision and the total cost of the care package being provided.
Children and Young People’s Disability Service (CYPDS) are responsible for ensuring that formal reviews of Care Plans take place regularly to ensure the child or young person and their family continue to receive good quality care and that care arrangements are working well.
Short Breaks Care Plans are reviewed every year. As part of the review, the Social Worker must see the child, unless the child is receiving a SART core offer. A SART core offer is when a parent completed a Self Assessment Referral Tool (SART), available on the Camden Local Offer website and the child’s eligible needs are met by CYPDS’s core offer, rather than by direct payment.
In the Short Breaks Care Plan review, all reasonable attempts must be made to ascertain the child’s wishes and feelings. This may include using communication tools as well as observations of the child in different environments including home, school and after school activities.
The frequency of reviews will be determined by the CYPDS manager who will consult with the allocated Social Worker before a decision is made at a review panel meeting.
In some circumstances a Short Breaks Care Plan review may be completed more often:
- at the request of a child/young person, their parent or their Health Care Professional or Social Worker where there has been a change in circumstances and the service provision needs to be reassessed
- where the child has a high level of complex needs that require a high level of service provision
Alongside regular reviews of the Short Breaks Care Plan, the direct payment arrangement is also checked to ensure the funds are used in the way that it was designed for. In order for direct payments checks to be carried out efficiently, the Short Breaks Care Plan needs to clearly detail how child’s direct payment will be used and what the agreed outcomes are.
What to expect in a care review
A review is an opportunity for everyone involved in the young person’s care to understand any changes to their health or social care needs and give their views on how well they think the care is being met.
A review also aims to ensure the Short Breaks care plan is working well so that the person’s care continues to be of good quality.
A care review involves discussions with the child and their family/carers about:
- What’s working well and how the child is progressing with their aspirations
- What has changed since the Plan came in place, such as the person’s circumstances and their health
- If the young people is between 18 and 25, what needs to change in regards to support to develop independent living skills
- What’s important to the person and do new goals or outcomes need to be set
- Confirm Care Act eligibility, strengths or needs for on-going support under the Children Act
- Risks that need to be considered
- Agree next steps and an action plan
The review will include a discussion about the direct payment arrangement to check that the funds are used in the way that it was designed for, including:
- considering any risks to your safety and welfare in regards to taking a direct payment. This is for safeguarding purposes to prevent any potential abuse to people who use a direct payment
- how the financial and business side of your direct payment is going and any amounts that have not been spent.
Who is involved in a care review
Aside from the local authority officer, usually the Social Worker, who conducts a care review, the meeting must involve:
- The child or young people whom the direct payment is for
- If the young adult lacks capacity, then the person who the local authority considers it would be in the person’s best interest to involve
- Family carers
- The person managing the Direct Payment
- Anyone else whom the child or young person has asked to attend the review
Other people include:
- Social care professionals
- The personal (Care) Assistant that the young adult has employed
- People Plus- the support service commissioned by us
- The Direct payments Monitoring Team
- Advocates, if involved
Preparing for adult life
If the child is age 14 or older, their Social Worker will complete a Preparation for Adulthood assessment. The assessment will be followed by a Short Breaks Care Plan that focuses on preparing for adulthood outcomes for independent living, such as employment, community access, managing small household tasks and maintaining good health.
When the young person is approaching their 18th birthday, the Social Worker will have a discussion with the young person and their carer. The discussion is called a Care Act Assessment and the purpose is to identify ongoing care needs into adulthood, agree what support is required to meet eligible needs and agree on the direct payment arrangements as the young person becomes an adult.
Where a young adult needs support to express their views, we put them in contact with an independent Advocate. The role of an Advocate is to ensure the person’s views and wishes are expressed and their voice is heard. In many cases, the parent or carer who knows the young adult well can also act as an informal advocate.
The young adult will continue to be supported by Children and Young People’s Disability Service until they complete their education and there is a Support Plan in place post-education.
The expectation is that the young adult is seen regularly by a Social Worker in CYPDS to ensure that the Support Plan is continuously reviewed and meets the young adult’s needs.
As the young adult approaches 25 they will be supported by Adult Social Care if they have ongoing care needs.
Young adult’s Support Plan (18 to 25)
When the young person reaches adulthood (18 to 25), the care needs agreed in their Short Breaks Care Plan and the arrangements for direct payments will be coordinated by CYPDS and Adult Social Care.
Adult Social Care will be involved in setting up the direct payment on Camden’s care management system. Adult Social Care will also be responsible for regularly checking and monitoring the direct payment fund to ensure it is used properly.
For care that is met by direct payments, the Care and Support (Direct Payments) Regulations 2014 set out guidance for how a young adult’s care is reviewed.
The Regulations state that:
- the purpose of a review is to ascertain whether the arrangement of a direct payment is an appropriate way to meet the adult needs
- the local authority must conduct a care review at least once within the first 6 months of the direct payment being made and thereafter at intervals not longer than 12 months
- where an agreement needs to be reached regarding the outcome of the review, the local authority must take all reasonable steps to reach an agreement with the person concerned. If person lacks capacity to reach an agreement, then the person who is authorised under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to make decisions about the person’s needs for care and support, or where there is no such person, any person who appears to the local authority to be interested in the adult’s welfare.
Getting a direct payment changed
If a direct payment needs to be changed, please contact your Social Worker.
Any changes to a direct payment needs to be updated on the Children and Young People Disability Service record management system so that all relevant teams are aware of changes to your care.
If the young person is aged 18 to 25, any changes to a direct payment needs to be updated on the Adult Social Care record management system.
1. CYPDS and Adult Social Care
If you are not satisfied with a service or decisions made by Camden Children and Young People Disability Service (CYPDS) or Camden Adult Social Care, we ask you to raise it with a Team Manager or the Service Manager so that it can be resolved.
If you are still not happy with the decision, you are entitled to make a complaint using our Complaint procedure.
You can submit a complaint to our Complaints Team in a number of ways:
Phone: 020 7974 5644
Text phone: 020 7974 6096
Email: [email protected]
E-form: www.camden.gov.uk/complaints
2. Support Workers
If you employ a Support Worker and you are not satisfied with their performance, People Plus, the support service commissioned by us can provide advice and support on how you, as your staff’s employer, can address your concerns.
Contact People Plus
Phone: 0330 123 2815
Email: [email protected]
3. Agency staff
If you are not satisfied with the service received from a Care Worker supplied by an agency, please contact the Agency Manager to resolve it.
All Care Agencies are independently regulated by the Care Quality Commission, which ensures health and social care services in England provide people with safe, effective, high quality care.
If you are still not satisfied with the Agency‘s service and the Agency is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), you can contact the CQC by email at [email protected].