Processes Involved In Planning Support for Individuals

There are many different processes and assessments that can be used in health and social care but here are the most important ones that can be used.
There is the cycle of support planning, which is:
This is the small cycle
Assessment

Check of care services Care planning

Implementation of care services

In this cycle, there is an assessment taken place to help the individual and the care plan is made or in the process of making then sent for it to be implemented to the care services, then sent off to the cared services for it to be checked.
Referral
The support planning and delivery process can be seen as a cycle:

Holistic assessment
Reviewing

Evaluating
Identifying current provision

Monitoring

Care planning

Implementation

Recording

Communicating

Since the NHS Care and Community Act 1990, all the local authorities have decided that everyone should start using the support planning cycle.
The stages of this support planning cycle are:
Referral- This enables people to become known to the services. For example, Martha is 89 years old, and she has been a very independent career minded woman and she has dementia. Because she is very old and has dementia which means she needs to be used to or become known to services, so that professionals known that she is also an important patient, who needs to be looked after carefully. This would be used, for example when Martha is first moved into the care home.
Holistic assessment of needs/preferences- This is done through observation, this can be done by the care workers and also the professionals. For example, a meeting can be done with the client’s family and friends, and also a reference to the medical notes and any earlier history and through conservations with the patient. Even though Martha, is not really close with any of her family members, the professionals should at least call one of her closest youngest friends and for them to have a meeting with them and know what is going on and what medication she is taking and any past information, her close friend may not about Martha to enable them to support her more.
Identification of current provision- The professional finds out any resources that are needed to meet the individual/patients’ needs. For example, the professional need to know that Martha wants to go out and smoke, but they always seem to be busy. So they need to take in consideration that she wants to smoke, this is so tar they can meet her needs because it is what she wants. For example, Martha’s social worker is trying to find a day care centre for her so that she can make new friends and socialise more and also for her to have something to do.
Care planning- This is where a detailed, time bound care plan is found for the patient, there is selected objectives, which is also used within the care plan and there are also clear guidelines for which interventions are met and by who. For example, her dietician can set objectives on what she should and shouldn’t eat.
Recording- This is where all information is kept in a file and documented. For example, they need to record down any information about Martha. For example, they have to record down information of Martha having mobility and dementia, so they can know what type of disability she has or any problems she has.
Implentation/ Intervention- This includes the delivery of the care plan and monitors the effect of the care plan is having on the individual. The date is also chosen for the plan to be implemented. Implementation is taking any action that needs to help the individual. They can provide a care plan for them to be able to help her more, for example, if her physiotherapist can help her even more and produce other ways of her to support her with her walking.
Monitoring and reviewing- There is a meeting amongst the professionals, individual and others to assess or see what is going well, and what changes need to be made. New goals and targets and also alteration of the care plan (review of provision, identification). Martha has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and has been prescribed medication by her GP, but he has not discussed her medication with her. for example, there should be a meeting with Martha and everyone else looking after her, to know what medication she is taking, so changes that need to be made, letting her know what medication she is taking, and new goals and targets should be made, to let Martha know what is going on with herself, because she has the right to know.
Evaluation of the care plan- This is where a care professional is in charge or the team is in charge to evaluate whether the care objectives have been met or not. They can use this to see if Martha’s needs have been met or not by them setting objectives and in order to see if they have been met or not.
Assessment tools
Assessment tools are resources that are used in the support planning cycle. They are useful in planning support for individuals, this is because it helps to create a holistic picture to meet the individual’s needs, when details have been recorded down, then the assessment can be made and the right care, and also support can be found to help the individual. For example, Martha has mobility problems, and her physiotherapist gave her a walking stick. This means, if Martha has an accident they can write down the incident on her report.
Observations- They can help to describe help to describe patterns, self-care skills or any type of medical situation for the individual. This can help explain behaviour patterns, self-care skills or the medical condition of an individual. For example, this can help them observe her dementia to see if it’s getting worse and also she is diabetic which means her use of medication must be observed.
Records of incidents and accidents- this is to ensure that monitoring and reviewing is undertaken, the key worker is given advice to keep track of any incident and accident. This can show when support should change or develop. For example, because this can useful in planning support for Martha, because has mobility, which means she cannot walk properly, so this can helpful because if Martha injures herself, because of her not being able to walk properly then they can keep track of any incident she has had, so they would know how to stop that incident from occurring next time.
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GP- A general practitioner (GP) is a medical doctor that has a general knowledge and understanding illness. The GP can give any type of medication, for a wide range of illnesses which can be good treatment for the illness. A general practitioner is a family doctor or a physician and also helps provide diagnosis and care. The general practitioner, also listens to the patient to help solve their issue. They can also, transfer the patient to another professional, if the doctor thinks their case is very serious.
For Martha, the GP would notify her about which type of diabetes she has. The GP could also discuss the medication she has been prescribed with her, since it says that they do not discuss her medication with her, so this would be helpful. They would also tell her how much of the medication she should take per day and also how she should take it, just in case she didn’t know or doesn’t remember how to (since she has dementia).

Social worker- The social worker’s Job is to make sure that the individuals needs have been met. The social worker has a statutory responsibility to meet the needs of the individual and family that they work for, they also make sure problems have been solved. The social worker, gives family support and help provide support and help them in order to improve individual’s well-being. The social worker can contribute when planning support for individuals, they can do this by looking at referring legal documents to other agencies to ensure they are doing their jobs. In addition the social workers are one of the professionals who require a good relationships with their service users to enable them to tell them useful information which can help them produce effective care. The social worker can ask the GP for information referring to what progress Martha is on and what further help he may recommend this way the social worker can put this into action.
For example the social worker, would need to check if Martha is taking her medication and if she is eating the right food she is meant to be eating, bearing in mind that she has diabetes. This will improve Martha’s well-being because if Martha is not taking her medication correctly the social worker will reach out to another professional to help them come up with a plan to ensure Martha is taking her medication correctly. Moreover the social worker should be able to communicate with Martha this means asking Martha what she wants and if she wants any changes this includes if she is comfortable in her environment. Another example is if Martha feels that the accommodation is unsuitable and she would like to be placed on a lower ground because of her mobility issues and the care home are not able to meet her needs. The social worker can refer her to another agency which can provide the correct accommodation and assess if any changes needs to be made Also the social worker needs to be able to assess, if they are doing what she wants and asks for, such as responding to her needs. On the other hand the social worker can contact the advocate so they are able to understand Martha as an individual.
Advocate- An advocate can be a family member or anyone in the statutory or voluntary organisation. An advocate’s role, is to speak for the individual because they would need to empower and protect people by making sure their wishes have been granted and also their rights and what they are entitled to, have been protected.
The advocate would speak on behalf of Martha, this is because she has dementia. For example, if they were to have a meeting and the care was based on improvement of care for Martha the advocate would speak on behalf of Martha, such as, what she prefers to eat and things that she doesn’t like, and how it should stop or would be stopped. Furthermore, the advocate would say that Martha never gets to go out and smoke and she would like it to start happening, because it is not fair on her.
The professionals would help by holding a care planning meeting, to support the needs of the individual. For example, when the health care professionals did not have time to attend to Martha when she needed to smoke; in the meeting they should talk about them finding one of the professionals who may be available to take Martha out to smoke. Or coming up with methods which they can make sure there is always someone available.
The advocate may state that the professionals need to contribute, to helping Martha by attending to her needs and letting her be more independent. For example, when professionals are providing care for Martha they could follow the code of conducts and abide by the rules that are set, as a professional to get on with their work. For example, a code of conduct could be duty of care, so it is the professional’s duty to take care of the individual. The code of conduct is set to guide and inform practitioners, of the entitlements of their rights and also their responsibilities. The advocate can reach out to the social worker to provide an insight of Martha as an individual this will enable the social worker to take further action from hearing this from someone who is close to Martha.
To conclude, professionals work together in a way that is good for any patient, by this they have to abide by the codes of conduct and follow the policies and procedures. As a professional, they should stick to their job role and attend to all their patient’s needs.

There are many different issues that can arise with many different professionals, such as there are conflicts that can arise between the professionals, this can lead to the result of individuals being affected because of what the individuals are causing. On the other hand, there could also be some positive outcomes when professionals are working together to plan support for an individual.
Positive impacts could be; * A positive impact could be for when the professionals, such as the community nurse monitors Martha’s diabetes on a regular basis, this enables them to know if Martha is doing well or if she’s not, so they can see how she is doing. This is good for Martha because she can know that people are there to check up on her and see how she is doing. * There can be good team working and also professionals who has expertise for different areas which means they can more gather information and methods to support Martha as an individual. This is because more people can focus on Martha and have more knowledge of her condition. They can also let the multi-agency know that everything is going well and things that may need adjustments. For example Martha’s professionals are the Community nurse, Physiotherapist and the Social worker has their own professionalism.

* Less stress for professionals because each professional will only be concentrating on what they have to do and they won’t have to try and take over someone else’s role for example Martha’s GP prescribes medication for her and her health care professionals at the care home ensure that Martha takes her medication that makes it easier for the GP because he doesn’t have to worry about her taking the medication. In there is a reduction in the amount of accidents that may occur because the patients will be less stressed because they would not have loads of different things to do

The negative impacts could be; * There could be confusion between the professionals, because messages are not being passed over properly for them to know how to attend to the individual’s needs, for example when Martha wanted to smoke, so there is a lack of communication between the professionals. * There can be conflicts between the staff and Martha, because Martha never seems to ask for help for staff to be helping her around, this is because Martha wants to be more independent. * An important member of staff not coming to the meeting can cause the patients goal to be delays for example if the advocate does not turn up Martha’s personal needs will not be bought forward this means possible methods and outcomes may be missed this is because the advocate speaks on Martha’s behalf and the information given can make professionals understand her needs as an individual and they may be able to identify what facilities she may need to empower her goals to become independent for example the advocate may state that Martha would like to move to another care home where she is able to be on the ground floor because of her mobility issues. If the advocate is not there to explain that to the professionals they will not know that Martha does not feel comfortable in the current care home.