Social Care Assessments: Experiences of social care assessments during Covid-19
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Healthwatch Manchester were commissioned by Manchester City Council to conduct interviews with people who have had a social care assessment since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to investigate the effectiveness of telephone and virtual assessments in comparison with face-to-face assessments. They interviewed 11 people.
Overall, our participants felt very happy with the quality of their assessment. There were no systemic issues with the discharge process and there was no significant level of complaints.
The overwhelming majority of respondents were very satisfied with the outcome of their assessment. Participants were very thankful for the changes that had been made to improve their circumstances as a result of the assessment, and the small number of complaints related to the waiting time for the adaptations to be completed.
Many participants made a point of praising the work of the staff who conducted their assessment. The face-to-face assessment was the preferred option of our participants for future assessments. However, it is worth noting that none of those participants who had a telephone assessment raised any complaints about that method.
The report contains 4 recommendations.