Preparing for the needs assessment
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If you would like to download this checklist, please scroll down to the foot of the page and click our PDF link.
Sit down with your relative before the needs assessment to discuss what they might say. Think about all aspects of their life, such as personal care, washing, showering, dressing, going to the toilet, preparing meals, shopping. Do they struggle with any of these things? If so, what could help?
Make a list of key points and services that they think might help. What they would ideally like? Don’t assume that the assessor knows or understands your relative’s difficulties.
Use the list of questions (above) to get an idea of what subjects might be covered.
Look at the local authority eligibility criteria. All councils must publish details of their eligibility criteria and make it available to local people. Where appropriate, use the same words to describe your relative's needs.
If your relative has good and bad days, be realistic about the help needed on bad days (even if it is difficult to admit).
It can be a good idea to keep a diary for a few days before the assessment, noting down the things that your relative can manage on their own, things that they can manage with difficulty, or things that they can no longer do at all.
Encourage your relative to think not only about their needs, but the ways in which their needs could be addressed. For example:
- if home care is needed at a specific time, they should say so and explain why
- if a care home is needed near a relative in another part of the country, say so and give details of where.
Assessors might not mention certain needs that are important. The more your relative has therefore prepared for the assessment and thought about their own needs in advance, the more they can steer the assessment and get all the things they want covered in it.