How Can I find a Health and Social Care Support Worker?
The current situation
A new Response Service is being developed as part of Intermediate Care. This service will provide a quick response to older people who are ill. If it is decided that the person will probably recover more quickly if looked after at home the Response Service will make sure that the person receives the right care from District Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Social Workers and well trained Health and Social Care Support Workers.
Health and Social Care Support Workers will be employed as part of the Response Service Team to support people with both health and social care support needs.
At the moment the Intermediate Care Response Service is the only place Health and Social Care Support Workers will be working in Denbighshire. To find out how to contact the Response Service click here.
The Future
In the not too distant future we hope that Health and Social Care Support Workers will be a part of other services for example:
- The district nursing service in Conwy and Denbighshire is currently exploring the possibility of developing this role as part of its modernisation process.
- Extra Care Housing has identified a need for Health and Social Care Support Workers
- Palliative care services have identified the need for Health and Social Care Support Workers to work closely with professionals to support people who wish to die in their own homes
- Learning Disability services are interested in employing Health and Social Care Support Workers
- There is another pilot project in North Wales where Health and Social Care Support Workers have been trained and employed to support people with physical disabilities.
The project team will be looking at how we can support the development of the Health and Social Care Support Worker model in these other services.
An important area for the organisations who are involved in this project to consider will be funding the Health and Social Care Support Worker role. At the moment, people who have been assessed as needing support with personal care are then further assessed to determine if they will have to pay a contribution towards this care.
The exceptions to this are:
- People who have been assessed as having Continuing Health Care needs (this includes people who are terminally ill and some people with long-term health problems)
- People who need short-term support with personal care because they are ill (for example people who are eligible for Intermediate Care – this is usually for a period of up to 6 weeks).
In these cases people who are assessed as having personal care needs because they are ill do not make any financial contribution to this care.
In the case of people who are assessed (usually by health professionals) as having health care support needs (needs that are related to a person’s illness but do not need to be carried out by a qualified professional), this support is always provided free of charge.
Health and Social Care Support Workers will be supporting people who have been assessed as needing support with both health and social care support needs. In order that other services can employ Health and Social Care Support Workers partner organisations will need to work together to make sure that everyone receives the support that they need to live as independently and fully as possible, and that the financial contributions from individuals for their care are fair and equal.
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