This can be from yourself, a person on your behalf or a professional on your behalf. Here you will speak to a qualified professional with the experience to ascertain your needs or be able to match you with a professional from within our organisation that can assist you.

We will listen to your concerns and tell you immediately whether there is a possibility that we can help you. In the rare occasion that we cannot help you we will fully explain our reasons. For example, if you require less than 1 hours care per day, this will usually mean that we ask you to look for another service. We believe that in order to provide quality care, staff need the time and training to do so.

Our staff are experienced in assessing care needs and can properly advise you. We will ask for some brief details, this will include personal information such as name, address and personal needs. We will then ask you to describe some of the care needs that you/ your loved one/ person you support displays. 

We will describe what we are able to provide and agree a time to suit you to meet and discuss your needs.

After initial contact we will need to meet you, your loved one or the person you support. This will allow us to understand everyone’s views and needs. The person requiring care is at the centre of everything we do but it can be really helpful to get a rounded view of what is required.

The assessment involves meeting with a manager, a member of our in-house Positive Behaviour team or a registered nurse. We will tailor who needs to attend to your needs.

If you prefer to speak to just one person then we can provide this.

If you prefer to speak to a person qualified in the care you require then we can provide this. 

If you want to speak to a variety of professionals so as to get a more rounded view, we can provide this.

This part of the assessment process is quite detailed. We feel that the more information we have the better we can support you. We will ask questions around your abilities, where you require some help and what your goals are for the future.

This assessment will then be written by those who attended your assessment. We will provide you with a copy and a copy to any persons you feel necessary. If you disagree with any point or feel that we need more information, we will work with you to fix this.

We will let you know as soon as possible whether we can provide you with a service and give you as much time as you need to make a decision over whether we are the provider for you.

Once you have made the decision that we may be the provider for you, you will need to check that you have the appropriate funding. We accept the following funding schemes:

• Local Authority Social Care
• NHS Continuing Healthcare
• Direct Payments
• Personal Health Budgets
• Personal Independent Payments
• Self-funded care

You do not have to have funding in place to go through our assessment process; we will support you to gain funding if necessary. We do not charge for our assessment process, but there may be a charge for visits in lieu of obtaining funding. We will also need a contract in place, which helps insure all persons are protected and there is a clear plan for service.

Once funding is in place we will start the process of providing care.

We will provide you with a team of support workers that we feel have the experience to support your needs. If for any reason you feel these particular persons aren’t working out we will meet with you to look at alternatives. We aim to start by introducing you/ your loved one/ person you support to a small team, which usually comprises of one or two support workers. They will form the start of your core team.

We have a policy of wherever possible you will not be supported by a person you have not had the opportunity to meet first. We also create small teams of staff to work with you/ your loved one, or a person you support. We feel this allows for the best care being provided as the person being supported gets the opportunity to get to know support workers and develop appropriate strategies.

We feel that an informed team are able to support your needs in the most appropriate way. We will invite you/ your loved one/ person you support to meet with your team to discuss your needs and what you would like to achieve. It may be that you would prefer that your care team speaks on your behalf. If this is the case we can accommodate this.

We will create a comprehensive and person orientated care plan with you/your loved one, or the person you support. This care plan will be very detailed, encompassing all needs, goals and outcomes you hope to achieve. If your needs/loved one or person you supports needs are complex we will aim to keep the staff team small and well trained in the needs of the person being supported.

This process is just the beginning, we have a comprehensive internal therapeutic interventions team that will work with you/ your loved one, or the person you support to ensure they achieve their goals.

Here at M&D Care, we understand that sometimes support needs can change very quickly. As an organisation, we are able to streamline the admissions process to ensure that a person in need is able to receive the best quality care, quickly without compromising on quality. We have a lot of experience in adjusting our policies at short notice.

It may be that you, a loved one, or a person you support needs to be moved into supported accommodation quickly. We have a number of locations where this is possible and we are also able to provide more long term care once a period of stability has been achieved.