Caroline and Bernard Cleall

“The senior manager from LB Croydon Adult Social Care who gave evidence told me that he and his team were unable to access the record of the assessment carried out with Mrs [name redacted] at Croydon University Hospital for her discharge back to the community. I was told that the record was held by the LIFE team on an NHS system to which LB Croydon Adult Social Care did not have access.”

“evidence was that that what should take place at that assessment is an adequate risk assessment and a discussion with the client about which level of telecare package is appropriate. If the client declines a more expensive package against advice, this should be documented. There was no evidence in this case of the content of any assessment, discussion or advice as to the appropriate level of telecare package for Mrs [name redacted]”

“It appears that LB Croydon's Adult Services would also not have access to the record and the assessment when reviewing the client's situation once the package is in place and underway.”

“A review by LB Croydon Adult Social Care was due 4-6 weeks after hospital discharge but it appears that the reviewers had no access to the assessment, advice and response from the client which took place at the hospital. This would mean that the review was missing vital information which might have had a bearing on whether the telecare package should have been revised to include the enhanced service with an automatic smoke detector facility.”

“In summary, I am concerned that the inability of LB Croydon Adult Social Care professionals to access records of an earlier assessment undertaken (and advice given) by their colleagues, together with the NHS LIFE team, deprives LB Croydon Adult Social Care of the ability to review the client's needs properly (with the necessary information) following discharge into the community.”