Comprehensive assessment of older people with complex care needs : the multi-disciplinarity of the Single Assessment Process in England

The quality of assessment of older people with health and social care needs has for some time been a concern of policy makers, practitioners, older people and carers in the United Kingdom and internationally. This article seeks to address a key aspect of these concerns, namely whether sufficient expertise is deployed when, as a basis for a care plan and service allocation, an older person’s eligibility for local authority adult social-care services requires a comprehensive needs assessment of their usually complex and multiple problems. Is an adequate range of professionals engaged, and is a multi-disciplinary approach applied? The Single Assessment Process (SAP) was introduced in England in 2004 to promote a multidisciplinary model of service delivery. After its introduction, a survey in 2005–06 was conducted to establish the prevalence and patterns of comprehensive assessment practice across England. The reported arrangements for multidisciplinary working among local authority areas in England were categorised and reviewed. The findings suggest, first, that the provision of comprehensive assessments of older people that require the expertise of multiple professionals is limited, except where the possibility arose of placement in a care-home-withnursing, and second that by and large a systematic multi-disciplinary approach was absent. Policy initiatives to address the difficulties in assessment need to be more prescriptive if they are to produce the intended outcomes.