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Hospital Social Work Services

A5 Booklet - print version Hospital Social Work Services  (36.79 KB)

• Hospital - social work services
• Hospital based social workers
• Our aim is to work with you to:
• Our principles
• Our standards - assessing your need for help
• If you are going back to your own home
• If you are going to a residential or nursing home
• Telling us what you think about our services
• Contact Social Care Services

Hospital - social work services  
Going into hospital can be a worrying time for you, your family and carers. Hospital days can be long and all kinds of worries can come into your head - how long will I be here? - how will I cope at home? Will I need care and how much will it cost?   

Hospital based social workers
Listen to your worries and, with others involved in your care, help you work out the best solutions to your concerns. Our experience shows that talking with a social worker can put many of your worries to rest. If you have to make painful or difficult choices and decisions, their skills and knowledge will help you to do this. Our social workers are employed by Worcestershire County Council's Adult and Community Services Directorate, not by the hospital.  They can give you independent advice and assistance.  

There is no charge for seeing a social worker, but many of the services they can arrange may require a financial contribution. This will be explained to you.

Social workers have a long tradition of working in hospitals and are always striving to improve the service they offer.  

The following standards will ensure that you receive a high quality service. We look forward to working with you, your family and carers.

Our aim is to work with you to:  

• Help you to remain as independent as possible.
• Ensure that you are involved at every stage in the planning and delivery of the service we arrange for you.
  

We will do our best to help you, but it is not always possible to provide all of the services that people would like.

Our services are open to all, whatever the gender, age, race or religion, cultural beliefs, sexual orientation or disability.   

Our principles  
When arranging or providing a service for you, social care services and all service providers will follow these principles:  

• To provide clear information at all times
• To provide a service which is: reliable, consistent, private and confidential
• To take into consideration your needs and wishes and the needs of those closely involved with you
• To ensure that all employees are highly skilled and knowledgeable.
• To arrange well co-ordinated care

Our standards - Assessing your need for help
The ward staff may suggest you see a social worker for help with your arrangements for leaving hospital. This is called an assessment. The social worker will check with the ward staff to see if this has been discussed with you.  

You may, of course, ask a member of the ward staff to contact a social worker on your behalf; or you can contact them directly or ask a member of your family or a friend to contact them.

You will have an assessment of your needs before you receive a service.

The social worker may introduce himself or herself whilst on the ward visiting other patients.  If this is not convenient to discuss your affairs with the social worker at the time, you can make an arrangement to see the social worker at another time.

You have a right to have a relative, friend or advocate with you whilst the assessment is being carried out.

You are entitled to privacy when discussing your affairs with the social worker. Wherever practical, the social worker will arrange to talk to you in a private area, if this is what you would like.

Your assessment is confidential. However, information about you needs to be shared to arrange appropriate services. (Usually this involves us talking to medical staff responsible for your healthcare, and with staff providing care services). Any sharing of information will normally be agreed with you.

Our staff will be skilled in ensuring you are fully involved in the assessment.

Every assessment will take into account the safety aspects of meeting your personal care needs so that you can go through your daily routine at home without harm to yourself or to those who care for you.

We will only ask you for information about yourself which we need to carry out a competent assessment. Our staff will explain why the information we ask for is needed.

You have the right to the following information from the social worker.

• The relevant parts of your assessment form.
• Your care plan.  This is an individual written agreement (called a care plan) of the help you will receive.  This will normally be done within five working days of assessment.
  Our "Comments, Compliments and Complaints" information

You also have the right to:

• Know how long the assessment process will take and what will happen at each stage.
• Complain if dissatisfied with any aspect of the assessment.
• Have a further assessment if your circumstances change.
• Have a full discussion about the help you may be offered, and the types of service you would like.
• Refuse to have an assessment.

We will start the assessment with you as soon as possible and complete it as speedily as possible, keeping you informed of developments.  

You will be kept informed of meetings which are arranged by Adult and Community Services to discuss the arrangements for you leaving hospital, and who will be invited to attend. You have the right to ask for people you want to be there - for instance, your relatives or friends.

Notes will be taken at the meetings and a copy given to all who were invited to the meeting. If anyone else needs a copy later on, your permission will be sought first.

If you are going back to your own home  
Where it is important for your personal safety to have everything organised before you go home, we will tell you about the service you will receive, including the start dates, before you are discharged.  

Sometimes, it is more appropriate to finalise services once you have gone home. In this case, an appointment will be made before you leave.

You and the person providing the service will be given a copy of your care plan.

Your care plan will include:

• A named contact in social care services, who will be the person responsible for co-ordinating the care plan.
• A named contact for each service provider.
• The name and contact number of your GP, and your next of kin.
• The exact services you will receive.
• The times you will receive these services.
• When the services will be reviewed.   

Once your services have started, a member of the social work team will contact you to discuss how the arrangements are working.

Every effort will be made to make appropriate alterations if needed.

If you are going to a residential or nursing home
Social workers will offer advice on finding a place in a residential home or a nursing home, even if you are paying the total cost yourself.  

The social worker will discuss a choice of homes with you and your family or friends.  If your first choice is not available, you may be asked to consider other temporary options.

You will have an opportunity to meet someone from the home before you leave hospital.

We will explain about the cost of homes and help towards meeting these costs.

You will need to know about:

• Charges for the nursing or residential homes.
• What social care services help can be given towards charges if this is appropriate.
• What benefits you might be entitled to. We will help you apply for any such benefits.   

If it appears to us that your care may be paid for by Health (continuing care) we will liaise with health colleagues to ensure this is fully explored.  

Once you have decided and arranged which home to move to, we will tell the home of your choice about your personal preferences and needs.

Together we will review your move within four weeks. If there are any issues following this review, you can get in touch with our Contact Centre for further assistance.

Telling us what you think about our services  
At any stage of your involvement with social care services, you may wish to comment about the services we offer.  You can do this by completing a comments / compliments and complaints leaflet which you will have received.  

We conduct regular surveys to find out your views about our services.

In addition, you may receive a questionnaire from the hospital social work team seeking your views.