We provide quality social care services based on the skills, commitment and experience of our social workers, call handlers, trainers and managers.
We specialize in out of hours social care, integrated with out of hours health services.
Key quality elements are:
- ‘One stop shop’ – the public and partner agencies can access the full range of health and social care urgent services by making one phone call
- Single point of access – no need for the caller to repeat the same information to a succession of professionals. See Partner Agencies
- Expert triage by the appropriately trained professional – G.P., District Nurse, Social Worker, Mental Health Worker etc.
- Response times for initial assessment and home visits which exceed the national standards for urgent health care - as there are no national standards for out-of-hours social care, we have introduced our own
- Social care staff led by a core team of urgent care specialists supported by a team of Appropriate Adults and a team of Approved Mental Health Professionals. Link to docs
- Consultation between Social Workers, Doctors and Nurses sitting side by side, and joint home visits
- Reliable IT systems including 24/7 technical support, providing secure access to client records, with outcomes emailed to the local authority social work case managers in the appropriate report format. See Partner Agencies
Training and Professional development
All the processes and systems are there to support the quality of the interaction between our staff member and the Caller. We therefore very concerned to set standards and encourage ongoing professional development for all our staff. Some key elements:
- Induction for all staff, including sessionals
- Initial and then quarterly training for all call handling staff
- Appropriate Adults training exceeds national standards
- AMHPs continue on the NE Mental Health PQ Consortium
- Emergency Duty Social Workers and managers on individual professional development plans, with 100 hours and £750 per year to support these