Good Assessment Practitioners' Handbook: Second edition (2022)
Introduction
Assessment is central to adult social care, as a gateway to support and an intervention in its own right. Good practice is essential to improve the experience and outcomes of adults and carers, to meet legal and policy expectations, and to use resources effectively. This handbook (second edition) came out of a Research in Practice project which brought research, practice and the voice of lived experience together to look at how best to ensure good assessment in adult social care.
This second edition has significant updates including the contextual changes in social care as well as practice developments.
Professional Standards
PQS:KSS - The role of social workers | Person-centred practice | Effective assessments and outcome based support planning | Direct work with individuals and families | Supervision, critical analysis and reflection | Organisational context | Professional ethics and leadership | Values and ethics | Influencing and governing practice excellence within the organisation and community | Developing confident and capable social workers | Assuring good social work practice and development | Promoting and supporting critical analysis and decision-making | Relationship-based practice supervision
CQC - Safe | Effective
PCF - Professionalism | Values and ethics | Diversity and equality | Rights, justice and economic wellbeing | Knowledge | Critical reflection and analysis | Intervention and skills | Contexts and organisations
RCOT - Understanding relationship | Service users | Develop intervention | Keep records | Identify needs | Communication
This publication is a premium resource
Access the full publication with a one-off purchase or enjoy the benefits of membership.
Embedding human rights in assessment for care and support: Frontline Briefing (2020)
Human rights ethics, law and practice underpin assessment for care and support. Attending to the Articles of the European Convention on Human Rights within assessment can help to address inequality, promote strengths-based practice and empower people.
Legal Literacy: Change Project
Legal literacy is important across organisations and leaders have a key role in shaping the structures and mechanisms that promote it. These resources highlight strategic initiatives and provide tools and activities to support embedding legal literacy across organisations. Practitioners and those with responsibility for learning and development activities will also find these resources supportive of their roles.
Supervision: Change Project
Everyone working in social care should have supervision. These Change Project resources suggest that the ultimate purpose of supervision in adult social care is to promote the wellbeing of adults and carers – and that this is achieved through keeping them at the centre of supervision.
Developing strengths-based working: Strategic Briefing (2019)
This Strategic Briefing presents evidence that sits behind the concept of strengths-based working. It explores reasons why strengths-based working is being widely adopted and provides an overview of specific models and practice examples for all those working in adult social care. It aims to support strategic leaders in developing and communicating locally relevant approaches.
Intersectionality and older people: Video learning resources
Video resources that highlight and share tasks and strategies to enable practitioners to apply intersectional approaches.
Virtual conversations: Practice Tool (2021)
This Practice Tool aims to promote reflection, learning and practice improvement within virtual conversations in adult social care. It draws on the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which virtual conversations have increased significantly, and looks to apply this learning to future practice.
This September 2022 version is the latest update of the original, first published in December 2014.