About the teams

These are community based social care teams. The team includes:

• Advanced Practitioners
• Social Workers
• Occupational Therapists
• Social Care Workers

What they do

They provide advice and information and assessments for people living in the community. This is often for people visiting their local Talking Cafe, where someone from the team will be on hand to talk to you.

They support people who have longer-term social care needs or needs that are more complex.

You may have been supported by someone from the Health Interface Service to start with, and then need more support. This team will provide ongoing support for you.

You may be considering moving into a care home, or have other complex issues in your life that the team can support you with. Someone can arrange to talk with you so we can understand your situation and then find ways to help you to be as independent as possible.

If you are eligible for our financial support to meet your care and support needs they will talk with you about Personal Budgets and Direct Payments. You can then arrange for your own care and support.

Or they can arrange any other services that you need and make sure everyone involved knows about your care and support plan.

What they will talk about

These are some of the things they will talk to you about:

• Things you want to do that matter most to you
• Things you used to be able to do, but can no longer do
• The support you need to do things you want to do
• Things you would like to change
• Things you are worried about

What they will do

This will depend on the conversation and will be tailored to you. Here are some of the things that the team could do:

• Provide you with good advice and information
• Complete a ‘What Matters to Me’ assessment of your needs
• Develop a care and support plan with you, listing things you want to achieve
• Agree with you how you will achieve these things in manageable stages
• Provide advice and information to help you to manage your condition
• Give advice about, or sometimes provide, equipment if it is needed
• Work closely with nurses and other professionals to make sure that your care is coordinated
• Work closely with other organisations who are involved with your care
• Agree a Personal Budget with you
• Arrange the things we have agreed to do in your care and support plan

Carer support

If you have someone who helps you, or a friend or neighbour who supports you, it might be helpful to have them with you when we visit, if you wish. It is important that they know about your care and support plan and how they can best help you. We may also be able to provide your carer with some assessed support.

How long the support lasts

If you need longer-term support from Social Care to help you pay for your care and support, you will need to meet the national eligibility criteria and have no more than £23,250 in capital and savings. We will then ask someone from our Financial Assessment and Benefits (FAB) team to arrange to visit you.

They will make sure you are receiving all the benefits you are entitled to and help you to fill in benefit claim forms if you would like them to. They will also talk to you about your capital and income and work out what contribution, if any, you will need to make towards any ongoing support you need.