Liaison with sheltered housing staff & other agencies

Purpose

This procedure describes the actions to be taken to by a Careline Officer to liaise with sheltered housing staff on schemes that Careline visit. There may also be occasions where they need to refer customers to Social Services or Occupational Health.

Responsibility

All staff

Process

Familiarisation and other non-emergency visits

• When arriving at a sheltered housing scheme on a non-emergency visit, the Careline Officer should check whether the Scheme Manager / Housing Support Worker / Warden is on site before proceeding with the business of the visit.
• If the Scheme Manager / HSW / Warden is on site, the Careline Officer should notify him/her of the purpose of the visit before proceeding with the business of the visit.
• If the Scheme Manager/ HSW / Warden is not on site, the Careline Officer should record their presence on site in the key book or scheme diary (if available).

Emergency visits

• Emergency visits will almost certainly take place at times when the scheme manager / HSW / Warden is not on site.
• The Careline Officer should record their presence on site in the key book or scheme diary (if available).
• Staff should pull the cord to activate the alarm whilst in the customer’s home to notify the contact centre of their visit. Careline must then leave a message for the Scheme Manager / HSW / Warden.
• Job sheets must be emailed to Camden Sheltered Housing managers to provide relevant information about actions taken and full details of the visit to the customer.

Resident Scheme Managers

Camden Scheme Managers are available out of normal working hours to assist with emergencies, on an "if and when available" basis. However, they should only be disturbed if staff are unable to deal with the problem themselves.  For example if they have specific knowledge of a situation or customer which would assist with dealing with the problem.

Scheme Managers are also expected to attend if available, any potential serious situation incidents which Careline staff are unable to attend at the time or quickly enough due to lack of resources or ability to reach the scheme quickly.

If the Resident Scheme Manager is not available at the time leave a message for them about the incident you have attended. The Scheme Manager should contact Careline on hearing the message for full details.

ASC

If staff identify a customer who is lacking in care/services they should refer them to Social Services.

Customers who would benefit from aids and adaptations should be referred to Occupational Health.

If a customer’s care package is not being adequately provided concerns should be raised with their allocated social worker - details to be found by checking the MOSAIC database.