A model for the comprehensive assessment of older people and their carers

Beverley Hughes is a lecturer in social work at the University of Manchester. Most of her research and publications in recent years have concerned residential care, quality of life, and social work developments in relation to older people and their families. SUMMARY Although local authorities and social service departments are in the process of developing systems of assessment in relation to care management, there has been little debate about the principles which ought to underpin assessment processes, nor about the purpose, scope, and content of comprehensive assessment with older people. This article discusses these issues and proposes a framework for comprehensive assessment with older people and their carers, derived from development work with social workers in a number of local authorities. Of particular importance is the need for comprehensive assessment to embody meaningful mechanisms for user and carer participation and empowerment; to acknow-ledge not only need and risk but strengths and resources; to regard the older person as the centre of a network of personal, familial, and social factors which together determine her or his quality of life and level of risk. The implications for practitioners are examined