Review of the Implementation of the Northern Ireland Single ...

the collating and reporting of unmet need should be reviewed by the HSC
Board.
A similar finding was reported in the DHSSPS Promoting Partnerships in
Caring (2007) review when it was cited that older people stated that unmet
need was not being wholly explored or fully integrated into the planning
processes of trusts.
RQIA recommends that staff in trusts must ensure that unmet need is
adequately recorded in order that services can be planned, commissioned
and developed appropriately and that trusts Boards are aware of the gaps in
service provision.
Outcome of an Assessment
An assessment may be the first opportunity that a carer has to focus on their
needs, including their emotional and practical needs. Therefore individual
carer‟s assessments should enable staff to identify the gaps in service
provision and the inputs required to meet the carer‟s assessed need. Where
identified gaps in the provision of a service or long waiting times occur this
situation should be recorded. The accumulated information should inform the
planning process for services for carers.
While the assessment itself may or may not result in a service provision,
views obtained from carers indicated that the process can provide valuable
emotional support for carers and, indeed, helps in obtaining other sources of
support. It is therefore important that trust staff who carry out assessments
make clear to carers the purpose of the assessment, clearly distinguishing
between outcomes and a need for services.
Carers have stated that they often find it difficult to understand the purpose of
assessment. Many believe that the assessment is for the provision of
services, for example respite services. Some carers considered the
assessment to be a waste of their time particularly if it did not result in any
tangible outcome.
Trusts have reported that individual emotional support is provided to carers
through social work teams. The importance of appropriate provision of
emotional support was also highlighted as important in the DHSSPS
publication of Caring for Carers, in the Promoting Partnerships in Caring
DHSSPS (2007), and in the HSC Board Audit of Support Services for Carers
(2009).
Training Undertaken in Carers’ Assessments
All trusts have regular carer awareness training programmes in place.
Training is designed for all staff (Band 5 and above from all programmes of
care/services) who are in contact with family carers and who wish to carry out
an assessment of need. There are clear objectives for training in relation to
increased understanding of the process of Carer‟s Assessment (using the
NISAT framework) and in creating awareness of the range of services that are
available to support carers. In four trusts the carers‟ coordinator is
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