Role of Care Manager

The term "Care Manager" was introduced in Manchester when the Community Care Act came into force in 1993. It describes the work of a social worker working with adults within community care. The role is primarily the same across all parts of the Adult Social Care Department, with only slight variations depending on which service users they work with.

 

The role of the care manager is to

•  Assess the social care needs of individuals and carers, who are referred to the Adult Social Care Department in Manchester. Those assessments are conducted against a national criteria called Fair Access to Social Care (FACS)

•  Once those needs have been identified and agreed, the care manager produces a "care plan" to outline how those social care needs are to be met.

•  It is also part of the care management role to look for the most appropriate and cost effective ways of meeting those needs. They then buy the services from the private and independent sector, or arrange for them to be provided from the Department's own in house services. The Care Manager has to get agreement from their Team Manager to do this.

•  These services are called the "care package."

For many people who get a care package, there is a charge made, on which the care manager should be able to offer advice. The details of the charge however come from the head office in the town hall.

•  In addition to doing an assessment of service users, Care Managers also assess the needs of the carer. This is usually a family member, but not always. Carer in this context means someone who helps the person concerned, but is not paid for it.

•  Once a care package is in place, the Care Manager will review the progress that the service user is making. The aim is to do this at least once a year, but it can be more often where necessary.

The nature of the review depends on how complex the circumstances are. It could be a simple check on progress, or require a meeting of other professionals also.

•  The Care manager will often make referrals on behalf of the individual concerned to other services such as Doctors, Nurses, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Psychology, Welfare Rights, Benefit's Agency.

•  In the Community Learning Disability Teams (CLDT) , care managers work specifically with Adults aged 18 years and over. They also work in "transition" with young people who are approaching adulthood. The Care Manager does this jointly with other social workers from the Children's Service.

•  Part of the Care Manager work in the CLDT is to establish whether or not a person meets the criteria for a learning disability service. This is done with other professionals, usually from the Health Service.

•  Care Managers undertake investigations into allegations of abuse where there is suspicion that a vulnerable adult is being harmed or exploited in some way. This work is often done with other professions including health staff and the police.

•  They also work on a duty rota to deal with any social care emergencies that arise during the day for a learning disabled adult. Emergencies at night time or weekends and bank holidays are covered by the Emergency Duty Team.

•  Care managers have a number of cases which are active, and need regular work. In CLDT we also have a scheme called "named care manager." This is similar to the way in which everybody has a GP. Just as when you attend the surgery, it is not always possible to see your own named Care manager if he or she is busy. However, there is always someone available if the matter is urgent.

•  Where they are working with a person the Care Manager can also act as an "Appropriate Adult" in dealings with the Police.

•  Care managers sometimes prepare reports about someone's background to Mental Health Review Tribunals, or to the courts.

•  Where someone is suffering from mental ill health and needs to go into hospital,  there may be a need to  seek advice and assessment from  an "Approved Social Worker (or ASW)." This is a specific legal term defined under the Mental Health Act, and most Care Managers in the MLDP community teams ae not trained for this role.   However we are able to make arrangements with colleagues from the mental health service when an ASW is needed.

•  Care Managers are to be found in different locations. However, within the Community Learning Disability Service, they work from three separate offices together with Health Service staff in joint teams:

Beechmount for the north of the city; Chapman Place for Central Manchester; Oakwood Lodge for south Manchester.

•  Care Managers in the CLDT in Manchester are all employed by the City Council.

 

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