Welcome to Denbighshire County Council

Adult Services

Adult Services

Sometimes people need help from Social Services. Some people only need help for a short time while others need help all their lives.

When you contact us, you can find out:

who is entitled to our services
what standards you can expect from us; and
how to comment or complain

In 2007 and 2008 we plan to do the following:

Improve how we assess people's needs, give them help, and regularly check that this help still meets their needs.
Make sure that the help we give is of a high standard and gives people positive results.
Develop new services (or improve existing ones) such as Extra Care Housing, Tele-Care, Intermediate Care, a Community Equipment Store, an Occupational Therapy Partnership, an Assertive Outreach Service and another Key Ring Network. We will create many of these new services will the help of health colleagues.
Increase the number of people receiving Direct Payments so that more people can be in control of their own care.
Improve our emergency duty (out of hours) team with the help of staff in Flintshire and Wrexham.
Make sure young people whose care is moving from Children's to Adult Services have a smooth transfer.
Develop new plans (such as the second Health, Social Care and Well Being Strategy) and put this year's actions into effect under the Older People's Strategy and Health Challenge Denbighshire.
Improve how we provide services with voluntary organisations and how we check the standards of these services.
Make sure that we improve how we arrange and pay for services including those for carers. In particular we will join up with health to create new ways to arrange and pay for services for older people and people with mental health problems.

What happens to information we have about you?

Denbighshire County Council is a registered user under the Data Protection Act. We are required to hold and process information about all people under strict guidelines. Any information that we have about you will be treated confidentially and your details will be held safely and securely. There are guidelines that must be followed by Social Services if it is necessary to share information about people.

Quality Assurance Reports

As a department we regularly ask service users how satisfied they are with services they receive. This is done using postal surveys or one to one interviews usually at an annual review of services. We ask questions about how well we are achieving our own standards, about the outcomes arising from the services provided and the difference those services have made to a person's independence and quality of life. The Quality Assurance Team compiles the information into reports which are used to drive improvements and to inform Adult Services Quality and Commissioning Strategies. The following reports are currently available:

Residential / Nursing Care.
Non Residential services (Home Care, Day Care and Meals on Wheels).
Mental Health Day Services.
Disability Resource Team.
Learning Disabilities User's Survey .
Learning Disability Carer's Survey.
Annual Generic Survey across all Adult Service Users.

For copies of any of these reports please contact :

QA Team
Ty Nant
Nant Hall Road
Prestatyn
LL19 9LG

Telephone : 01824 706504

The Standards to expect.

This section explains the minimum standards you should expect when you receive services from Social Services.

This information is available in leaflet form, in large print, audio tape and Braille from the Communications Assistant at Brighton Road.

Courtesy & Respect -
You can expect to be treated with Courtesy and Respect. This means:

you should be given the name of the person you are talking to
you should expect that your cultural and religious beliefs will be respected
you should be called by your title unless you ask us not to

Confidentiality & Privacy -
You can expect that information about yourself will be treated as confidential. This means:

staff will only discuss your needs with people who need to know
if you do make a complaint only the staff directly involved will know the details.

Information -
You should expect that you will have leaflets which explain the services that you are receiving, or might receive. These might include:

“We would like to hear your views on the services we provide”
“Social Services for Adults in Denbighshire - Who can receive them and what standards to expect.”
“Help for Carers” and “Carers Information Pack”.
'Denbighshire Care Directory'

You can also expect information about our Charging Policy if you receive a service for which we charge.

You should also have:

access to basic advice about social security benefits you might be entitled to.

If you are assessed as needing a service you can expect:

a copy of your assessment if you ask for it
a copy of your Care Plan
the name of the person responsible for your case and the date of your next review
an estimated amount of the charge for your services (if you are going to be charged) followed by a written calculation

Communication -
You should expect full communication with staff in the Social Service's Department. This means that you can expect to:

be able to communicate in the language of your choice, as a minimum this will include Welsh, English and Sign Language, both during your assessment and when you receive your services. We will make every possible effort to communicate in other languages if requested.
be able to speak to the person responsible for your case, if this is not possible you should leave a message and your call will be returned
in an emergency, and out of office hours, to be able to speak to a Social Worker from the Emergency Duty Team.

Involvement and Participation -
You should expect that:

you are fully involved in discussing the services you will receive
if you have a carer, he/she will be asked their views and offered a separate assessment
the number of people involved in your care will be kept as low as possible
if another meeting is needed then the date of this meeting will be discussed, and agreed, with you

Staff -
You should expect that the staff assessing your needs will:

produce an identity card
have a relevant qualification and/or experience
have regular support and training

Response Times -
You should expect that:

we will contact you within 5 working days to arrange an assessment of your needs - within one working day if it is an emergency
your telephone calls will be returned within 1 working day
your letters will be replied to within 10 working days
if you make a complaint we will contact you within 5 working days to let you know how your complaint will be dealt with

If you are assessed as needing a service:

your services should start at the time we agreed with you
you should receive a Care Plan within 10 working days of your services starting
you will be sent a written calculation telling you whether you have to pay charges for services, and if so how much.
The calculation will be sent within 10 days of us receiving
the correct financial information (this only applies to services that we charge for)
your needs and services will be reviewed at least every year. Reviews will also happen sooner if needed
if you are assessed as needing equipment that costs less than £1000 this should be delivered within 3 weeks of your assessment