Eligibility Criteria for adults and older people
IMAGE: The Orkney Health and Care (OHAC) logo.
IMAGE: A social worker and a person sitting together at a table. A speech bubble says, “Our eligibility criteria…”
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Contents
About us — 1
What are Eligibility Criteria — 2
How we use Eligibility Criteria — 3
How we use your assessment — 4
What happens if your risk group is critical or substantial — 7
What happens if your risk group is moderate or low — 9
What to do if you do not think your assessment is right — 11
More information — 13
About us
IMAGE: A social worker sitting at a desk beneath the OHAC logo.
We are the Council’s Adult Social Work Team.
We are part of Orkney Health and Care.
We are also known as OHAC.
IMAGE: A care worker helping an older person to walk with a walking frame.
We help people when they need social care services.
Social care services help you to be safe when you need help to look after yourself.
IMAGE: Illustrations of care workers helping older people with washing, dressing and getting around.
Social care services can help with things like:
getting dressed
washing yourself
getting around in your home
What are Eligibility Criteria
IMAGE: A booklet labelled “Eligibility Criteria”.
This leaflet is about eligibility criteria.
Eligibility criteria are the rules we use to decide how much you need social care services.
IMAGE: A health worker standing beside a clock with arrows showing time passing.
And how quickly you need them.
IMAGE: A group of people with a green tick above them.
These rules help us to make fair decisions about who needs support.
And what support they need.
IMAGE: A social worker and a person sitting together. A speech bubble says, “Our eligibility criteria…”
It is also a government rule that we tell you about our eligibility criteria.
How we use Eligibility Criteria
IMAGE: A social worker and a person looking at a clipboard. A speech bubble contains a question mark.
We use the eligibility criteria when we do an assessment.
An assessment is when we ask you questions about your everyday life.
IMAGE: A social worker talking on the telephone, with images of family members and care workers.
We will also talk to other people who help you.
IMAGE: Images of a family, a community nurse and a doctor.
For example, your:
family
community nurse
doctor
IMAGE: A social worker and a person talking. A speech bubble says, “We are going to contact…”
We will always tell you before we talk to other people.
How we use your assessment
IMAGE: A social worker and a person looking at a clipboard. A speech bubble contains a warning symbol and a question mark.
We use your assessment to work out the risk to your health and wellbeing.
Risk is the chance of you being unsafe if you do not get help from social care services.
IMAGE: A social worker and a person sitting together. A speech bubble says, “Risk…”
We talk about risk so we can help you stay as safe and as well as possible.
It does not mean you have done anything wrong.
IMAGE: A social worker and a person looking at a clipboard. Four coloured numbered squares, labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4, appear above them.
There are 4 different risk levels:
- Critical risk
Critical risk means the risk to your health and wellbeing is very high.
You may need support from us quickly.
IMAGE: A risk gauge labelled “Critical risk”, with its needle pointing to the highest-risk area.
- Substantial risk
Substantial risk means the risk to your health and wellbeing is high.
You may need support from us quickly.
IMAGE: A risk gauge labelled “Substantial risk”, with its needle pointing to a high-risk area.
- Moderate risk
Moderate risk means there is some risk to your health and wellbeing.
We will tell you about other services that may be able to help you.
IMAGE: A risk gauge labelled “Moderate risk”, with its needle pointing to a moderate-risk area.
- Low risk
Low risk means that there may be little risk to your health and wellbeing.
We will tell you about other services that may be able to help you.
IMAGE: A risk gauge labelled “Low risk”, with its needle pointing to a low-risk area.
What happens if your risk level is critical or substantial
IMAGE: A risk gauge labelled “Risk”, with the needle pointing towards the high-risk area.
If your risk level is critical or substantial, we will talk to you about the best ways we can help.
This could include things like:
- adding things to your house like handrails or ramps.
IMAGE: An older person using bathroom equipment and handrails.
- setting up new technology that can help you look after yourself.
And showing you how to work it.
IMAGE: A man using a tablet computer.
- visits from a care worker to help you look after yourself
IMAGE: A care worker standing with a tablet.
- There are other options that we may talk to you about.
We will do this if we think they are needed.
IMAGE: A social worker and a person discussing information at a table.
Once you get social care services, you will have review meetings.
IMAGE: A social worker and a person talking. A speech bubble says, “How is your support working?”
Your review meeting is when you talk about how your social care is working.
What happens if your risk level is moderate or low
IMAGE: A risk gauge labelled “Risk”, with its needle pointing towards the moderate and low-risk areas.
If your risk level is moderate or low, we will tell you about other services.
And how you can get help from them.
This will be to help with things like:
- the money you get from the government
IMAGE: Hands holding an open wallet with banknotes.
- your health
IMAGE: A doctor examining an older person.
- where you live
IMAGE: A row of houses.
- how you get to important places
IMAGE: A person using a wheelchair beside an accessible vehicle.
- your wellbeing
IMAGE: An older couple sitting together and drinking from mugs.
These services will include charities and community groups.
IMAGE: A volunteer wearing a shirt labelled “VOLUNTEER”.
What to do if you do not think your assessment is right
IMAGE: A social worker and a person sitting at a table. A speech bubble says, “I choose…”
You can tell us if you think your assessment is not right.
IMAGE: A confused person with a speech bubble containing “?!”
We also have a complaints procedure.
The complaints procedure tells you how to tell us you are unhappy with our decision or our work.
IMAGE: A laptop displaying the Orkney Islands Council logo and the words “ORKNEY ISLANDS COUNCIL”.
You read about the Council’s complaints procedure on their website:
IMAGE: An older person and another person looking together at a document on a laptop.
You can also ask someone you trust to help you make a complaint.
More information
IMAGE: An older person talking on the telephone. A speech bubble says, “Adult Services Duty Worker”.
You can phone us at the Council on 01856 873535.
Please ask for the Adult Services Duty Worker.
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You can email us at:
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Voluntary Action Orkney (VAO) made this Easy Read for Orkney Health and Care (OHAC).
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In this Easy Read we used images from Canva.