Common processes in Tameside

Whilst there has been significant increase in practitioners’ awareness and confidence in the usage of the Common Assessment Frameworks (CAF), the number of CAFs generated by the children’s workforce in Tameside remains low Claire Downey who works for the Tameside and Glossop NHS Trust shares her experiences of using CAF.

Back in 2006, I was working as a Health Visitor, in a deprived area of a North West town. Our service was to introduce a ‘new’ assessment to be piloted and rolled out across the children’s service; it was to be called the Common Assessment Framework. ‘The CAF’ was viewed with scepticism and in some quarters even loathed. The launch of the CAF and its implementation was far from a smooth one, staff attended the training but steadfastly declined to complete the CAFs for fear of becoming the ‘lead professional’ and there was no administration support to manage the perceived extra paper work. I was one of those dissenter’s, I cried in outrage at yet another form to complete, more paper work to handle and meetings to attend , what was the point when the issue was lack of resources to support families – on and on I went until one day I had to complete a CAF!

The family was in chaos, single mum with 4 under five year olds, one child had been diagnosed with epilepsy and mum was not engaging with services to ensure the child had the required treatment. The GP had sent me a note to ask me to try and find out why the child had not attended the hospital appointments nor seen a GP for medication (some of you may be saying that it should have been the GP who had taken action, with the child in mind I left that battle for another day). Following a lot of hostility and non engagement by the family I completed a CAF and invited a number of professional to meet including Social Care, Portage, Homestart, Nursery placement officer, Learning Disability team, epilepsy specialist, paediatrician, housing officer and family members. I was very aware this family needed additional support which I was not able to provide. The initial meeting was very emotional for the mother and her family which resulted in a number of complex problems being shared and an action plan being developed to support the family.

The benefits for the family included:

• Early admission to nursery and supported child minder placement
• Identification of a key worker to support the family with medical and social problems
• Re-housing from a flat to a house
• Benefits reviewed
• Portage worker
• Social care worker from disability team
• Increased support from the family members and extended family
• Increased nursery attendance of older child
• Appropriate treatment for the child and a full assessment of her condition
• Increased understanding of the condition and better control by the mum
• The mum reported she felt supported and not judged – which was one the highlights for me
• We met as a group on several occasions and the lead professional role emerged naturally and it was the disability team, because they had what the family needed. I hosted the meetings and continued to work with the family, but the paperwork and process was minimal in comparison to the excellent outcome for the child and the family. The benefit for myself was the process clearly defined what resource were required and which service had the responsibility to provide them, I found the CAF to be a systematic approach and beneficial in supporting families. The area I worked in went on to make CAF mandatory for referrals in to social care and other children’s services such as Child development unit, Speech and Language service and is now part of everyday processes.

So don’t delay and get on a do that CAF, working together really does make a difference.

Claire's experience shows how a co-ordinated assessment can really help promote good outcomes for families, as well as using professionals' time effectively. The partner agencies of Tameside Children's Trust have agreed to promote the use of common assessments. You will find guidance and resources to help you with the common assessment process on the Trust webpages at:

http://www.tameside.gov.uk/cypp/caf