What a care needs assessment is, and your parent's part in it

What is the visit for, who will be in the room, and what comes after? Those questions arrive as soon as someone from a public body arranges to talk with your parent about help at home. Everything below is information, not medical, financial or legal advice; the assessing body decides what applies to your parent.

Know what the assessment is for

Ontario's provincial government says Ontario Health atHome is responsible for assessing the care needs of a person who asks it for home care services, and describes a case manager or care coordinator making a first assessment, which may include a home visit.

British Columbia's government says that where an assessment is required, a health care professional visits the person to talk through their situation, assess their health care needs and work out which services best meet them.

For Alberta, Assisted Living Alberta says getting care starts with a conversation and an assessment, in which a case manager assesses the person's needs and then makes recommendations.

Ireland's Health Service Executive (HSE) says that once it has a completed application it arranges a needs assessment, and that a public health nurse, physiotherapist or occupational therapist usually carries it out.

The bodies above speak for Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta in Canada, and for Ireland. This guide found no official source on assessments for Québec or the Canadian territories. Readers there, and in the rest of Canada, can ask the public health or social care body where their parent lives how it works. In Thailand, too, no official source was found; readers there can ask the public health or social care body where their parent lives.

Know what the bodies say about your parent's part

British Columbia's government says a person has the right to consent to the care their health authority offers, and that before deciding, it is important they feel everything has been explained to their satisfaction. In Alberta, Assisted Living Alberta says a case manager works directly with the person, and that the person and their family are active partners in the care team. In Ireland, the HSE says its assessment looks at, among other things, the person's own wishes and preferences.

The family is there to support your parent, not to answer in their place. A family is not asked to settle, on its own, whether your parent can make a given decision: that question sits with their doctor or care team, and how it is handled formally depends on where they live.

Know where family fits in, and what is theirs to answer

The HSE says its assessment also looks, among other things, at the family and community support available to the person. In British Columbia, the provincial government says a person may want a family member or friend with them at the assessment visit, for support; the same point comes up in Asking for your parent's care to be looked at again.

Whether you go is your parent's call. What your parent says about their own life is theirs to say.

Ask what happens after, and how the decision is shared

In Ireland, the HSE says that after the assessment it considers the application and writes to the person with its decision. Your parent can ask the body how they will hear, and when.

Keep in mind that the help can be revisited

Where help is agreed, it can be looked at again as things change, as Asking for your parent's care to be looked at again sets out. Questioning a decision is covered in When you disagree with a decision: reviews, complaints and who can help.

Leave the result to the body, and health questions to the care team

What an assessment concludes, and what follows from it, belongs to the public body that carries it out, and to your parent. Anything about your parent's health is worth bringing to their doctor or care team, at your parent's pace.