Writing care plan tasks a care worker can follow, in the person's own way

A line in a care plan reads "help getting ready in the morning". The person it is written about likes the curtains opened first and the radio on, and the care worker who knows them does that without being asked. A care worker who is new to them has only the line. The sections below are about writing each task so it can be followed, in the person's own way. This is information, not medical or legal advice. It covers no task to do with anyone's health.

Write each task so someone new can follow it

An opening summary, leading on to the fuller detail, is part of the concise, clear and easy-to-navigate home care plan that NICE's home care guideline for England recommends. That plainness can reach down to each task, so that a care worker on a first visit to the person can act on the words alone.

Put the person's own way into the task

NICE's quality standard on home care for older people in England describes a home care plan that sets out how each person's own priorities will be met, and says that having them there enables the home care workers delivering care to respond to them.

In Ireland, HIQA and Safeguarding Ireland's guidance on a human rights-based approach describes staff asking about the way a person prefers to live, including their routines, the clothes they like and their religious and cultural preferences, supporting that as much as possible, and, where those preferences are not easily known, asking others who know the person about their past and present preferences.

Let the person, not the task list, lead

NICE's home care guideline for England recommends that services support the aspirations, goals and priorities of each person, rather than providing "one size fits all" services. In Ireland, HIQA's evidence review for national home care standards found that person-centred home care should meet the person's needs in a holistic way and not be overly restricted by task-oriented care plans or issues with timing.

Bring the person, and the people they choose, into the plan

The HSE's service specifications for home support providers in Ireland describe the home support care plan as developed by the HSE in consultation with the person, and where appropriate their family or representative, with the provider delivering the service as the plan sets out. HIQA and Safeguarding Ireland's guidance for Ireland describes staff supporting the person to take part, as much as possible, in how their care and support is planned, with that planning reflecting what is important to them and how they want to live. In Canada, the Canadian Home Care Association's principles for home care place the person receiving care and their carers at the centre of planning and delivering care, and Ontario Health atHome's bill of rights gives the people it serves in Ontario a part in developing their care plan. In Alberta, Canada, the province's continuing care health service standards describe a person receiving home and community care having the opportunity to take part in developing their care plan, and to invite people of their choosing to take part too.

Give local rules the last word on each plan

The sources are cited for Ireland, Canada (nationally, Ontario or Alberta) and England alone. What a plan holds, who writes it and who signs it off vary from one place a service operates to another. Anything touching the person's health is for their own health professionals. Your own policies, your regulator and professional advice where you operate settle each of those for your service.