Referrals
Referral Information for Professionals
If you are considering referring a client to Care Co-ops for any of the activities within our current Life Opportunities programme, it will be helpful in terms of ensuring the process occurs speedily and effectively, to follow these guidelines. The good news is that there is no referral form!
Appointment
Ring for an appointment for your client and yourself to come to Care Co-ops for an informal look around. Visits are normally arranged for Tuesday mornings, but if this is not a good time for you, alternative arrangements can be made.
Tour and Information
During the visit, you and your client will be given a tour of the facilities, an explanation of the groups and activities within the Life Opportunities Service, and written material giving further description of activities, and a programme timetable. There will also be a chance for the client to talk to other users, to other users, to discuss with group facilitators what goes on in groups, and to have a cup of tea!
Initial Assessments
During this visit, your tour host will ensure that the style and content of Care Co-ops’ Life Opportunities Service has been outlined, and will make an initial informal assessment of the suitability of the services for the client.
Funding
The next step is for the client and referrer to discuss together what groups the client may be interested in, and to establish the likelihood of funding being available. This is an important point, in that Care Co-ops cannot accept any clients onto its Life Opportunities Service programme without written confirmation that funding has been agreed.
Please also note that some clients will be required to pay client contributions towards the cost of the service. Referrers must ensure that they have discussed this with their clients, and that prospective members are aware of any likely costs that they may incur as part of their attendance at Care Co-ops.
Confirmation of Programme
If funding has been agreed, and the client has decided on the activities that they would like to pursue, then referrers must re-arrange a further appointment where confirmation of what the programme will consist of, and the start date, and any other outstanding issues, can take place.
Background Information
It is also helpful for referrers to send a copy of a Social Care Assessment (SCA) or similar assessment document to Care Co-ops, once the client has decided that they want to start, since this prevents having to ask the client the same questions again in depth, that they may well have been asked on numerous previous occasions. It is helpful for us to have some background information, and the sharing of this SCA information with Care Co-ops should be checked out by the referrer with the client first.
Contract
Once the start date and programme arrangements have been completed, the referrer needs to ensure that the relevant Contracts Department has been notified, and a contract requested, with the agreed costs for attendance and the start date included.
Completion of Stages
Please remember that clients cannot start at Care Co-ops without the above stages being completed. If you should have any queries, please ring us so that we can help resolve any difficulties.
