Facilitate person centred assessment planning, implementation and review

Handout 5: Types and levels of care

Learning outcome 3, Assessment criteria 3.1

Individuals with health and social care needs require different types of care and levels of support. These should be identified through the assessment process and are affected by a range of factors, including:

·  the individual’s needs, abilities, strengths and aspirations

·  the nature of the individual’s health and social care problems (learning disability, mental health, dementia etc)

·  the impact of the individual’s problems on their ability to function and provide self-care.

The level of support an individual requires is determined by an assessment of their needs. Levels of care and support are often divided into high, medium and low depending on the individual’s capacity to meet their own needs. As the individual’s health and capacity to be self-caring change, so will the type of care and the level of support they require – see table 1.

Table1: Types and levels of care and support

Individual needs / Type of care / Level of care
Edith has end-stage dementia. She is not aware of her surroundings or who other individuals are. She is unable to take care of herself. / Edith needs full care and support to meet her everyday living and personal care needs, such as eating and drinking, personal hygiene and using toilet facilities. / High
Josh has broken his wrist skateboarding in the park. / Josh needs his wrist to be immobilised and plastered. His self-care skills are not affected by this. / Low
Alison has been diagnosed with depression. She feels sad and doesn’t want to talk to anyone at the moment. Alison is also finding it difficult to sleep and take care of herself. / Alison needs support and encouragement to socialise. She would benefit from support with her medication to raise her mood and to help her sleep. / Medium

Other factors that affect the type of care and level of support an individual received include:

·  staffing resources and the availability of services in a local area when required

·  funding resources and their availability

·  the individual’s beliefs, values and preferences

·  the outcome of risk assessments.