Care Needs Assessment - Using A Private Assessor

Hello, my first post.

I am a full-time unpaid carer and the person I care for has a number of health problems but the main one which causes him to need my care is severe OA, which severely restricts his mobility. His physio suggested a bath board but there may be some other aids/adaptations that would be useful.

I approached our LA for a care needs assessment but of course they have a lot of calls on their limited resources and it’s not clear how long this will take. They also adopt a two-stage approach whereby you have the assessment first over the phone and then later they visit your home and look at what things they could offer, or suggest that you obtain privately if you are self-funding. Although I realise that the assessment is a legal right they do say on their website that if you know you will be self-funding you might find it more convenient to have a private assessment.

As the person I care for would be self-funding we thought about getting a private assessor who, I assume, would come to your home do everything all in one go, rather than a phone assessment and then a visit. Has anyone had any experience of using a private assessor and are there any downsides? How would I go about finding one and approximately how much does it cost?

Thank you in advance.

@Eastbourne….welcome to the forum. Sorry I haven’t had experience with this. Maybe speak to the carers uk helpline for advice?

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Thank you Sue. I will try that but if anyone has any experiences of using a private assessor it would be useful to hear them. Our LA website gives a list of private assessors but it’s just that - a list - and I’m wary of simply picking a name at random.

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