This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. It concerns adults aged 18 and over living in CQC-registered adult care homes in your local authority area, including care homes with and without nursing.
Please answer from recorded information held by the council. Please do not manually review individual case files. If a figure is not held in a structured or reasonably retrievable format, please state 'not held' or 'not separately reportable without manual case review' and answer the remaining questions.
For this request, 'OT-related referral/assessment' means a referral, review or assessment involving the council's adult social care occupational therapy, moving and handling, equipment, community equipment, trusted assessor or delegated OT pathway in relation to functional needs, moving and handling, hoists/slings, specialist seating, postural management, contracture risk, bed rails/bed levers, bathing/toileting access, transfers, bed-based care or related equipment needs.
Please provide information for the two most recent complete financial years: 2024/25 and 2025/26. If your systems use calendar years rather than financial years, please state this and provide the closest available equivalent.
1. Please provide the current written policy, procedure, eligibility criteria, operational guidance or referral pathway that explains how adults living in care homes can be referred to the council's adult social care OT/equipment service. If no written policy is held, please confirm this.
2. Does the council accept adult social care OT/equipment referrals for people living in: (a) care homes without nursing; and (b) care homes with nursing? Please answer yes, no or depends for each, and provide any criteria or conditions that apply.
3. Does access to the council's adult social care OT/equipment service differ according to whether the resident is: (a) local authority-funded; (b) self-funding; (c) NHS Continuing Healthcare-funded; or (d) funded under another arrangement such as section 117 aftercare? Please state any differences or confirm that no different criteria are applied.
4. For adult care home residents whose referrals are accepted, please state whether the council may provide: (a) assessment/advice only; (b) assessment and equipment recommendation/prescription; (c) funding or provision of equipment; and/or (d) demonstration or training to care home staff. Please include any policy distinction between standard care home equipment and bespoke, specialist, out-of-the-ordinary or resident-specific equipment.
5. Please provide any current written guidance, equipment list or local agreement that sets out which equipment care homes are expected to provide themselves and which equipment the council may assess, prescribe, fund or provide for an individual resident.
6. Does the council's case management, OT, community equipment or reporting system record the following as structured/reportable fields: (a) whether a referral relates to a care home resident; (b) whether the care home is with or without nursing; (c) the resident's funding status; (d) the primary reason for OT/equipment referral; and (e) whether the referral was accepted, declined or redirected? Please answer yes/no for each field.
7. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, please provide the following aggregate figures where held in a structured/reportable format: (a) total adult social care OT/equipment referrals received; (b) number of those referrals relating to care home residents; (c) number relating to care homes without nursing; (d) number relating to care homes with nursing; (e) number of distinct care homes from which at least one referral was received; (f) number of completed OT/equipment assessments or reviews for care home residents; and (g) number of care home referrals declined, not accepted or redirected.
8. For the declined, not accepted or redirected care home referrals in question 7, please provide the recorded reason categories where held, for example: out of council remit, NHS/CHC responsibility, provider responsibility, insufficient information, no eligible need, signposted elsewhere, duplicate referral, or other/not recorded.
9. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, where referral reason is held as structured/reportable data, please provide the number of care home OT/equipment referrals or completed assessments by broad primary reason: (a) moving and handling/hoisting/slings; (b) specialist seating; (c) postural management, contracture risk or body shape concern; (d) bed rails, bed levers or bed safety equipment; (e) bathing/toileting access; (f) falls/falls prevention; (g) pressure care/skin integrity; and (h) other/not recorded.
10. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, where held in a routinely reportable format, please provide the average or median time from referral to completed assessment for care home OT/equipment referrals, and the number of care home OT/equipment referrals awaiting assessment on the final day of each financial year.
11. Please provide any written guidance, checklist, training material or referral triggers used by care homes, social workers, safeguarding teams, quality assurance teams or commissioning teams to identify when OT input should be requested for a care home resident. This may include triggers such as pain during movement, prolonged bed-based care, inappropriate slings, changes in posture, contracture risk, unsafe seating, falls, pressure damage, bed rail concerns or bathing/toileting access issues.
12. Does the council have any dedicated or proactive care home OT, moving and handling, postural management, provider support, quality assurance or safeguarding model that includes OT input? If yes, please provide the name/description, remit, start date and any evaluation or monitoring report held.
13. Please provide any formal written interface, memorandum of understanding, escalation process or dispute-resolution pathway with NHS community therapy services, the ICB, CHC teams or community equipment services for care home residents whose OT/equipment needs may cross local authority and NHS responsibilities. If no formal written pathway is held, please confirm this.