Adult social care supports people who have care and support needs as a result of an illness or impairment. This could include for instance sensory loss, physical and learning disabilities, mental health difficulties, substance misuse, autism and needs associated with old age.
Adult social care also has a duty to make safeguarding enquiries where someone with care and support needs is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect and cannot protect themselves due to those care and support needs.
Predominantly adult social care teams in Wolverhampton work with people over the age of 18, but also support young people who may already be known to children’s services as part of transition planning into adulthood, as well as supporting carers.
Wolverhampton Children and Young People Services provide specialist services for disabled children which are delivered by the Disabled Children and Young People’s Team (DCYPT) – a social work team that is based under the Children’s Social Care.
The Disabled Children and Young Person’s team will support children or young people from birth up to 25 years of age who have a diagnosed disability and the primary need of the child or young person relates to their disability. In doing so the team will also consider what support is required to the individual’s parents, carers and any other children within the household, taking a whole family approach informed by a social work assessment.
The team seeks to provide a whole family approach and support a smooth transition into adulthood. All referrals to the DCYPT should be made via the MASH, this includes requests for short breaks. For young people aged between 18-25, referrals should be made via the front door via single point of contact, Customer Services.
The Emergency Duty Team (EDT) provide an emergency service at nights, weekends and bank holidays outside normal office hours. The service is available to any adult or child who has social care difficulties that are causing a serious risk or concern that cannot be left until the start of the next working day.
EDT will respond to all new social care emergencies arising outside of office hours. Staff will initially make a telephone assessment of the immediate risk and then take the necessary action to ensure that an individual or family is safe until the next working day. This might involve assessment under the Mental Health Act with possible detention in hospital; child protection investigations and the possible removal of a child deemed to be at risk; arranging foster care; provision of additional home care for older people or arranging residential care.
EDT also provides an ‘Appropriate Adult’ service for young people and vulnerable adults detained in police custody. EDT is currently the first point of contact for homeless people seeking emergency accommodation out of hours.
The team works with citizens of Wolverhampton aged 18+ who have been brought to Accident and Emergency (A&E) / Clinical Decision Unit (CDU) or who have been admitted as inpatients to New Cross Hospital and West Park Hospital. The team works in accordance with D2A (Discharge to Assess) policies and procedures to facilitate timely and appropriate discharge from acute (New Cross Hospital), non-acute (West Park Hospital and step down) and Rehabilitation services (Bradley Resource Centre, community reablement – Home Assisted Reablement Provision (HARP) and Select). The Team offers advice, information and signposting and undertakes Care Act compliant assessments with the aim of promoting independence and enable positive risk taking.
There are three Locality Teams; East, North and West.
The Locality Teams work with adults over the age of 18 who may have social care needs. This includes older people, people with learning disabilities, physical and or sensory disabilities. The teams work in line with the Care Act and Adult Social Care legislation to:
What do we do?
Who do we do it for?
People ordinarily resident in the City of Wolverhampton whose primary social care needs emanate from mental health difficulties.
Our team criteria include people who are:
AND/OR
The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) is the single point of contact for all safeguarding and early intervention concerns/requests for support regarding children and young people, and the single point of contact for triaging and RAG (priority) rating all safeguarding referrals where there is a concern that an adult with care and support needs in Wolverhampton is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect.
The MASH partner agencies include West Midlands Police, Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Probation, Wolverhampton Homes, Recovery Near You, Black Country Partnership Foundation Trust and the Domestic Violence Forum.
The Adult MASH social work team includes a Senior Social Work Manager, Social Work Unit Managers, Experienced Social Workers and Duty Contact Workers.
