Follow-up report from DFG summit held by Foundations and the College of Occupational Therapists that brought together Occupational Therapists, HIA managers, Grant Officers, Government officers and leading policy people to discuss good practice in the delivery of the DFG.
The follow-up report is a summary of the main points brought up on the day together with some apposite case studies showing what works well now.
The 2015 report calls for:
- The creation of co-located teams of HIA staff and occupational therapists to ensure better communication and create a seamless service for clients around DFG work
- Linking up IT systems within social care and housing so the impact of DFGs on a person’s care needs can be accurately measured
- An increase in maximum grant to take account of inflation – the current limit of £30,000 hasn’t changed for five years.
- Eligibility criteria should be standardised by either including housing costs or adopting the social care means test
- Using the NHS Number when recording information as recommended by the Better Care Fund. This will allow for a single reference for people at all stages of the process
- Use of a Trusted Assessor approach for simple cases to allow occupational therapists to employ their skills with more complex cases. This will allow simple adaptations to be fast-tracked through the system.
