ABSTRACT
The Promoting Independence: Prevention Grant provides funds to enable local authorities to target resources to people requiring low-level support, for who access to higher levels of care might be prevented or delayed by the application of improved risk assessment. These people frequently had been excluded from care as many local authorities sought to control expenditure by tightening eligibility criteria. Re-ablement is ideally suited to respond to those clients who require less intensive interventions - usually in the community - for whom opportunities exist to prevent or delay further dependency on institutional care. The chapter describes a community rehabilitation, or ‘Re-ablement’ service developed by Worcestershire Social Services Department. The costs of re-ablement provision were compared with home care services provided by Worcestershire Social Services. Re-ablement offers obvious advantages over the system by providing a mechanism in which applicants for services can receive a comprehensive multidisciplinary assessment at a significant point in the pathway into care.
