Care

Assistance or support given to a person to improve their health and wellbeing and to help them achieve maximum quality of life.

Care Coordination

Where the range of services required by the consumer is coordinated so that they are delivered in the most efficient and effective way to meet individual consumer's needs. Care Coordination should ensure continuity of care, avoid duplication of services and ensure that the meeting of consumer needs is paramount over the needs of individual service providers and is not hampered unnecessarily by program boundaries. See Care Planning.

Care Coordinator

A nominated worker who has the responsibility of ensuring that the care plan is implemented, and that reviews and re-assessments are undertaken at the appropriate times by the relevant service providers.

Care Plan

The outcome of the assessment and care planning process that documents the services to be provided. It specifies service type, levels and frequency of service provision.

Care Planning

A process of deliberation that incorporates a range of existing activities such as development of clinical plans, treatment plans, service plans and individual treatment plans. It includes the continuum of navigational and supportive functions such as care coordination, case management, referral, feedback, review, re-assessment and monitoring. Care planning involves the judgment/determination of relative need as well as competing needs, and assists consumers to come to decisions that are appropriate to their needs, wishes, values and circumstances. Care Planning also provides a means of synthesising assessment information and agreed strategies and is particularly important in facilitating appropriate care for consumers with multiple or complex needs. Care Planning ensures that the needs of the consumer are discussed with the consumer, his or her carer and other relevant parties such as the general practitioner, in the context of possible options, and subsequently worked through to an agreed strategy.

Carer

Anyone who provides unpaid assistance to a person with support needs based upon a previously existing relationship. Usually a partner or a family member but can also be a friend, neighbour, work colleague or other acquaintance. The informal carer can provide a little or a lot of assistance in terms of tasks undertaken or time spent providing care.

Case Conference

An inclusive process for making decisions about the care of a consumer. Assessment findings and options for ongoing care and support are presented to other practitioners/clinicians, who can be from the same or different organizations. The presentation includes conclusions of the assessment that are supported by a range of information sources. Case Conferences are often multi disciplinary and incorporate the views and preferences of the consumer and their carers.

Case Coordinator

See Care Coordinator.

Case Management

The activities undertaken by one central person who assumes overall responsibility for the care plan, in order to streamline the interface between the service system and the consumer and carer. See Care Planning. Activities may include some or all of:

• Assessment
• Care plan development
• Referral and/or feedback
• Implementation of the care plan, including liaison with service providers
• Monitoring
• Review
• Reassessment
• Management of brokerage funds.

Case Manager

See Care Coordinator.

Clinician

See Practitioner.

Competencies

The ability to perform the activities within an occupation or function to the standard expected in employment.

Comprehensive Assessment

A face-to-face interaction with a consumer, involving an intense level of inquiry, and an advanced dimension of history taking, examination, observation and measurement/testing. It facilitates a more extensive process of inquiry that requires analysis and interpretation of the assessment information and a clinical judgment, diagnosis and differential diagnosis.

Confidentiality

The restriction of access to information, and the control of the use and release of information about a person, in order to protect the individual’s privacy.

Consent

The voluntary agreement of the individual or the individual’s authorised representative about a proposed action. It can be either expressed or implied. Express consent is provided explicitly, either orally or in writing. It is unequivocal and does not require any inference on the part of the organisation seeking consent. Implied consent arises where consent may be reasonably inferred from the action or inaction of the individual. Consent must be meaningful, that is, an individual must understand what has been consented to and the implications of this. Consent must be obtained without coercion or undue influence.

Consumers

Those members of the community who currently use services, are seeking to use services or who are potential service users.

Core Consumer Information

The agreed set of consumer information that is common to providers within the Partnership. Will include such data items as name, date of birth.

Duty of Care

A duty to take reasonable care of a person. A duty of care is breached if a person behaves unreasonably. Failure to act can also be unreasonable in a particular situation. A duty of care can be breached either by action or inaction. The reasonableness of what a person has done or not done, is assessed by considering how a hypothetical reasonable person would have behaved in the same situation. What is considered reasonable will depend on the circumstances.