The guidelines for the Department of Health Single Assessment
Process (SAP) specify four levels of assessment:
Initial Contact Assessment
Overview Assessment
In-depth (also known as Specialist) Assessment
Comprehensive Assessment.
TSO provides assessment tools for the contact, the
overview and the comprehensive assessment.
A support manual , introducing the assessments, is available from
TSO. It gives users detailed guidance on three of these assessments: the Contact,
Overview and Comprehensive Assessments.
The MDS Contact Assessment includes the self-reliance algorithm which indicates
who should receive a full Overview Assessment.
It contains triggers to assessment protocols that assist the professional in determining
next steps for care planning, including consideration of where other assessment
domains are relevant for identified needs, and which specialist professionals
should be involved in further assessment.
The MDS–HC Comprehensive Assessment
provides evidence to support determination of the Registered
Nurse Contribution to Care (RNCC) for people admitted to
nursing homes and NHS-funded continuing care. These levels
can only be determined using specialist computer software or
through Senectus (Visit www.senectus.org
for more details)
Throughout the MDS, specific areas for recording the views of older people and their
carers are included.
