Dementia Support Line
Reviews and complaints
Find out how care plans should be reviewed and how to resolve complaints in Northern Ireland.
Assessment for care and support Northern Ireland
Reviews
Over time, circumstances for you and the person with dementia will change. Your HSCT will arrange a review meeting to see whether the services you receive are still meeting both your needs. Care plans should be reviewed at times specified in the care plan (for example, within the first six months and then annually), or as your needs change.
There are different ways to get a review:
- A planned review is discussed and agreed in the initial care plan.
- An unplanned review is normally the result of a change in circumstances, such as being admitted to hospital or a fall that means the person is less able to do things.
- A requested review is where the person, their carer or a professional (for example their GP) asks for a review. This may be due to a change in care needs, or where it is felt that different support is needed.
If yours or the person’s situation changes, you should contact the local HSCT, whether or not a regular review is due. This includes if your financial situation changes – for more information see our guidance to Paying for care and support in Northern Ireland.
You should also contact the trust if you feel that you need more help, or different kinds of services.
Complaints
If you need to make a complaint about the assessment process, it's best to try to resolve this with the person you have contact with, such as the social worker. An informal discussion may resolve a breakdown in communication or a misunderstanding.
If this doesn’t work, the HSCT will have a complaints procedure to follow. The complaints procedure might be appropriate if:
- there are problems arranging an assessment
- there is an unreasonably long wait for an assessment
- the person is told that they are not eligible for care and support, and you or they feel that they are
- the required services are not provided, or are unsatisfactory.
Contact the HSCT to find out what their complaints procedure is. If the HSCT’s complaints procedure does not resolve the issue, you can take your complaint to the Northern Ireland Ombudsman. It may be helpful to talk to a local advice agency first, for example, Advice NI.