HEALTH and social care professionals from across Wiltshire met in December to discuss how to simplify and streamline the assessment process for older people and move them through the system with ease.

The event focused on the introduction of the Single Assessment Process, (SAP) how it works locally and what further action is needed.

Under the SAP older people will only be asked once for key personal information such as name, address, date of birth and next of kin.

This information will then be shared, with their permission, and added to by other professionals involved in their care, building up a single comprehensive record.

Single Assessment Project leader for Wiltshire, Marianna Poulton, said: "Streamlining and simplifying the assessment process will mean that we can

provide quicker, more efficient and more effective care for older people.

"It will also mean that all the professionals involved in care will have

access to the relevant information, avoiding duplication of effort and

resulting in better decisions about their care."

The record will be left with the patient and will contain all relevant information from when a patient first goes to their GP, through any care they receive in hospital to the social care they receive once they return home.

Mrs Poulton added: "Having one comprehensive, accurate person-held record will mean that older people are central to the assessment process and all relevant information is known to those professionals who care for an older person throughout a period of care.

"Having accurate records can not only improve the quality of patient care but it can also result in people spending less time in hospital, enabling them to get back to their normal lives more quickly."

The SAP will also cut down the time health and social care professionals spend on paperwork freeing them up to spend more time on patient care.

Senior health and social care professionals attending the event included directors from the primary care trusts, mental health trust and adult and community services at Wiltshire County Council.

Other senior professionals who were in attendance included Single Assessment Process leads, GPs, heads of primary care, district nurses, health and social care managers, and information specialists.