Assessment of need for people with disabilities

Assessments

Who is entitled to an assessment

You are entitled to an assessment of need if you consider that you have a disability. You have a disability if there is a substantial restriction in your capacity to carry on a profession, business or occupation or to participate in social or cultural life because of an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or intellectual impairment.

The disability legislation states that a "substantial restriction'' means that you have a restriction which is permanent or likely to be permanent, results in a significant difficulty in communication, learning or mobility or in significantly disordered cognitive processes, and means that you have a need for services to be provided continually or, in the case of a child, you have the need for services to be provided early in life to ameliorate the disability.

However, the HSE is encouraging people to apply if they are of the opinion that they have a disability, rather than than that they can define it under the disability legislation.

Getting an assessment

You must apply to the HSE in writing (through your Local Health Office, using the official application form) and the HSE must acknowledge your application within 14 days. This acknowledgement must tell you the date on which the assessment will start. The Act provides that the assessment must be started within three months of the application and must be completed without undue delay - there is no specific time limit on its completion. The regulations, however, provide that the HSE must complete the assessment within three months unless there are exceptional circumstances. If there is a delay in completing the assessment you must be told the reason and given a timescale for completion.

Reviews

The following applies generally to assessments of need but is not yet immediately relevant. You may be refused a HSE assessment if you have already had such an assessment and the review period has not yet expired or, if you are a child, you had an assessment in the previous 12 months. You may, however, look for a new assessment if there has been a change in circumstances or further information is available or you consider that there was a mistake of fact in the assessment report.

If you are already being or have been assessed under the Education for People with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 (which is not yet in effect in relation to assessment of needs) you will not generally be entitled to a HSE assessment. However, if the educational assessment shows that you need health services, it must be sent to the HSE for the purposes of drawing up a service statement.

Carrying out the assessment

The HSE has appointed assessment officers who are independent in carrying out their functions. They are based in Local Health Offices and they may be able to help you to fill in the application form and give you whatever information you need. The assessment officers can carry out the assessment themselves or authorise other HSE employees or other experienced people to do so. These people are called assessors. There are provisions for co-operation and co-ordination between this assessment process and the arrangements for the assessment of educational need under the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004.

The assessment must be carried out in accordance with the standards adopted by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). These standards deal with a range of issues, including Garda clearance for the people carrying out the assessment, the provision of clear and accessible information to applicants and their representatives and the handling of confidential information.

The aim of an assessment is to decide what health and education needs arise from your disability and what services you require to meet those needs. Health services include personal social services and include services provided directly by the HSE and services provided on behalf of the HSE (many of the services for people with intellectual disabilities are provided by voluntary bodies on behalf of the HSE).

The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is required to help the HSE in the assessments of need for adults with disabilities and the preparation of service statements. In the case of children, if the assessment identifies the need for education services, the assessment officer must refer the matter to the education service provider (usually a school) or the NCSE.

The assessment identifies your needs. It does not take account of the costs of providing for those needs or whether the capacity to provide services to meet the needs is present.

Your role in the assessment
The assessment officer may interview you and your parent, guardian, legal representative or personal advocate. If an interview takes place, the assessment officer must tell you or your parent or guardian what its purpose is unless this would be prejudicial to your mental health, well-being or emotional condition or would be inappropriate with regard to your age or the nature of your disability. The assessment officer must try to ensure that you can understand the process as far as possible.

Assessment report
When the assessment is complete, the assessment officer writes an assessment report which is given to you, to the HSE and, if appropriate, to the NCSE (you receive the service statement (see below) at the same time). The assessment report sets out whether you have a disability and, if you have it sets out:

• A statement of the nature and extent of the disability
• A statement of the health and education needs arising from the disability
• A statement of the appropriate services to meet those needs
• A statement of the period within which a review of the assessment should be carried out (this must be no later than a year from the date the assessment report is issued)