5.3.3 Checking the Person Index |
Contents
- Introduction
- Responsibility of the Social Worker on Duty
- Responsibility of the Business Support Officer
1. Introduction
A very high proportion of referrals to the service are about families and individuals who have been known to us before. Therefore, and effective and thorough check of the Person Index (PI) is a crucial part of the referral process. This enables us to get a clearer picture of the user’s history, avoids creating duplicate records (which can be complex and time consuming to unravel) and helps to minimise risk.
This guidance note sets out the roles and responsibilities of staff involved in processing referrals.
2. Responsibility of the Social Worker on Duty
The social worker on duty must ask their business support officer to check the name(s) of referred user(s) on PI at the earliest opportunity.
The social worker on duty must complete the referral (i.e. the referral must be finished and approved) with 24 hours.
3. Responsibility of the Business Support Officer
The business support officer must undertake a thorough check on PI. This must involve checking alternative spellings of names, phonetic searching and address searching.
If the user(s) is known, the business support officer must check for current or closed service involvements (including Adult Services), must check for current warnings and notifications and must check the whereabouts of old manual files and case papers and advise the duty social worker accordingly. The duty social worker may need to see the manual records. If so, the business support officer must retrieve them immediately (if held on site) or request them (if archived or held elsewhere)
If the user(s) is not known, the business support officer must add the user(s) to PI and advise the duty social worker accordingly.
There may be times when a business support officer is not available (and some workers do not have dedicated business support). If this is the case, the social worker may undertake the necessary PI checks. However, this must only be done if the worker has been trained and feels fully confident in using PI correctly (including the various search options).
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