Effective information for health and social care.
The FACE RAS is the country’s most widely used resource allocation system, being used by over 41 councils collectively, serving over 20% of the population. The goal of the FACE RAS programme has been to develop a resource allocation system that is:
- Needs-based;
- Accurate;
- Integrated with community care needs assessment;
- Scientifically validated;
- In harmony with personalisation and the integration of health and social care.
FACE Assessments
At the heart of the FACE RAS are FACE assessment tools, nationally-accredited in 2003 by the Department of Health for their holistic person-centred approach to assessment, and their appropriateness for integrated health and social care working. Using the FACE Needs Profile – a single assessment process supports both needs assessment and resource allocation.
For people with complex needs, the most recent FACE Overview Assessment maps to the national Continuing Care Decision Support Tool and also provides an indicative budget for our ‘Continuing Care’ RAS.
Using the FACE RAS
The FACE RAS programme is a collaborative programme. Councils work hand in hand with our dedicated project managers and our team of researchers at UCL, who have supported the validation of our ‘national’ resource allocation model. Our user groups enable development of a common approach to complex issues such as how to allocate for respite care, or support for social participation. However, at the same time as using a validated standard approach, each council has considerable freedom and flexibility regarding the details of their local RAS set up.
The experience of our users demonstrates that resource allocation systems can, indeed, support personalisation as well as having wider applications, including being able to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of social care innovations, to quantity future costs, and measuring the impact of changes in social care provision. Examples of such uses from around the country include use of the FACE RAS assessment to measure the outcomes and cost-effectiveness of reablement or to provide guidance as to the appropriateness of telecare.
As social care develops, we believe that the accurate assessment and prediction of needs, risks and costs, will become more and more central to delivering high quality personalised care in a world where resources are already scarce and becoming scarcer. Developments in the pipeline therefore include the use of FACE assessments to predict risk of hospital readmission as well as continuing care and social care needs. FACE believes that accurate assessment is essential throughout a person’s lifespan. We have therefore also developed a ‘Children’s RAS’ and a suite of risk assessment tools for vulnerable young adults. Over the next year these will become part of a comprehensive set of assessment tools for young people covering health and social care as well as mental health, education and involvement with the criminal justice system.
About us
FACE is committed to making a difference to the delivery of health and social care. The company is a mix of experienced practitioners and technologists committed to improving quality of care and outcomes through the development of reliable and robust information tools.
For more information please contact Hugh Reynolds, Director of Business Development or explore our website www.face.eu.com
FACE Recording & Measurement Systems
Tel: +44 (0) 845 862 1259
Fax: +44 (0) 115 824 0178
