Adult Social Care Caseload and Workload Audit

Our Adult Services Practice Quality Assurance Framework includes the requirement to undertake ‘Caseload and Workload Audits’. Good caseload management and supervision processes are critical to maintaining effective strength-based practice. We need to ensure, and be able to demonstrate, that staff are maintaining caseloads of suitable sizes and complexities.

Caution should always be used when looking at caseload numbers in isolation as this does not demonstrate any potential case weighting. This weighting is usually articulated in terms of complexity, risk and time (travel).

Approach

Three-month audit period July to September 2019. Audit focused on Older People’s, All Age Disability and Occupational Therapy teams.

Methodology;

• Data collection on average caseloads levels within teams averaged over the months of July, August and September 2019
• Focus groups with practitioners and managers

Findings

Overview of caseloads in key service areas;

• Hospital Team average 20.6
• Occupational Therapy average 25.8
• Intake services average 13.8
• Older people review average 24.1
• Short term services average 21.4
• Older People case management average 26.9
• All Age Transitions average 18.9
• All Age case management average 19.6

Summary

• Caseload levels appear very reasonable, and this was felt and expressed and mirrored via feedback from staff within the Organisational Health Check Survey 2019/20 with 81% of staff saying their caseload is fair and manageable
• Practitioners reported that managers had an awareness of their respective knowledge and expertise
• Practitioners feel able to raise concerns with their managers/supervisors regarding caseload and/or workload
• Managers able to articulate the numbers of cases a worker would normally be allocated and that cases are not allocated if workers don’t have capacity as this would mask demand
• Evidence of good practice in ensuring working between teams should demands arise

The audit will be repeated in 12-24 months’ time.