The new single assessment process should help ensure that regular multi-agency reviews are undertaken of older people’s health and social needs, says Deidre Wild

The importance of nursing assessment for older people within a multi-disciplinary framework has long been advocated by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN 1997a, 1997b). The government’s guidance for the single assessment process, to be implemented locally from April for older people (DoH 2001a), is therefore welcomed as a move towards ensuring that older people will receive regular and ongoing multi-agency assessment as a part of the care planning process. In particular, the emphasis on a person-centred approach is fully in line with the values and beliefs held by the RCN (RCN 1999) and echoed in the National Service Framework for Older People (DoH 2001b).