The Case Manager
The Case Manager usually has a medical professional
background when providing a service for clients with a
personal injury. This is because the job involves
co-ordinating all the services required by the client and
knowledge of each health specialism is necessary to make a
holistic assessment and referrals.
To do this, the Case Manager makes their own assessment and is
able to view and understand the Experts’ reports. The Case
Manager’s expertise is to plan and co-ordinate the best
possible service and to provide accurate evaluation of the
client’s progress and future needs with supporting evidence.
Case management is outside of the litigation process; however
the Case Manager’s reports can be used to procure funding, so
that services that cannot be obtained from the State and
Private Sector are promptly obtained and are put in place, so
that delay will not impede the rehabilitation process.
Assessment and evaluation also provides factual evidence that
has the potential to provide the Expert with information when
making their reports, as well as testing the reliability of
the Expert’s evidence.
Case Managers have been specifically recruited to HACM because
of their specialist skills, in all areas of personal injury,
to provide a supportive team approach. This matrix of skills
is utilised to work directly with clients in collaboration
with the multi-disciplinary team to help to provide a holistic
approach to case management.
Progress toward target goals is evaluated at monthly case
management team meetings. Progress is formally evaluated by a
case review held every three or six months, depending on need.
A report follows each of these case reviews to summarise
progress and identify new targets and to make recommendations
for the next three/six months, to include estimated costs.
Multi-disciplinary planning and review meetings facilitate
information sharing and agree ways in which the case
management service will be delivered with the client’s and
family’s consent. The case manager supports clients and
families to prepare for and take part in review meetings.
The standard and quality of case management is inextricably
linked to the training and education of staff because it is
vital that staff possess the necessary skills, knowledge and
confidence in order to participate fully in the case
management process. A culture and environment is created in
which staff are supported, motivated and encouraged to learn
and develop.
HACM promote a team approach to case management and, when
appropriate, each member of the team can enlist the combined
expertise of the whole team or, when it is beneficial to the
client, home visits can be shared. |
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