Specialist Fostering & Adoption Adult Health Assessments
Specialist Fostering & Adoption Adult Health Assessments
Consulting Well provides a specialist, GP-led health assessment pathway for prospective adopters, managing the adult medical process from referral through clinical assessment to a clear, proportionate medical adviser report.
By bringing the health assessment and medical adviser reporting together within one consistent pathway, we provide adoption services with clear accountability, reliable assessment flow and decision-useful clinical advice.
The pathway brings together the stages of the adult health assessment within one managed process:
Referral and consent
The adoption service refers the prospective adopter and we manage the health assessment pathway from that point.
Relevant health information
GP records and applicant health information are reviewed within the confidential clinical process.
Specialist consultation
A structured GP-led consultation considers health in relation to the demands of adoptive parenting.
Medical adviser report
Relevant findings are translated into a clear, proportionate report focused on caring capacity, functional impact and support needs.
Panel support where required
Additional medical adviser advice or panel input can be provided where needed.
Our assessments go beyond recording diagnoses and medical history. We consider how health may affect an individual’s ability to care, including functional impact, treatment and self-management, resilience, support and any issues that may benefit from further consideration or preparation.
Stable health conditions, effective self-management and individual strengths are considered alongside areas of vulnerability. The aim is proportionate clinical advice that supports informed decision-making rather than assessment based on diagnostic labels alone.
The consultation is designed to be constructive as well as evaluative, helping prospective adopters understand how their health relates to adoptive parenting and identify areas they can strengthen or prepare for.
Adult adopter medicals can involve several separate stages, differing timescales and variable levels of clinical information. A specialist managed pathway brings those stages together and provides a consistent approach to assessment and medical adviser reporting.
For adoption services this means:
Consulting Well combines general practice, safeguarding expertise and practical understanding of fostering and adoption assessment.
The service is led by Dr Lorna MacColl, former ICB Lead GP for Safeguarding for over a decade with active involvement in CSPRs, DARDRs and SARs. Our approach has developed through more than five years of delivering specialist adult health assessment pathways for children’s services, with a strong focus on proportionate clinical judgement, applicant experience and clear advice for decision-makers.
We work with adoption services looking for a reliable, responsive and consistent adult health assessment pathway.