regional fOster carer health assessments

Consulting Well provides a fully managed, GP-led foster carer health assessment pathway that can operate consistently across regional recruitment and assessment arrangements.

From referral through specialist consultation to a clear, proportionate, panel-ready medical adviser report, the pathway provides a common approach to adult health assessment while allowing individual authorities and services to retain their own wider assessment and decision-making arrangements.

The model can support different elements of the fostering pathway, including mainstream applicants, kinship carers and foster carer review medicals, according to the scope and responsibilities agreed across participating services. 

The model is established rather than theoretical, developed through more than five years of local authority delivery and over 1,500 assessments.

A regional model can provide applicants and participating services with the same core health assessment pathway:

Referral and consent
Agreed referral and consent arrangements create a consistent entry point into the service.

Health information
Relevant applicant information and GP records are brought together within the confidential clinical process.

Specialist assessment
Applicants receive a structured GP-led consultation focused on health in the context of fostering, caring capacity and readiness.

Medical adviser report
Each service receives a clear, proportionate and consistent professional report to support assessment and panel decision-making.

Panel support where required
Additional medical adviser advice or panel input can be provided where this forms part of the commissioned model.

Regional recruitment creates an opportunity to reduce unnecessary variation in a part of the assessment pathway that can otherwise depend on multiple GP practices, local processes and differing approaches to medical reporting.

A shared health assessment pathway can provide:

• consistent clinical assessment and reporting 
• clearer pathway visibility 
• more predictable timescales 
• reduced administrative chasing 
• a more consistent applicant experience 
• scalable clinical capacity across participating areas 

The aim is not simply faster medicals. A well-designed regional pathway helps applicants keep moving through assessment while providing decision-makers with consistent, relevant clinical advice.

Used well, the foster carer health assessment can contribute to more than panel approval.

Our specialist consultation helps applicants understand how health relates to the demands of fostering, recognises strengths and effective self-management, and identifies modifiable needs early enough for preparation, support or adjustment.

At regional level, this creates an opportunity to connect health assessment with wider priorities around recruitment, carer readiness, sufficiency, stability and retention.

Where appropriate governance arrangements are in place, sufficiently aggregated and de-identified health themes may also help services understand recurring needs within their applicant population and inform future carer support.

Our established approach is strongly aligned with the direction of the draft Fostering Standards for England, including their emphasis on ability to care, functional impact and support needs, proportionate use of medical information and relevant professional expertise.

Consulting Well combines general practice, safeguarding expertise and practical understanding of fostering assessment. The service is led by Dr Lorna MacColl, formerly an ICB Safeguarding lead for over a decade.

The pathway can be adapted to different regional structures, volumes and operating models, with referral routes, responsibilities, reporting arrangements and mobilisation agreed with participating organisations.