Do care plans need to be rewritten yearly? Most care homes I have worked in say yes but a trainer says no.

Answered by Sheila Scott

Dear Elaine,

Thank you for your question.

It is for the Registered Manager to decide how often the Care Plan is reviewed.

This is what I believe is appropriate:

1.  If there is a change to the service user’s condition or treatment then the Care Plan should of course be amended immediately to reflect the changes.

2.  A care plan should be reviewed regularly (I believe once a month) to make sure that any changes etc have been recorded in the care plan.

3.  Care Plans in the course of a year can become messy owing to changes etc that are made and they can also become difficult to navigate when there are too many papers in the file. I therefore think that it is appropriate to review the whole care plan once a year and to file elsewhere papers that are no longer relevant.

There are no hard and fast rules about this and the Registered Manager needs to put in place processes which best suit the individual service.

I hope this is helpful.

Best wishes,

Sheila