Definition
The notes from a discussion a social worker or another person working in adult social care has with a person about what matters to them and the help and support they need to live their life the way they want.
Conversation records don’t usually have many set questions, and have lots of blank spaces for workers to record the details of the conversation and the person’s wishes and feelings.
The bigger picture
A conversation record is different to a form. Forms usually have set questions and lots of boxes to tick or drop-down options to select. This means the person completing the form is led by the requirements of the form, which may determine what is talked about. Often set questions are intrusive and inappropriate. The person filling in the form will spend a lot of time trying to fit information into boxes.
A conversation record will have lots of space for the person completing the record to write down the things that matter most, in ‘free text’. This ‘blank sheet of paper’ approach allows the focus to be on the conversation, which could be an ‘assessment’ or a ‘review’ conversation, but will be led by the person it’s about, rather than dictated by a form.
Conversation records usually help to make sure conversations focus on what matters most to people. They also help to reduce bureaucracy and enable proportionate recording.
A lot of local councils are moving away from using long assessment forms with set questions, to using conversation records instead.