Occupational Therapy News OTnews May 2020 | Page 48

FEATURE COVID-19
One step ahead
Domenica Russo and Nick Stone reflect on the keys
to success of implementing a virtual assessment service,
with regards assessing eligibility for travel concessions
during the COVID-19 pandemic
I
n March, when the government announced COVID-19
lockdown measures for the UK, the management team
here at SHA Disability Consultancy commenced strategy
planning to ensure that we could continue to provide
quality services to the various local authorities and NHS
Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) we partner with,
despite the limitations of social distancing rules and the
closing down of many local authority offices and assessment
venues.
These strategies involved a switch to desk-based and
telephone-based assessments, including using video calling
applications as a viable alternative to face-to-face assessment
methods.
So, when the Department for Transport (DfT) issued
guidance in relation to running Blue Badge schemes in the
context of COVID-19 on 2 April 2020, we were already ahead
with processes in place that mirrored the guidance.
In line with government advice on social distancing, the
DfT guidance told local authorities not to call in applicants for
face-to-face appointments, and to conduct only desk-based
assessments (via telephone or video call) for new Blue Badge
applications and re-applications.
It also stated that, where the inability to conduct face-to-
face assessments makes eligibility more difficult to determine,
the local authority must be confident that any interim
processes they implement are compatible with considering
applications fairly and in an unbiased manner.
• SHA currently provides Independent Mobility Assessment
48 OTnews May 2020
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(IMA) services to six local authorities. Each have
different systems in place regarding:
• IT software used to store information on Blue Badge
applications and the outcomes of IMAs; the amount
of supporting evidence that independent assessors
have access to;
• range of travel concessions they assess for;
• style and format of assessment forms used;
• the involvement of occupational therapists and
physiotherapists (or not) in the in-house staff mix of
any provisional screening of applications;
• the travel concession team being set up as part of
adult social care services, call centres/single points
of access, or a separate department in its own right
within parking control;
• volume of applications that need assessing;
• number of IMA clinics per week; and
• time allocated for IMA appointment slots.
Terry Collins, mobility services manager at the London
Borough of Tower Hamlets says: ‘Prior to DfT issuing its
COVID-19 guidance to local authorities in relation to Blue
Badge assessments and enforcement, SHA Disability,
in conjunction with the borough’s Mobility Support Team
had already introduced a system whereby assessments
for the foreseeable future would move from a face-to-
face environment, to one whereby assessments would
be undertaken primarily by telephone, Facetime and
WhatsApp.
‘The assessments undertaken cover Blue Badge,
Disabled Persons Freedom Passes and Taxi cards,