Out of Hours Emergency Social Services

Emergency Social Services

The Emergency Social Services Team (ESST) provides out of hours cover for all social care emergencies within Doncaster Metropolitan Borough. Out of hours are after 5pm and before 8.30am on weekdays and at weekends. Between 8.30am and 5pm weekdays please ring 01302 737391.

The team is made up of a variety of specialist social care staff so that the relevant staff can be called upon depending on the nature of an enquiry.

What we do

The ESST provides an out of hours emergency social service, in all situations where a crisis has occurred involving:

• Children and families
• Adults with physical disabilities
• Adults who have mental health problems
• Adults with learning disabilities
• Adults who are vulnerable or elderly            

Some referral will take priority such as:

• Where a child is at risk
• An urgent assessment is needed under the Mental Health Act
• Where a vulnerable adult is at risk

The ESST have limited resources which can be provided  out of hours, for example:

• Emergency home care
• Accommodation for children in need (subject to availability)

An action or services provided by the ESST will only be in effect until normal daytime services begin on the next working day.

What you should do if you need the ESST

• Please call (01302) 796000 (after 5pm and before 8.30am weekdays and at weekends.)
• All referrals are made through the central switchboard above.
• Central switchboard will ask for basic information, such as name, address and telephone number
• They will then call the ESST members on duty and pass on the information
• The ESST will try to respond to all calls as soon as possible, but at certain times the workers on duty may be dealing with several calls, or may be out on an urgent assessment. The switchboard operator will let you know if this is the case, but we do ask that you are patient, your call will be returned as soon as possible.
• All calls to the team will be responded to in the order they are received and we will try to resolve the crisis to keep the person safe until the next working day           

This applies to all callers, whether they are members of the public or agencies such as the Police or health care staff.

Hours of availability

The service is available from 5.00pm in the evening until 8.30 am the following morning during the week with 24 hour cover at weekends and Bank Holidays, including Christmas Day.

During normal office hours of 8.30am until 5pm Monday to Friday please ring 01302 737391.