Contact us

If someone's life or property is at risk, always call 999.

We have one Adult Social Care Emergency Duty Service that covers the whole of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.  Our out of hours team provide an emergency response for adults in need of community care support in Bournemouth, Christchurch or Poole, who are in crisis or need urgent help.

The Emergency Duty Service:

• provides emergency cover and access to essential services when our daytime services are closed
• gives information and advice and, where necessary, makes visits to further assess needs and provide services
• is open Monday to Thursday from 5pm to 9am and from 4.30pm Friday to 9am Monday
• is for adult social care

Telephone: 0300 123 9895

(For the Children's Out of Hours Service, telephone 01202 738256.)

When to contact the adult's emergency duty service

You should call us if you or an adult you know needs urgent social care help outside of normal office hours.

You can call our emergency line on 0300 123 9895:

• Monday to Thursday, from 5pm to 9am 
• Fridays, from 4pm to 9am on Monday 
• all bank holidays, including Christmas Day and New Years Day

If lines are busy, leave a clear message and tell us:

• your name 
• the nature of the emergency
• your telephone number

Outside of these times, you should use the normal daytime contact numbers for the service you need. If you don't have a number, or aren't sure which to call, you can call 01202 633902.

How to know if you should call

You should call us if:

• you are urgently concerned about the welfare of an adult who is frail, sick, disabled, has mental ill health, or has a learning disability
• an adult needs to be supported when they are interviewed by the police
• an assessment is required under the Mental Health Act in respect of a compulsory admission to psychiatric hospital, or assessment as a result of a Section 136 "arrest"
• you need to discuss a concern to safeguard an adult in need of social care who is at risk of harm from others
• someone is lacking the capacity to consent to support or help, and needs to be assessed

How we respond to emergencies

We will always listen to you carefully and sensitively, but can only take immediate action if we think you or the person you are calling about is at serious risk.

After taking your phone call, we will:

1. review all the information we have about the situation 
2. discuss your concerns with the appropriate professionals
3. consider the risks, wider circumstances and implications if no further action is taken 
4. intervene if an adult is at risk 
5. manage a crisis until the next normal working day 

If we cannot help, we will tell you why, and give you advice about who else may be able to.

BSL (British Sign Language) support - for BSL support using a browser

Before using SignVideo BSL Live, please ensure you meet these basic requirements as a minimum:

Instant access with browsers:

• Chrome/Firefox and Safari
• iOS: 11 or above
• Android: 4.4 or above
• PC: Chrome/Firefox
• macOS: Chrome (Safari 11 supported)

Sign Video Apps:

• Browsers: Chrome/Firefox and Safari
• iOS: 9 or above
• Android: 4.4 or above
• PC/macOS: no browsers required
• Bandwidth of at least 512 kbps upload and download.

Download SignVideo Apps 

Connect to SignVideo to make a call from the browser. 

To use SignVideo apps: select SignVideo Directory Services and scroll down to select BCP Council Adult Social Care.

If you think someone may be at immediate risk of harm contact the police by calling 999.

If you know someone is being abused, or think they may be, contact us during office hours or outside normal hours.

If you are concerned about abuse of a child please contact the Children's First Response Hub.  For the Children's Out of Hours Service, telephone 01202 738256.

If you're not sure what abuse is, we have more information about what might be abuse.

Do you have something to say about adult social care services? Do you have a comment, compliment or complaint?  Telling us what you think lets us know what we're doing well and what we need to do better. Your views and ideas help us to improve our services:

• Tel: 01202 123970 or 01202 123858
• email: comments.adultsocialcare@bcpcouncil.gov.uk
• Write to: The Complaints Manager, Adult Social Care Commissioning, BCP Council, Civic Centre, Poole, Dorset BH15 2RU

For more information about feedback please see our factsheets:

• Comments, compliments and complaints (opens in a new window)
• Comments, compliments and complaints (Easy Read version) (opens in a new window)

If you don't want to speak directly with your local council, you can contact Healthwatch Dorset (opens in a new window). Healthwatch Dorset is an independent organisation that represents the views and wishes of people who use adult social care services in Dorset.

Add your service to our directory

If you are a service provider and would like your organisation to be included in our directory, or if you need to inform us of any changes to your current entry, please send brief details to comments.adultsocialcare@bcpcouncil.gov.uk.

Tell us about a change to a service or an error on this website

If you need to change the details we have for your service or organisation on this website please contact us.

If you notice an error on this website please tell us so we can put it right.

Give us feedback

If you have feedback about this website please please tell us.

Do you have something to say about adult social care services? Do you have a comment, compliment or complaint?

Telling us what you think lets us know what we're doing well and what we need to do better. Your views and ideas help us to improve our services.

Find out more about how to make a comment, compliment or complaint (opens in a new window)

Comments, compliments and complaints (Easy Read factsheet) (opens in a new window)

If you don't want to speak directly with your local council, you can contact Healthwatch Dorset (opens in a new window). Healthwatch Dorset is an independent organisation that represents the views and wishes of people who use adult social care services in Dorset.