NCF Member Briefing 27.10.23

Accelerating Reform Fund

Earlier this week DHSC published details about how it intends to meet some of its reframed reform pledges made back in April, including the establishment of an innovation and improvement unit at DHSC to develop and define clear priorities for innovation across adult social care, as well as some elements of the pledges for unpaid carers. This is backed by a £42.6m fund over the next two years which can be bid for by consortia of LAs (1 per ICS area), with support from the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). The relevant documents you want to look at are:

Since this fund was announced earlier this week, we've had further clarification about what this money consists of. It appears to be a merger of the previous pledge to provide 'up to £25 million for unpaid carers' with a portion of the £35m set aside for innovation and scaling, though DHSC has been very vague in actually splitting out how much of each fund has actually gone towards the £42.6m. Nevertheless, DHSC has stated to us that additional elements of the £35m are still to come.

NHS Funded Nursing

DHSC is currently in the process of setting the 2024-2025 rate for NHS-funded Nursing Care (FNC).  This is being informed by a one-off cost collection exercise, run via Capacity Tracker. The survey is non-mandatory, but it would be great if as many providers as possible could complete it. The survey will be live from Wednesday 25 October and will be open for three weeks, closing midnight on Wednesday 15 November.

DHSC would like to encourage as many providers as possible to complete this survey.  Although it is optional, a greater sample size will mean more reliable results.  When you complete the survey, please ensure that you have data on the number of residents by funding type and payroll information on both pay and hours worked by registered nurses for the two months of April 2023 and September 2023 (or your most recent completed payroll period) to hand.

You should be able to see a link to the survey when you log into Capacity Tracker. If you have any questions, please contact the DHSC FNC inbox at fnc@dhsc.gov.uk.

COVID-19 Public Inquiry - Targeted Events for Social Care Workers

While NCF continues to represent our not-for-profit members as part of the UK COVID-19 Inquiry (our opening statement to module 2 can be read here), the Every Story Matters workstream of the inquiry is planning to hold a number of in-person events in conjunction with Identity.

Every Story Matters is the Inquiry's way of listening to the pandemic experiences of people across the UK, to understand how it affected each and every one of us.

The upcoming event locations are:

  • 14-15 November: Carlisle

  • 16 -17 November: Wrexham

  • 27-28 November: Exeter

  • Week commencing 27 November: Newham

In each of these locations they will run a number of small targeted events, which will be for healthcare workers, social care workers and people accessing social care to speak to the inquiry about their experiences of the pandemic.

They would really appreciate any support you can provide, either by:

  • Collaborating with the inquiry to run an event together with social care workers

  • Promoting a targeted event to those social care workers that you work with so that the inquiry can hear their experience of the pandemic.

Please let Akaash Dheer (akaash.dheer@covid19.public-inquiry.uk) and Eva Keogan (Eva.Keogan@identityglobal.com) know if this is of interest. If none of these locations work for you, but you'd like to promote future events in other locations, then that's also useful for the inquiry to know as they will be holding events in more towns and cities across the UK next year that you may be able to support them with.

Homecare and Capacity Tracker

On Wednesday 8 November, 1:30pm DHSC is running a webinar for homecare providers to share important information.

At a webinar in June, they shared information on updating your CQC records. DHSC would like to share some more insights on that as well as talk with you about the issuing of Notice of Intention and financial penalties.

DHSC understands that some homecare providers have concerns about sharing your data as well as about enforcement, but through this session they hope to alleviate those concerns.

If you have any queries about this webinar, please contact: capacitytracker-guidance@dhsc.gov.uk.

Enter the following details in teams to join the meeting:

Meeting ID: 375 960 411 503 | Passcode: LEX9VA

Ethical Recruitment

The CQC State of Care report last week has highlighted an increasing concern in unethical recruitment practices of international workers. This is something the BBC picked up earlier this week. The BBC’s report highlighted increasing numbers of calls to a modern slavery helpline from care workers. This is a bleak reminder of an issue that we, together with other members of the Care Provider Alliance, have been trying very hard to address. As well as repeatedly asking the government to fund a nationally coordinated response by the CPA to tackle unethical recruitment practices and support providers to get it right, we have engaged with leaders in ethical recruitment to bring members up to date guidance on best practice and ensure we are promoting good practice on this issue throughout the sector.

If you haven’t already used the resources we’ve made available on our website we’d recommend the Spot the signs toolkit we developed with Skills for Care and Hestia. You’ll also find further guidance, tools and training opportunities outlined in our Pastoral Care Guide for International Recruitment

Real Living Wage Increase

The Real Living Wage Foundation has announced the new rates for 2023/24: £12 outside London and £13.15 inside London – a 10% increase. The real Living Wage is the only UK wage rate based on the cost of living. It is voluntarily paid by over 14,000 UK businesses. Employers who sign up have until May 1st to implement the increases.

While NCF is supportive of the Real Living Wage, we are concerned that such increases won’t be reflected by what local government and health commissioners pay. Subsequently the issue of pay differentials between higher grades of role will continue to be flattened without that extra public sector funding.

Intermediate Care - Learning Summit Resources

Following the publication of NHSE's Intermediate Care Framework, CPA & NHSE held a learning summit exploring how NHS, local authorities and adult social care providers are working together to expand and improve access to high quality, step-down intermediate care. 

Chaired by Jane Townson, CPA Chair, and Jenny Keane, Director of Intermediate Care and Rehabilitation at NHSE, the summit included detailed case studies from two intermediate care frontrunner sites - Warwickshire and Croydon; a presentation by the National Care Forum on a 'blueprint' for intermediate care; and an opportunity to pose questions to those leading this work nationally and locally.

Access resources from this learning summit including slides, resource pack and recording. CPA is also working on a written report and Q&A based on discussions.

Digitising and Streamlining of Care Needs Assessments

This Autumn, the Chief Social Worker for Adults, Lyn Romeo, is holding a series of webinars with Social Workers, Occupational Therapists, assessors, commissioners and managers in adult social care to explore some of the key themes around the digitising and streamlining of care needs assessments. These webinars are being co-delivered by the Department of Health and Social Care, SCIE and Partners in Care and Health.

This instalment in the series, on Monday 6 November at 1pm, will explore the principles of implementing Online Care Needs Self-Assessments, which will be accompanied by a publication of a good practice guide that has been developed by the Department of Health and Social Care and Mason’s Advisory. This toolkit highlights key considerations for local authorities exploring the implementation of online care needs self-assessments. 

Sign-up here.

Care Workforce Pathway

For those of you wondering what has happened to the Care Workforce Pathway consultation, NCF expects something to be published in the coming weeks.

Consultations and Calls for Evidence

There are a number of consultations and calls for evidence which are closing over the next few weeks which you may want to respond to. NCF will also be looking at submitting responses to these.

The Managers Conference 2024

Managers are fundamental to the delivery of outstanding care. The role is complex with rapidly changing challenges and requires increased resilience.

Hosted by NCF and Skills for Care and in collaboration with ARC England, this networking evening with overnight accommodation and full day conference will champion and support the crucial role of managers in adult social care. It will bring together managers from across the country to share knowledge, ask questions and network with colleagues.

The programme includes a mix of conference sessions and practical workshop options, as well as panel discussions. Topics include team working, diversity and inclusion, delivering outstanding care and digital social care.

It’s an opportunity to share, learn and find solutions and answers to the challenges you face on a daily basis, and help you and your teams provide the highest quality care.

More information and registration here.

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