Policy Updates 4th October 2021

 

The following policy updates have been curated from the week commencing 4th October 2021.

Department of Health and Social Care

Please download a recent letter from Michelle Dyson, Director General for Adult Social Care. The letter provides an update on co-production of the White Paper on Adult Social Care System Reform.

Download the letter PDF here.

CARE ENGLAND UPDATE

Care England has submitted written evidence to HM Treasury’s Comprehensive Spending Review emphasising the need for Government to act immediately in order to stabilise the sector or face serious and far-reaching consequences.
 
Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, says:
 
“We have used Care England’s submission as yet another mechanism to drive home to Government the precarious state of the adult social care sector with particular reference to the workforce and funding crises. We have offered some constructive solutions as to how the Government can alleviate this situation and hope that we can work with them to deliver the sustainable development of adult social care”.
 
For the immediate term, Care England’s proposals include:

  • Immediate investment and policy change to ensure the sustainability of the adult social care workforce in the winter months.

  • Clarity regarding the arrangements and funding regarding the Government’s Build Back Better Plan for health and social care and the Government to work with the sector to understand the practicalities.

  • The continuation of the testing and infection fund beyond six months, in order to provide certainty to the adult social care sector. This expires today, 30 September.

  • Adding all care workers to the Shortage Occupation List and reducing the salary threshold in the Health and Care Visa. The Government has taken steps to enable HGV drivers into the country and the same urgency needs to be attached to the adult social care sector.

In the long term proposals include: 

  • A ten-year workforce plan, akin to that of the NHS, where career progression, pay and rewards are identified, something that the Build Back Better Plan fails to do.

  • Treasury to consult those policy options presented in the Health and Social Care Committee’s report[1] to level up pay and reward in the adult social care sector.

  • The National Living Wage uplift to be fully funded within the context of the publicly funded adult social care sector.

  • Sufficient support and funding for sector bodies such as Skills for Care. This disparity is currently evident in terms of the funding levels between Health Education England and Skills for Care.

The Chancellor, Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, is due to deliver the Comprehensive Spending Review on 27 October alongside an Autumn Budget.
 
Martin Green continues: 
 
“Failure to support the sector will result in unprecedented demand on the NHS, a loss to local economies and of course a failure to deliver care to those most in need. We hope that our submission will be considered”.

[1]  Social Care: Funding and Workforce (parliament.uk)


UPDATED GOVERNMENT GUIDANCE

Updated COVID-19 guidance

COVID-19 testing for adult social care settings: this has been updated to reflect the changes to policy: 

  1. when there is one case of COVID-19 in a care home and when there are two or more cases

  2. rapid lateral flow testing frequency

  3. changes to ending outbreak restrictions, when they can be lifted and ongoing testing after this period.

⇨ Read the updated guidance


PPE portal: how to order COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE)

Order limits have been updated for various providers including domiciliary care providers and residential care homes and 'nitrile' has been removed from gloves for all providers.
⇨ Read the updated guidance


Vaccination as a condition of deployment

Skills for Care has published a range of guidance and advice to support CQC regulated providers in relation to the mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations. The latest FAQ update includes information on medical exemptions.
⇨ Read the updated guidance


Additional funding to help adult social care this winter
More than £388 million to prevent infections and provide testing in the care sector.
GOV.UK

Vaccination against COVID-19 and influenza at the same time

Please note that it was a requirement for all care home staff to have received their first vaccination by 16 September 2021. The requirement is also that all care home staff receive their second vaccination by 11 November 2021. Vaccinations can be accessed via www.grabajab.net which has a list of walk-in clinics staff can access.

This email is also a  reminder that you need to regularly update all areas of the National Capacity Tracker – at a minimum this should be every 48 hours.

Central Government continues to use this data on a daily basis to identify issues or raise concerns with Local Authorities to investigate further. Therefore, it is really important that the system is kept up to date, particularly vaccination uptake for staff, and residents where you are a care home provider.

The tracker is also a Government requirement and its regular use forms the basis for distributing additional funding support to providers, eg Infection Control Fund.

We appreciate that at times the system experiences data errors so if you notice this then please continue to raise your queries directly with the Capacity Tracker Support Team (tel: 0191 691 3729, email: necsu.capacitytracker@nhs.net and insert ‘Capacity Tracker’ into the subject line.

The Combining Influenza and COVID-19 Vaccination (ComFluCOV) study has found that it is safe for people to receive a flu vaccine at the same time as a COVID-19 vaccine. Reported side effects were mainly mild to moderate, and there were no negative impacts on the immune response produced by either vaccine when both were given in the same day, in opposite arms.

The study was run by the Bristol Trial Centre, which is part of the University of Bristol, in partnership with a total of 12 participating NHS sites across England and South Wales, and was sponsored by University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust. 

Results were shared with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) ahead of the research paper being published, to aid policy making decisions.

You can read more about these results in the news story on our website: https://www.uhbw.nhs.uk/p/latest-news/it-is-safe-for-people-to-be-vaccinated-against-covid-19-and-influenza-at-the-sa

You can read the prepint paper here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3931758 

If you would like any further information regarding the study, please contact the trial team on comflucov-trial@bristol.ac.uk


Please download the latest North Sommerset update for care providers in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, including:

  1. National Booking Service open for booster vaccine appointments

  2. Important information regarding PCR test kit expiry dates

  3. Accessing Public Liability and Employers’ Liability Insurance

  4. Mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for frontline care and health staff: new consultation launched

  5. NHSmail shared mailbox FAQ’s

  6. Workshops to develop care-home specific strategies for wellbeing

  7. Data Security Protection Toolkit Webinars

  8. Healthier Together Wellbeing Support offer for all who work in social care

  9. Useful information and guidance


NEWS

Government launches new Covid-19 jab exemption process for care workers
Care workers who believe they should be exempt from having the Covid-19 vaccine can no longer “self-certify” and instead must use a government scheme for confirmation.
Nursing Times


Events

Digitisation in Social Care Webinar
Wednesday 6 October 2021, 10:30-12:30
The session will explore the work NHS Digital are undertaking to enable suppliers and care providers to utilise clinical patient data to aid the delivery of front-line care across different healthcare settings. The event will provide an overview of products currently available for implementation as well as presentations by organisations sharing their experience. Please register here

A collaboration for healthy ageing. How to conquer inactivity in care homes!
Free webinar: Thursday 7 October, 09.30 - 12.00
How do we battle inactivity among seniors in our current environment? What are the keys to gain ground, even in the wake of COVID-19?  There are now approximately 1 billion people above the age of 65 in the world, and it’s expected to double by 2050. Many of these people will have health challenges.
Join this Motitech webinar on Thursday 7 October to explore how collaboration across sectors and organisations is crucial to successfully turn the vision of healthy ageing into reality. 
Click here to register


Digital in Social Care Masterclasses

https://www.digitalsocialcare.co.uk/social-care-technology/adopting-digital-care-records-masterclass-series/