Policy Updates 25th August 2021
The following policy updates have been curated from the week commencing 25th August 2021.
NEW POLICY
UK signs deal with Pfizer/BioNTech for 35 million vaccines
The doses will be delivered from the second half of 2022. Found at: GOV.UK
UPDATED POLICY
Quarantine and testing if you've been in an amber list country
What to do before and after you arrive in England if you’ve been in an amber list country in the 10 days before you arrive.
24 August 2021 - Added further clarifications on the rules for 2 dose vaccines in the 'What counts as fully vaccinated' section.
Found at: GOV.UK
Visiting arrangements in care homes
Sets out how care homes can support families and visitors to visit residents.
23 August 2021 - Removed reference to the guidance on the MCA and the application of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Found at: GOV.UK
Arrangements for visiting out of the care home
Sets out how care homes can support residents on visits outside of the care home.
23 August 2021 - Removed reference to the guidance on the MCA and the application of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Found at: GOV.UK
COVID-19: management of staff and exposed patients and residents in health and social care settings
Guidance on the management of staff, patients and residents who have been exposed to COVID-19. 23 August 2021 - Added information on referring to organisational guidance if and where this applies. Found at: GOV.UK
Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework: 2019 to 2024
A 5-year deal setting out how community pharmacy will support the delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan. 23 August 2021 - Added 'Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 5-year deal: year 3 (2021 to 2022)'. Found at: GOV.UK
COVID-19: how to work safely in domiciliary care in England
A resource for those working in domiciliary care providing information on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). 19th August 2021: Added link to management of staff and exposed patients and residents in health and social care settings. Found at: GOV.UK
Independent health providers: accessing lateral flow tests
Independent health providers can access lateral flow testing kits directly from NHS Test and Trace replacing the ordering route provided by NHS England and NHS Improvement. 18th August 2021: Updated 'A testing service for independent health providers in England' to include private IHPs.
Found at: GOV.UK
Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for people receiving direct payments
Advice for people who buy care and support through a direct payment, as well as local authorities, clinical commissioning groups and those who provide care and support. 19th August 2021: Updated to meet step 4 guidelines on the correct use of PPE and using direct payments to buy PPE.
Found at: GOV.UK
Organisation testing registration: record of users
Guidance and spreadsheet to record the details of people you've tested for coronavirus on that day. 18th August 2021: Replaced 'Record-keeping multiple registration spreadsheet (to be used by all adult social care settings from 1 July)' with 'Record-keeping multiple registration spreadsheet (to be used by all adult social care settings)'. The spreadsheet has been replaced to fix a bug for users operating a certain version of Excel. Removed 'Record-keeping multiple registration spreadsheet'.
Found at: GOV.UK
Revised COVID and Flu Vaccination Questions - 31 August 2021
These changes are anticipated to take place evening of 31st August 2021
For Care Home and Hospice providers, we will no longer require you to split out workforce vaccination levels by role type (nurses, care-giving staff, non-care giving staff) and instead only require you to update the total numbers of residents/patients, directly employed staff and agency/bank staff vaccinated for the following revised items:
Number currently known to have received the first dose
Number currently known to have received the second dose
Number currently known to have received a COVID vaccination booster
Number currently known to have received this season's flu vaccination
For Home Care providers we require you to update total numbers of staff who have face-to-face contact with people you support for the following revised vaccination items:
Number currently known to have received the first dose
Number currently known to have received the second dose
Number currently known to have received a COVID vaccination booster
Number currently known to have received this season's flu vaccination
For Local Authorities we require you to update your LA COVID Weekly Submission, within the Capacity Tracker, with the following additional information:
Number currently known to have received a COVID vaccination booster
Number currently known to have received this season's flu vaccination
The provider types shown below will no longer be required to complete the specified information from 31/08/21 when it will be removed from Capacity Tracker. Overall, this will offset any new data gathering request we are making from providers.
Care Homes, Hospices and Home Care Providers
COVID vaccination statuses “known NOT to have received” & “not yet known / undisclosed”
Care Home (ONLY)
COVID Vaccination Team Visit Information
Further guidance will be made available after these system changes are applied (scheduled for evening 31/08/21) in the What's New section of the Resource Centre.
GOVERNMENT AND STAKEHOLDER UPDATES
The ‘requirement’ for care workers to be vaccinated
Care England is aware of the letter issued by the Legal advice network on 26 July entitled ‘The ‘requirement’ for care workers to be vaccinated’ which presents an argument that the statutory provision for care (and other) workers to be vaccinated is unenforceable. Care England has been active in its support of the Government in the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine and has continued to support our members to do everything they can to persuade residents and staff to have the vaccine with great success.
It was essential for the issues associated with mandating the vaccine for adult social care staff to be comprehensively addressed prior to regulation being introduced. However, there has been a lack of central funding in helping to support adult social care providers in implementing the regulations. The 16-week grace period for providers has begun, with the regulations coming into force on 11 November and Care England will be working tirelessly to support our members in the delivery of the policy.
COVID-19 PCR home test kit instructions
Step-by-step guide available in different formats on how to use and return your PCR home test kit to test yourself for COVID-19.
Change made: Added ‘How to test yourself for coronavirus (COVID-19) at home (easy read)’.
GOV.UK
OTHER NEWS
Care home COVID deaths fall in first week of August
In its latest weekly update, the ONS reported 32 COVID-19 linked deaths in care homes in England and Wales in the week ending 6 August down from 38 in the previous week, which marked a three-month high for fatalities.
Care Home Professional
Five funded initiatives to help you recruit new staff
Recruitment practice and policies are key to finding the best staff for your care organisation.
Recruitment can be a time-consuming process, and there are costs involved, but getting it right means you can get the right people to join your team and ensure you’re providing the best care to the people you support.
To help you implement an effective recruitment strategy there are several funded initiatives available to support with recruitment of staff.
Here we round up five funded schemes to help you with your recruitment.
Found at: Skills for Care
NHS and social care workers offered discounts on Ford cars
Specialist car group Motorfinity has partnered with Ford Motor Company to offer discounts on its new vehicles to those working in the emergency services, NHS, social care, defense and teaching communities.
Home Care Insight
Care Sector's Got Talent invites care workers to audition
Individual care workers and care teams across the country are invited to audition for Care Sector’s Got Talent, a new contest launched by voluntary group Championing Social Care.
Carehome.co.uk
Campaigning for Equality of Healthcare for People with Learning Disabilities & Autism
Calling out for equality of healthcare for people with learning disabilities & autism, 29th October, 8.30 am – 4 pm, ICC, Birmingham
The event is being hosted by Care Talk magazine, and keynote speaker is Prof Deborah Sturdy, Chief Nurse Adult Social Care, chaired by Professor Martin Green, CEO, Care England
Book your place
Webinar Registration - Recovery, reflection and moving forward
Please join us for this webinar on recovery, reflection and moving forward aimed at registered and frontline managers. We’ll be sharing stories, tips and ideas focused on how to support you and your teams to reflect on the past 18 months and move forward together.
The webinar will include expert insight and guidance, as well as signposting to useful resources. We’re really keen to hear your thoughts beforehand and encourage you to send in responses to our questions, which we’ll use to inform the webinar content.
Found at: Skills for Care
Mandatory Vaccination of Staff - Regulatory overview for Care Providers
The Care Provider Alliance welcomes sector experts to answer questions on the implementation of the new vaccination legislation.
Found at: Eventbrite