Policy Updates 1st August 2022

 

The following policy updates have been curated from the week commencing 1st August 2022.

Updated Policy

Code of practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel
2 August 2022
Updated to strengthen best practice benchmarks including the setting of principles on the use of repayment clauses in employment contracts; set out the routes of escalation for concerns about exploitative recruitment or employment practices and breaches of the code; clarify how the code applies to different international recruitment models; and expand scenario examples on how the code applies in practice. The 'Agency list' has also been widened to include all organisations recruiting on behalf of another ​and renamed the 'Ethical recruiters list'.
Found at: GOV.UK

Wider Stakeholder News

Make sure you're prepared for autumn boosters
We may be in the midst of summer, record breaking heatwaves and all but, like most care and health professionals, my thoughts inevitably turn to autumn and winter. This is when seasonal viruses make their annual pilgrimage to care homes and clinical settings, now joined by another uninvited guest: coronavirus.
Found at: Social Care Blog

ICS Guidance on ASC engagement, Integrated Care Strategies and Health and Wellbeing Boards

Earlier today DHSC published a number of pieces of guidance for Integrated Care Systems (ICS). 

We have produced a briefing on the first three of these which is attached. We've had significant input into the first two. The adult social care principles of engagement are, in particular, a step forward in policymakers' thinking. The challenge, as always, will be implementation and culture change.

Social care workforce strategy is “long overdue”, says Jane Townson
After two major reports on the health and social care workforce were published this week, Jane Townson offers her opinion. One, The Health and Social Care Committee’s Inquiry on Workforce: Recruitment, training and retention in Health and Social Care. Another, by an Expert Panel convened by the Committee has rated the Government’s fulfilment of its commitments on the health and social care workforce (in the style of the CQC) overall Inadequate.
Home Care Insight

NHS bosses: Raise social care pay to stave off ‘catastrophe’
Social care staff must get an immediate “rescue package” pay rise in to prevent a “catastrophe” in hospitals this winter, NHS bosses say. There are currently 165,000 job vacancies in the social care sector as staff quit to work in better paid jobs stacking shelves in supermarkets or working in hospitality.
The Times

HSCC slams ‘worrying’ government efforts to improve NHS and social care workforce as ‘inadequate’
A report by the Health and Social Care Committee (HSCC) has labelled the UK Government’s efforts to make improvements to the NHS and social care workforce as “inadequate”. The Government has previously made seven commitments in three policy areas across the NHS and social care sector.
Home Care Insight

Capacity Tracker Updates for August
Things will look a little different in Capacity Tracker next month. Care Homes and Home Care will notice a number of changes that will make updating your information a smoother experience. Other providers will notice some very minor changes too:

  • One-page fits all: If you update information for a Care Home or Home Care organisation you will currently do this across several tabs. This is about to change – your daily updates will now all be done on just one easy to complete page.

  • A clear layout: Questions for the Adult Social Care submission – mandated by DHSC – will be clearly labelled so providers can see what’s included at a glance. Pop-up messages will let you know that you’ve successfully updated and the date/time stamp in the Update Assurance section at the top of the provider input page will reflect the most recent update.

  • Email reminders: To help providers, email reminders will be sent during the reporting window (8th to 14th). These will go out every 24 hours until your information is updated. A link that you can simply select to update the information in the Capacity Tracker - or log in to make changes - will be within the email so you can quickly make sure your location is fully compliant. Separately, reminders will also be sent for those questions that are within the Operational Support sections, every 48 hours outside of the reporting window, until a provider updates their information – again, if there is no change a provider can simply select the link in the email to update the information. Please note: If you have de-selected to receive email notifications from us you will need to re-instate this to receive these emails. Please contact the Support Centre if you need assistance.

  • Reports & Bulk update: The improvements being made will also be reflected in the bulk update template available to Care Home providers. These changes, along with those to reports, will be shared by email in the next few days.

  • More guidance on submitting Adult Social Care data: While some data is mandated, other items referenced in the recent provision notice remain crucial for local operational support. Providers are asked to maintain all updates as they are essential to support you as providers, to support health and social care partners, and to keep people and staff as safe and healthy as possible. Maintaining contemporary vacancy data is used by hospital and integrated health and social care teams when looking to discharge patients from hospital. The Capacity Tracker information is shared 'real time' with these stakeholders and reduces the need for speculative, daily ring arounds checking capacity. Critically, it supports people to be in the right place for their specific needs.

Found at: Capacity Tracker
 
Towards a new partnership between disabled people and health and care services: getting our voices heard
Disabled people's voices need to be valued and prioritised in the planning and delivery of health and care services. This long read sets out the findings of research carried out by The King's Fund and Disability Rights UK into how disabled people are currently involved in health and care system design, and what good might look like.
You can read this work in one of the following formats:

Found at: The Kings Fund

How international recruitment can support the social care sector
With an estimated 165,000 roles in the adult social care sector vacant across England, it was a welcome development when the roles of social care worker, care assistant and home care worker were temporarily added to the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) in February this year. The SOL can make it easier for employers to recruit workers from abroad but five months later, provider time and capacity to pursue this route remains a very real issue. For some employers, it’s simply a step too far, and yet there are social care providers successfully recruiting from overseas.
Found at: Skills for Care

What health and social care providers need to know about the upcoming data opt-out changes
Individuals have a right under the NHS Constitution to request that their personal confidential data is not used for any purpose “beyond [their] own care and treatment”. The national data opt-out, which was implemented at the same time as the (now UK) GDPR on 25 May 2018, provides individuals with a mechanism to exercise this right. All health and social care organisations in England must be compliant with the national data opt-out by 31 July 2022. The national data opt-out applies to health services (GPs) and adult social care providers in England. However, it only applies where social care is provided, arranged or funded (in part or whole) by local authorities or the NHS.
Found at: RWK Goodman

 
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