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Feedback on the usefulness of this bulletin is very much appreciated, such as whether you find the content useful, if anything is missing, or whether more (or less) detail is needed. Please email any feedback to SocialCareCommissioning@coventry.gov.uk
In this issue:
- 10 January
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Free Commissioning for Wellbeing Qualification Information online session. Contact Skills For Care. Book online. 2pm-2.30pm. Suitable for commissioners and others interested in the Level 5 qualification.
- 11 January
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Free Mental Health Provider Forum online session, 12noon-1pm. Contact Sharon Atkins, Joynal Khan. Suitable for mental health providers.
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Free Midlands Deputies Development Group online meeting. Contact Skills For Care. Book online. 10am-12noon. Suitable for Deputy Managers, Supervisors and Senior Care.
- 12 January
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Free Care Home Provider Forum. Contact Craig Dutton, Sandra Fulton. Takes place in Friargate M1.5 from 1pm to 4pm. Suitable for commissioned providers of nursing/residential provision/invited guests.
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Free Embracing Apprenticeships: A series of webinars for Adult Social Care Providers - Book online. Times TBC. Suitable for employers in social care.
- 17 January
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Free Safe and Fair Recruitment Workshop. Contact Skills For Care. Book online. 9.30am-4.40pm. Suitable for employers, owners and managers looking to improve employment practice.
- 24 January
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Free L4 Diploma in Adult Care Review Workshop. Contact Skills For Care. Book online. Various times and dates are available. Please log onto the website to attend the correct workshop.
- 25 January
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Free ASC-WDS Support Webinar - Registering for an ASC-WDS account, introduction to using and making the most of your account. Contact Clare McKenzie. 9.30am-11.30am. Suitable for managers, owners and key staff in registered and unregistered care services.
- 26 January
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Being prepared for CQC inspection (advanced seminar). Cost: £95. Contact Skills for Care. Book online. Date TBC. Suitable for managers, owners and key staff in registered and unregistered care services.
With Christmas 2022 only a week away, please let the Commissioning team know in advance should you have alternative contacts for over this period. Please send any alternative contacts to SocialCareCommissioning@Coventry.gov.uk
Please see key contact information and numbers over the Christmas period for Coventry Adult Social Care:
- It will be business as usual until 4:30pm Friday 23 December 2022.
- From 4.30pm on 23 December until 9am on 28 December 2022 support will be provided by the Council's Emergency Duty Team (EDT).
- From 28 until 30 December 2022 there will be Social Work and Commissioning support available, contactable via normal channels.
- From 4:30pm 30 December to 9am 3 January 2023 support will be provided by EDT.
- The Mental Health Crisis Team will be open throughout
There will be management cover in place to support the services on the closure days and the City Councils Emergency Duty Team (EDT) will be available for out of hours response throughout the Christmas and New Year period.
In addition, the Hospital Social Work Team and Brokerage will be providing cover across the 7-day period with the exception of 25, 26 December and 1 January 2023.
Thank you for your continued support in arranging timely discharges from Hospital and community placements during the pandemic. Please ensure you have staff and management cover in place for prompt discharges back to your services. It is important we work together to maintain flow over this period from the Hospital to ensure bed capacity over what will be a busy time.
After this period (3 January) it will revert to the standard 7 day working week.
Relevant contact information for the services during the closure will be:
- Community Social Work - 024 7683 3003
- Hospital Social Work - 024 7696 5600
- EDT - 024 7683 2222
Mental Health: IPU:
- 3-8 - 024 7647 2662
- 10-17 - 024 7696 1242
- 18-21 - 024 7670 7968
- CBS/Crisis Team - Public line: 0300 200 0011
Vaccination remains as important as ever to reduce the risk of serious infection this winter. A wealth of refreshed resources are available to support messaging to staff to increase uptake available via the NHS website, including videos to share on social media, FAQs and posters.
Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require support in assisting with vaccination take up.
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Deafblindness is a combination of sight and hearing loss that affects the person’s ability to communicate, access information and get around. It may sometimes be referred to as ‘dual sensory loss’ or ‘multi-sensory impairment’.
Deafblindness can be found in all age groups however is most prevalent in older adults. Persons are legally regarded as deafblind ‘if their combined sight and hearing impairment causes difficulties with communication, access to information and mobility.
Everyone with a combined sight and hearing impediment connects, communicates and experiences the world differently. Communicator Guides can therefore work to assist individuals who are deafblind with communication support, guiding skills and practical help. The service will provide a fully qualified Communicator-Guide who can provide effective communication, safe guiding and essential support to allow deafblind people to actively take part in every day activities, such as accessing information, going shopping, attending social/educational activities in the community with control and choice. The role of the Communicator Guide is to support the individual do the things they want to do – not do things for them.
If you know or are currently supporting a deafblind or dual sensory impaired individual and you think they may benefit from this service, please email Chloe.Elliott@coventry.gov.uk for further information
Our popular Safe and Fair recruitment workshops are back on the road!
Are you an employer looking to expand your talent pool? Did you know there’s a wealth of potential talent who can often be looked over due to making mistakes in their past?
This free, in-person workshop will help you understand your rights and responsibilities when handling criminal records. It will help you increase your knowledge and build confidence when dealing with criminal records, whilst breaking down barriers to employment and taking your safeguarding responsibilities seriously.
Spaces are limited, book your place now on the Skills for Care website.
Home support is a key feature in the delivery of good Health and Social Care Services. These services support adults to remain living independently in their own homes, provide assistance to people and their family members / carers. When delivered effectively they allow for flexibility through a personalised approach to respond to changing care needs over time.
Well-designed home support is crucial to meeting the needs of an ageing population with growing care needs and for supporting working age adults with disabilities or mental ill health to live their lives.
Coventry City Council Adult Social Care would like your help in obtaining feedback on its Home Support Services.
The feedback will support our intention to recommission the services and it is important to us that the new services are informed with service user and carer feedback as much as possible. This feedback will be part of the process to improve and redesign home support services so that they are up to date with people’s changing needs and any legislative changes since the current contracts were issued in 2016 and 2017.
We therefore ask for your support in encouraging as many service users as possible to complete the survey and utilise this opportunity to have input into how we commission this service moving forward. All responses are confidential and anonymous.
Access the survey via Coventry's Let's Talk Platform.
Many thanks again for ensuring the capacity tracker was updated within the December compliance window.
Please be reminded dates for the January compliance window are slightly different as 8 and 14 fall on non-working days. Please therefore ensure you update at least the mandatory questions (as marked with a red asterisk) between 9 and 16 of January to ensure compliance.
As you will be aware, while Covid-19 continues to circulate, we also expect to see a resurgence of flu and other respiratory viruses. This is likely to place significant additional pressure on the social care system, as well as on healthcare. For this reason, we ask for your continued support to keep data updated in the Capacity Tracker so that it can be relied on by NHS and Local Authority teams.
Specifically, we ask you to:
- Keep bed vacancy data up-to-date (ideally daily) to avoid duplication of daily 'ring arounds' by Local Authority discharge teams, and to support effective discharges of patients from hospital.
- Keep workforce data up to date so that our understanding of the recruitment and retention challenges in the sector are as accurate and timely as possible.
- Record the number of employees, and for care homes the number of residents, known to have received the flu vaccine and the Covid-19 Autumn Booster at least weekly.
- Record confirmed and suspected Covid-19 cases in staff and residents so we can monitor prevalence of the virus and target support appropriately.
Please take some time to review your information under the 'Provider Details' tab in the Capacity Tracker to ensure we have the correct details for people working in your organisation.
At this time of year it is useful to know if care homes are accepting admissions out of hours, so please be sure to add your admissions status when you update vacancies.
Guidance for Capacity Tracker is available online.
Our Contact Centre is open 8am – 5pm Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays - 0191 691 3729.
Act on Energy are commissioned by Coventry City Council to provide advice and deliver the Keeping Coventry Warm Scheme. Their work covers a wide range of services from energy bill advice, fuel switching, referrals for physical measures, grant availability and onwards referrals to other agencies if appropriate. They can also conduct home visits to give householders personalised advice and support in completing application forms.
Funding is available for:
- External wall insulation
- Cavity wall insulation
- First time gas central heating
- Broken boiler replacement
- Inefficient gas boiler
- Loft insulation
- Upgrade or repair of electric storage heaters
To access the funding residents should be owner-occupiers of a property or people living in private rented accommodation and must have a long term diagnosed health condition or disability affected by living in a cold home. Financial circumstances are also a consideration – there is a range of income thresholds dependent upon the number of people who live in the property. We can also offer expert advice and support to anyone living in Coventry. See full details on assistance for those who are eligible for the DFG grants.
And for lots of other energy help within the city, please check out the Coventry City Council’s home energy warmth pages.
Online sessions - January
Robbie’s online sessions have proven to be a great way of reaching out to men virtually, so they can discuss their mental health, get to know and trust SBitC, as well as feel comfortable/confident enough to attend face-to-face community activities at one of our four sites. Our next block of online sessions start on Monday 16 January 2023. They will take place over a 6-week period, every Monday from 1pm to 2pm.
Microsoft Teams meeting. Join on your computer or mobile app.
For further information regarding MENTalk, please email Robbie Chandler
New Saturday MENtalk Sessions – January
Sky Blues in the Community are looking to launch new weekly sessions in Coventry for men on Saturday Mornings from 10am – 1pm (To be confirmed nearer the time), with the aim to start on 21 January 2023.
The aim of these sessions is to enable men to be able to benefit from regular mental health support, physical activities and the chance to make new friends. Watch this space for further developments.
For further information regarding MENTalk, please email Robbie Chandler
SBitC’s Weekly Mental Health Timetable
Monday:
DEMENTIA Active – AT7, Coventry (CV6 7GP): 10am – 12pm
MENtalk – New online sessions. 1pm - 2pm
Thursday:
MENtalk – Moat House Leisure Centre, Coventry (CV2 1EA): 12noon – 2pm
DEMENTIA Active is now delivered in Coventry, Warwick and Nuneaton. For more information and to refer, please contact Jack Clemons.
Councils across the country are battling rising prices and increasing demands on their services.
We know we cannot do everything we would like to, but we can make sure that we give everyone the opportunity to have a say in how we build our budget for 2023 and 2024.
We need to make intelligent, informed decisions about where to focus our spending to deliver the services that you want us to get right.
It is only by listening to our residents and businesses that we can understand your priorities and ensure we are able to deliver these efficiently and effectively.
We’d love to talk to you about the Council budget and answer any questions you have. We are holding workshops where you can learn more about our budget proposals and tell us what you think.
The easiest way to have your say is through our survey.
If you are interested in attending a workshop please register your interest here
More information can be found on our Let's Talk - Budget Consultation webpage
2022 has been another extremely busy year for providers and we want to take a moment to express our thanks and gratitude to each and every member of staff who has supported individuals across the city this year. Of course, an additional special thanks goes to all those staff working over the Christmas and New Year period.
Although an amazing, rewarding career, it can often be a thankless job - we love to share good news stories and messages of thanks, so please send these through to Chloe.Elliott@coventry.gov.uk for us to feature in our bulletins and give staff the recognition they deserve!
Thank you to all providers and staff - wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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