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Update on our support for testing in adult social care
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has launched a new portal for care homes to arrange coronavirus testing. All care home staff and residents are now eligible for testing with priority for those in homes that look after the over-65s. Social care staff with symptoms can apply for a test using the government's existing testing portal. We have now stopped our support for testing and are referring providers to the DHSC web portals. More information on our role in testing can be found on the testing intranet page.
Data collection during the COVID-19 crisis
Starting this week, the survey we send to Domiciliary Care Agencies (DCA) will only be sent on weekdays (Monday to Friday) instead of every day as previously. We have updated the covering email that is sent with the survey and provided further information on our website. More information about our data collection survey including FAQs can be found on the data collection intranet page.
Emergency support framework
Training for GP inspectors in PMS on our emergency support framework (ESF) launched today with an introductory Teams call. Training will continue for the rest of this week with the aim of starting to use the ESF with general practices from next week. More information on the ESF can be found on the ESF intranet page.
Training for providers in restraint reduction
Due to the coronavirus pandemic we acknowledge that the face-to-face training required to comply with the Restraint Reduction Network (RRN) standards is not always possible. However, from April 2020, any training provider that wants to supply training should be certified (or seeking certification) and we expect providers of services to commission training accordingly. From April 2021, we expect to see all services across health and social care use training in restrictive practices that is certified as complying with the RRN training standards. In the meantime, CQC is working with the RRN to develop guidance for inspectors on these standards. Please also see CQC’s statement on training more generally on the Skills for Care website.
Health and wellbeing of the adult social care workforce
DHSC has published additional guidance for anyone who works in adult social care. It provides advice on how to manage personal mental health in the current circumstances. It also provides adult social care employers with guidance, tools and advice on how to take care of the wellbeing of staff at work. See the guidance on GOV.UK.
Weekly ONS registered death statistics
The Office for National Statistics have published their latest weekly report on deaths in England and Wales, including those related to COVID-19 up to 1 May. Read the report on the ONS website.
All-colleagues calls this week are on Thursday and Friday
We have moved our all colleague call with Ian scheduled for Wednesday to Friday 15 May this week. We have been having problems with the shared mailbox we use to send out the invitations so, in case you did not get an updated invitation, here are links to both calls this week. Please join either of them.
FAQs for all colleagues
The COVID-19 all-colleague FAQs have been updated (6 May 2020). The FAQs reflect themes from questions raised during recent weekly all-colleague calls.
A new series of Cue interviews is focusing on some of the great work that's been going on across CQC over recent weeks (and continues) as we adapt to new ways of working and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are asking how the work of teams has changed, what the challenges are, what we've learnt so far during this period, and what teams are doing to stay connected and to support wellbeing.
The Health & Justice Inspection team are first up. Catriona Reeves talks about the impact of COVID-19 so far in prisons and how contact has been maintained with providers and within the team. Read the first Team Spotlight article.
f you and your team would like to take part, we'd love to hear from you, especially if you have some good pics! Please email Cue@cqc.org.uk.
Say thanks for a job well done: Share examples of Excellence, Caring, Integrity and Teamwork on the CQC Values Wall.
Virus volunteers (and secondees!)
We'd like to hear about ALL kinds of volunteering and secondments, including the volunteering of your time to provide exceptional support for your families, friends and local communities. Are you working on secondment within CQC to support another team/area at this time? Comment and share in the Virus volunteers Yammer group and/or post on the Values Wall and we'll highlight in these bulletins.
Latest updates include:
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Janet White, Lead Business Analyst, reports back after seven weeks working as a paramedic and reflects on the changing types of calls during that period.
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Wendy Brace, ASC Inspector, updates on another week supporting Devon Children's Services.
Well done, good luck and best wishes to:
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Tammy Finch, ASC Inspector, who has been helping vulnerable people in her community as part of her local good neighbours scheme.
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Safina Nadeem, Diversity & Inclusion Manager, who has been volunteering one day a week at the Nightingale Hospital in Manchester.
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CQC offices to remain closed until further notice: Gill Nicholson, Director of People, confirms that our offices will remain closed at this point and we will continue to support all colleagues to work from home. Read Gill's message.
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Government launches new portal for care homes to arrange coronavirus testing: A new online portal for care homes to arrange deliveries of coronavirus test kits has been launched. All symptomatic and asymptomatic care home staff and residents in England are now eligible for testing. See the DHSC press release.
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Our changes to the Mental Health Act complaints process: In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, we have made changes to the way we respond to people contacting us with a complaint about the Mental Health Act. See our website for details.
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International Nurses Day, 12 May: The annual awareness day is led by the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and the theme this year is 'nursing the world to health' with a focus on the 'true value of nurses to the people of the world'. See the ICN website for resources and a video message from ICN CEO, Howard Catton.
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Dying Matters Awareness Week, 11-17 May: As many people face the unexpected death of loved ones due to COVID-19, Hospice UK is calling for people to take courage and speak to people about death and bereavement to support those in our society who are dying or grieving. See the Dying Matters website.
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Our concerns about mental health, learning disability and autism services: We have written to mental health providers to highlight concerns about coronavirus-related deaths of patients subject to the Mental Health Act (MHA). See full news story.
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Provider bulletins: Last week's provider bulletins are on our information for providers intranet page.
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Crossing the threshold and staying safe: Update on what we are currently planning in terms of re-starting site visit inspection activity. Read the full article.
Information for colleagues
See the Coronavirus (COVID-19) information for colleagues page for:
- FAQs and contacts
- Volunteering and external secondments
- Directorate-specific COVID-19 messages
- Reporting absence and self-isolation
- Childcare and other caring responsibilities
- Annual leave
- Stay safe at work (at home)
- Recovery planning
- Mental health and wellbeing
- Staying connected.
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