Welcome to our latest newsletter
Welcome to another issue of the weekly newsletter for adult social care providers, issued on behalf of Devon County Council's Director of Adult Social Care Services and Director of Public Health and NHS Devon’s Chief Nursing Officer.
This issue has an emphasis on the particular risk the pandemic poses to people with learning disabilities, along with our usual set of national and local updates which we also post on our Provider Engagement Network website.
Please make sure you follow the latest advice and please accept our ongoing thanks for the vital work you are undertaking for the people of Devon.
REMINDERS
Infection Control Grant Monitoring Forms need to be submitted as a matter of urgency
The deadline has passed for the submission of Infection Control Grant Monitoring Forms. If you have not submitted your form please do so as a matter of urgency. Should you have any queries please email the COVID mailbox.
Stopping movement of staff between care settings
We want to hear your views on plans to minimise the risk of coronavirus infections by making residential and nursing care home providers restrict the movement of care staff.
In your response, please do not include any information that could identify you or somebody else, for example do not include anyone's name, age, job title or email address.
This consultation should take approximately 20-30 mins minutes to complete. You can save your response at any point and come back to complete it later. When you submit your response you will have the option to download a copy of your answers.
This consultation closes at midday on Monday 23 November 2020.
Free Fit testing training
Care staff who use Filtering Face Pieces (FFPs) must have masks which fit securely to their faces, so free fit tester training has been arranged by NHS Devon. The first two sessions are on Friday 27 November from 9am to 12noon and on Friday 4 December from 1 to 4pm with 8 places on each course and more courses to follow. Please contact NHS Devon to book a space. Detailed information about FFPs is available.
For more information on PPE please visit the PEN website.
The PPE portal - update
Please note that the volumes for domiciliary care providers have changed and are available on our website.
DCC COVID-19 Fund temporarily reopened
DCC has temporarily reopened our COVID-19 Fund to help provide valuable resources to organisations working in communities that have been affected by this second national lockdown.
Infection Control Grant – give us your views on how best to allocate remaining funds by 26 November
As part of round 2 of the Adult Social Care Infection Control Grant, DCC has been allocated £9.19m from the Fund for infection control. 80% of the Fund has been allocated to care homes and regulated community-based services. The remaining 20%, approx. £1.8m, is to be used at DCC’s discretion to support the provider market with infection control. We are interested in hearing views of providers to understand how this funding could be best spent. To put forward your views take part in the ICG Survey.
People with learning disabilities at greater COVID-19 risk
In the light of growing concern about the impact of the pandemic on people with learning disabilities, here are some reports highlighting the issue along with a call for action and some new resources.
People with learning disabilities had higher death rate from COVID-19
England death rate is up to 6 times higher from coronavirus during the first wave of the pandemic than the general population, Public Health England study finds.
COVID-19: deaths of people with learning disabilities
Review of available data on the deaths of people identified as having learning disabilities in England during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The University of Bristol report looking at the deaths of 200 people.
Action from learning response to learning from deaths of people with a learning disability (LeDeR) review of COVID pandemic deaths.
NHS England and Improvement will be working with system partners to carry out the actions outlined in the report and have published useful guidance and resources to help the system with those actions.
'Shining a Light on Dementia'
Exeter Dementia Action Alliance (EDA) created the 2021 calendar illustrated by Tony Husband, the renowned cartoonist for Private Eye. The desk calendar is now on sale. To snap up yours please email EDA.
Support to care homes to order medications through proxy access
NHS England has published a step-by-step guide to granting authorised care home staff proxy access to their residents’ GP online services accounts.
Providing care and support at home to people who have had COVID-19
This quick guide will help home care workers and personal assistants to provide care and support to people who have left hospital after having COVID-19.
Celebrating success - 'Zack's Story'
This year United Response have released two brand new animated episodes in a series called “Zack’s Story” in an effort to tackle loneliness, hate crime and County Lines.
These short stop-motion films were made with the help of staff and the people supported by United Response in Devon and Cornwall to raise awareness about topical issues that can affect everybody. The first film, Loneliness Animation, highlights the impact of loneliness and the importance of friendship and community. The second film, Hate Crime & County Lines Animation, tackles the issue of hate crime and raises awareness of the dangers of County Lines.
United Response also produced “Animation Diaries” (Loneliness Diary and Hate Crime Diary) that take a closer look behind the scenes to reveal how and why the animations were made and the different ways that people were involved.
All of these resources are freely available online and we hope they will help to inform, raise awareness and stimulate discussion about important topics.
United Response would love to receive feedback about how these resources are being used and also to receive suggestions for topics to feature in future episodes of Zack’s Story! Please get in touch.
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Remember to share your good news stories in this newsletter!
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