Season's Greetings and a big festive thank you
Welcome to another 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 is our final issue of 2020, so please accept our thanks for all your hard work during this incredibly challenging year and our warm wishes for the festive season.
We are doing our best to keep our Provider Engagement Network website as up to date as possible in today’s fast-changing environment.
Care homes and new isolation period
We issued a Newsflash when the self-isolation period for people who have been in contact with COVID-19 cases was reduced from 14 to 10 days. Public Health England have confirmed that this does include contacts of COVID-19 cases in care home settings, including staff and residents.
Please read the updated Government guidance
The main points are:
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If staff have been notified that they are a contact of a confirmed case in the community
Staff who have been notified that they are a contact of a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the community (outside the health or social care setting or their place of work) should inform their line manager and self-isolate for ten days, in line with the NHS test and trace guidance.
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If staff have been notified that they are a contact of a co-worker who is a confirmed case
The ten day self-isolation period applies to staff who have been notified that they are a contact of a co-worker who has been confirmed as a COVID-19 case and contact with this person occurred while not wearing PPE.
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Resident exposures in care settings
Residents who are known to have been exposed to a confirmed COVID-19 patient (an exposure like a household setting), should be isolated or cohorted only with residents who do not have COVID-19 symptoms but also have been exposed to COVID-19 residents, until ten days after last exposure.
The Government have also updated:
Adult social care: (COVID-19) winter plan 2020 to 2021
Adult social care: (COVID-19) action plan
Free Digital Skills training programme for new and existing care staff
Deadline to register is Friday 18 December
New and existing health and social care staff are now able to register for a free 12-week training programme, starting in January. Boost your career, enhance your employability, gain new confidence and motivation. This is an opportunity for care staff to invest in their digital skills. Find out more and register.
Infection Control Grant monitoring forms
21 December deadline
Please help us to meet the Government Monitoring deadline and return the December monitoring forms by 21 December, at the latest. If you have any questions please contact us.
Statement of support for care home visiting. Q&A
DCC is working with care home providers and through the Devon Care Home Collaborative to support arrangements for family and friends to visit people who live in care homes. Please read the joint statement of support and questions & answers which have been compiled in line with the new lateral flow testing of visitors in care homes guidance.
Remember to keep using your PPE
Whilst we are all doing what we can to make this a cheerful festive season and we understand the importance of social contact at this time of year, we must all continue to follow infection prevention and control guidance including use of PPE. You can access free PPE by completing this request form.
Capacity Tracker - update for care homes only
We are aware of changes to the business continuity questions in the Care Homes Capacity Tracker, as follows:
- New COVID vaccination questions
- Revised Workforce data
- Revised Flu Immunisation data
- New requirement to record daily resident count
This information is reviewed regularly by DHSC, NHS, Councils, CCGs, Public Health England and others to help support providers and collective planning across the health and social care sector.
Please contact this helpdesk if you have any queries relating to the interpretation of the questions or would like to leave feedback.
For any technical / system queries please contact the Capacity Tracker team.
Don’t forget to check the PEN for Q&A sessions regarding the Capacity Tracker and other training, information, events and forums on PEN Events.
Care worker parking permit to be made permanent
The Care and Health Worker parking permit, which allows professionals visiting people at home to park on double yellow lines in certain circumstances, will be improved and made permanent from spring 2021
Devon Personal Care (Domiciliary Homecare) WhatsApp Group
We set up a supportive WhatsApp network for Personal Care Business Owners, Registered Managers and Nominated Individuals. To join the group please complete the form.
Understanding your views about a COVID-19 vaccine
Please let us know how you feel about having the vaccine by completing the survey.
Celebrating success
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COVID-19 safe Christmas celebrations at The Northam Care Trust Lodges
Residents, relatives and staff are enjoying their own person-centred Christmas creation with snow, sound and lights. The imaginative setting enhanced festive celebrations for people with profound and multiple disabilities and complex health needs who are supported by The Northam Care Trust.
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Remember to share your good news stories in this newsletter!
Revisit previous good news stories
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