January Practice Bulletin

Here we are in 2021. As we enter into this new year, we know that we will continue to have challenges ahead. We just want you to know that we’re both here to support you in your everyday practice. From the conversations that we’ve been having with many of you, we acknowledge that the pandemic is having a significant impact on both our work and home lives, particularly given our current lockdown and subsequent restrictions. The mass vaccination programme has now commenced which is great news. Please look out for information direct from Keri Storey our Head of Service and/or from the Adult Care & Health newsletter for updates.

Looking after yourself and each other continues to be of paramount importance, as this will assist us in sustaining our wellbeing and resilience, allowing us to continue to support the most vulnerable people in our communities. We’ve started to bring people together to focus on wellbeing, sharing experiences and tools in our work and personal lives. It’s been great to hear how people are investing in and supporting each other at this time. This month we are showcasing some new activities that some of you have been using like yoga and wild swimming.

We continue to use the Practice Bulletin as the primary source of information to you, this contains vital information and guidance to support you in your practice during the pandemic. We would recommend reviewing and discussing the content in your team meetings to ensure everyone is kept up to date.

In light of the increasing pressures caused by the pandemic on the services that we deliver, we wanted to focus on two key areas that will have an impact on practice and that you need to be aware of and understand for yourself and your team.

1. Potential for Care Act Easements and the impact of the Coronavirus Act on practice

It is critically important that the way you work reflects the values and principals as outlined in the Ethical Framework. You may remember that we produced a narrated presentation in Spring 2020, that gave an overview of the Coronavirus Act and the potential for Care Act Easements. As a department we regularly review our position in relation to two factors, these include the demand for social care and the impact of Covid-19 on the social care work force and our subsequent capacity. Please make sure you keep up to date with the current situation and regularly visit the Covid-19 page on the ReSource, where all the most up to date information is held.

2. Service prioritisation and Service-User and Carer prioritisation

You may already be aware that we work to the Service-User and Carer prioritisation tool. This supports us to prioritise our assessments, the allocation of care and support services and safeguarding work. We also have a Service Prioritisation tool, which clarifies what services and functions are to be prioritised and where others should be suspended on temporary basis.

We are now in Business Important A. Some of the practice implications that many of you will be aware of are:

• Supervision - Changing formal one to one supervision to group supervision
• Scheduled reviews will be de-prioritised, with responsive reviews taking place as necessary
• There may be some staff who are deployed into critical services and away from their normal duties on a temporary basis. Where this is required you will receive information and communications from your Team Manager.

Supporting and maintaining wellbeing continues to be critical, including maintaining regular connection. We will need to continue to develop ways that suit the team to achieve this e.g., daily wellbeing checks, virtual coffee breaks, teams check ins or activities. Please do continue to access wellbeing resources available to your team and/or contact Rachel Oster directly who is leading on wellbeing for our service area.

We know that so many of you are understandably tired and challenged in so many different ways by the pandemic and we want to thank you all for your continued flexibility, dedication and hard work, which is helping to keep people safe.

Please see below ways to communicate with us, as well as essential resources you will need to be accessing:

Ways to contact us: Practice Queries Mailbox

Resources: Health and Wellbeing resources

Suggest content for the next practice bulletin: Practice Bulletin mailbox

1. Celebrating you

Jacqui Hendra, Social Care Assessor with the Ivybridge/ Kingsbridge Community Health & Social Care Team, talks about how using the PATH and 24/7 grid has led to improved outcomes and greater independence for people.

Find out more about Jacqui’s experience of using the PATH approach and the 24/7 grid here.

2. Team Focus - Health Partnership Team

We’re back from the beginning of February! Richard Baker, Natalie Keens and Kat Dwyer have returned to their roles as Advanced Practitioners and are available to support with queries and cases related to health funding.

The team are currently being line managed by Claire Richards, Community Service Manager, County Wide Disability Services.

Team focus/priorities

Our initial focus is on trying to understand the volume and types of health funding queries across the county which we can then analyse and begin to prioritise.

Therefore, in order to support with this, we would like to ask Teams to contact us via email to advise of:

• Any cases which are formally going to dispute
• Any cases where Peer Reviews/MDT meetings are being planned in order to try and resolve disagreements over funding arrangements. The Advanced Practitioners should be invited to these meetings to support in seeking a resolution.
• What the training needs are for staff in the teams

Please send your emails to both Kat Dwyer, Richard Baker and Natalie Keens

Sharepoint

We would also like to take this opportunity to highlight our Health Partnership Sharepoint site. This has a lot of useful information on it to support frontline staff with their practice in regard to health funding. We have also uploaded the most recent policies and DCC guidance in relation to the central government funding for discharges and admission avoidance.

3. Social Care Leadership Group (SCLG): Highlights from January's meeting

SLT updates from Tina Ramage particularly focused on:

• Vaccinations – An update on the roll out & how to escalate any issues
• Catch up with Keri & Co – An opportunity to meet informally with members of SLT every Friday 11.30am-12.30pm
• Office 365 roll out – Progress
• Wellbeing – Team Manager wellbeing sessions and postponement of the Zebra facilitated sessions for whole teams

We also had updates and presentations on:  

• Day Opportunities – Finn Clarke & Max Sillars
• A presentation giving an overview of Care Act Easements, including the stages and the impact on practice– Tina Ramage
• An interactive session on what’s gone well in relation to practice in 2020, even better if and what people need from SCLG in 2021 – Carolyne Hague/Rachel Oster

A quick reminder for invitees who missed this month’s SCLG, that the meeting can be accessed via the SCLG Teams site.

4. Practice Focus: The Occupational Therapy role within the Preparing for Adulthood Team (PFA)

The PFA team engages with young people, families, Carers and the supporting agencies, to empower and support young people into adulthood, to hopefully becoming as independent, self-reliant and confident as possible.

There are 2 Occupational Therapist’s (OTs) in the team: Eleanor Davis and Lisa Stoner. This is an OT development role, as previously there has never been any OT’s within the team. We are still currently developing the role, and if you have any ideas/suggestions, we would love to hear from you.

As OT’s in PFA we look at promoting independence, future planning, equipment and adaptation needs, use of technology, and engagement within meaningful occupations.

We are both passionate about promoting the importance of daily living skills and independence, the use of technology, involving young people in developing goals, and parental and care-giver empowerment.

We have set up and are now co-chairs for the new ‘Preparing for Adulthood’ National Clinical Forum, read about what the purpose of our forum and how to get involved here.

5. Practice Support:

Thank you to those that have been using the practice query mailbox. The types of practice query you may want to raise with us include, where process or practice guidance does not answer your query; where there may be legal implications and where the case is particularly complex and needs a wider view or further advice.

Please submit your practice questions, queries and suggested topics to cover in the practice forum to: adultsc.practicequeries-mailbox@devon.gov.uk.

6. Safeguarding update: 

The Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership is promoting the following webinars, which will be useful to your awareness of issues relating to loan sharks. Why victims find it hard to make a disclosure and how we can help them overcome their fears and concerns as well as looking at our responsibilities and requirements in making it all happen.

• Loan Shark & Lockdown webinars – see the available dates and how to book here

• Overcoming Barriers & Changing Lives- see the available dates and how to book here

As part of learning from this SAR we wanted to highlight the work of the Huntingdon’s Disease Association and the wealth of resources and support to Professionals and their families. Helping to support you with excellence in practice and enable you to actively support those affected by Huntingdon’s Disease.

Do you want to learn more about Eastern safeguarding processes?

The Eastern Adults Safeguarding Team facilitate regular information sessions for Exeter, East and mid-Devon that covers, e.g:

• What to consider when making a referral
• How cases are triaged on the Hub
• Risk assessment
• Importance of making safeguarding personal

This is not an exclusive list; there's much more to learn.  If you wish to join a session please contact Jackie Makin or Carly Stacey via email.

8. Health and Wellbeing: 

Sources of support

During this challenging time, it’s even more critical that we maintain connection with each other and have time to talk about how we are feeling and get the support that we need. We want to make you aware of the following support available to you now:

• Listening Ear at DCC which is the opportunity to have a 1-hour confidential supportive conversation with one of our Coaches.
• You can also self-refer yourself at any time to our Employee Assistance Programme who provide specialist support and advice.
• Talkworks have a priority wellbeing service for health & social care workers affected by the pandemic, you can refer yourself online.
• Our Frontline offer social care staff who may be struggling to cope and need help can send a text message with ‘FRONTLINE’ to 85258 to start a conversation. This service is offered by Shout and is free on all major mobile networks.
• The Samaritans confidential staff support line is open for all social care staff who might be feeling increasingly stressed, anxious or overwhelmed. Call 0800 069 6222 (7am to 11pm, 7 days a week)
• Hospice UK’s bereavement and trauma line is open for all social care staff. This offers a safe space to talk to a professional if you have experienced bereavement, trauma or anxiety. Call 0300 131 7000 (7am to 11pm, 7 days a week).

How you are looking after your health and wellbeing:

This month our Workforce Development Officer Maxine O’Reilly shares her reflections on wild swimming:

I've been a keen wild swimmer all my adult life, spending much of the summer seeking out opportunities to dip in the sea, rivers or lakes.  I’ve never been the sporty type so I’m no long-distance, endurance swimmer; I’m more an ambling dipper. 

I’m fortunate to live a 10-minute walk from the beach.  In the water I'm in my element.  Until last year, I'd never swum outdoors past October.  Perhaps it was a response to the unique pressures of 2020 (on top of the pandemic, I experienced a bereavement during the first lockdown), but for some reason I felt compelled to just keep going… and going! I’ve now been swimming in the sea most mornings at dawn right through the winter.  Some of the most pleasurable and memorable swims have been on sparkling, icy mornings.  As the temperatures have dropped, I’ve been amazed to find the experience has become more and more exhilarating and compelling.  It feels a real privilege to see the sun rise over the sea each day and to be immersed in the reflected pink, orange and purple light.  I have no doubt that the uplifting, energising effects of winter wild swimming have enabled me to manage the challenges of lockdown and working from home.

I do understand those who shake the head in disbelief. Before 2020 I might have done the same. But happily, I'm part of a growing community who have become addicted to the surprising sense of calm, happy wellbeing that can be found in the cold water.  Counter-intuitive but true!

(It’s important to note that the body needs to acclimatise gradually to cold water swimming and it would be unwise to start during the coldest months of the year without preparation.  Aftercare is also important.  There’s plenty of online advice for those thinking of taking the plunge). 

We would love to hear from anyone who would like to share what you/your team doing to look after themselves and stay well this winter. Please contact us if that’s you.

Utilising Office 365 to help support your work life balance

We asked our friends in the ICT Commissioning Team to tell us more about how we can use Office 365 to help support our work life balance. Kyle Brook has produced this short helpful video which gives you lots of useful tips.

Some wellbeing activities you might want to try or share with your team:

Virtual book club:

Did you know that we have a virtual book club at DCC which meets on MS Teams every 6 weeks? Book Club can be found on Yammer, which is one of the tools on Office 365.

The group votes on the books that they want to read and then has a friendly chat in small break out groups, about their reflections on what they’ve read. Book club has over 25 members from all over Devon County Council, so it’s a great opportunity to meet people that you might not normally come into contact with and join with a group of people who love reading. To find out more or join head to the Book Club Yammer page.

Virtual Yoga 

Have you had a flu or COVID-19 vaccine?

Please record if you have received the flu vaccination, on iTrent ,by following this guidance. This will really help us to plan for how it is rolled out in the future.

iTrent has also been updated so that you can record when you receive the COVID-19 vaccine. More detailed guidance on how to record.

9. Additional Practice information and resources: Links to information that you need to know!

Come and join a weekly informal catch up with Keri Storey and other members of the Senior Leadership Team. It’s an opportunity for you to come and share insights that you may have and ask questions. Helping us to stay connected and to support each other; sharing our collective challenges and successes.

If you’ve not attended before or you’re not familiar with the structure, it’s really informal. Keri starts by welcoming everyone and gives a short update on things that have been asked about during the week via the mailbox. After that it’s open mic! The floor is yours to ask questions, share any stories; successes, challenges or anything else.

Vaccinations an Easy Read Guide to Covid-19 vaccination

Please teak a look at this easy read guide to Covid-19 vaccinations which has been produced by Public health England. Please share this with your team, as it is an important resource for supporting people to understand the purpose and process relating to Covid-19 vaccination.

Covid-19 Vaccination Guide for Older Adults

The Government's Covid-19 vaccination guide for older adults is now available in English, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Farsi, Kurdish, Polish, Romanian, Spanish, Tagalog, Turkish, Urdu and more. You can download translated versions here.

24/7 Grid

One of the side-effects of Covid-19 has been a resurged interest in using the 24/7 grid, with enthusiastic uptake of the refresher training sessions planned for January and February.

Many of you will already be using the 24/7 Grid TEAMS site to support each other, but we’ve also revamped the information in ReSOURCE, making it clearer how to use the grid template and adding a feedback form. Unlike other 24/7 grid questionnaires you may have filled in, about how you use the grid in DCC, this one is purely for you to suggest changes to the system, so that we can gather them all in one place and pass them on.

Your Covid-19 ReSource Page Updates:

As we mentioned last month the Covid ReSource page found here. It has had a bit of a makeover. We have tried to make the documents you need to find (often when very busy) easier to lay your hands on. There have been some additions to the page, and we wanted to let you know. Have a look at the changes and where to find things here. This includes up to date information about vaccinations.

The Care Act and Brexit

Anyone from the European Union EU who has obtained pre-settled or settled status is entitled to DCC Care and Support and will continue to be for as long as they retain pre-settled or settled status. They should be treated the same as any UK Citizen for Care Act support for as long as they have a form of settled status here.

People from the EU who arrived here after 1 January 2021 will be precluded from receiving care and support services under the Care Act if they continue to stay here unlawfully (i.e. without getting Immigration approval (a Visa).  The same will apply to people who arrived before 1.1.2021 but who do not apply for pre-settled or settled status by 30 June 2021.  While these people will be precluded from receiving care and support services under the Care Act, Human Rights legislation will still apply.

If you have any queries about this, please contact Paul Grimsey.

Funded Nursing Care (FNC) referral and payment process

A reminder for those of you making placements into care homes with nursing within the Devon footprint, to refresh yourselves on this briefing about the FNC referral and payment process.

Solution Focused Practice: Supporting Your Practice through Testing Times

As the Adult Social Care Workforce adjusts to manage increasing challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic, how can Solution Focused Practice support us in continuing to deliver critical services to our communities?

Whilst adjusting to rapid changes and working under mounting pressure with diminishing resources, maintaining a Solution Focused approach might feel like an additional thing on our ‘To Do’ list. However, rather than holding the weight of trying to ‘fix things’ on our shoulders, the ethos of Solution Focused practice can support us to work in partnership with individuals and families to find their own more personalised solutions - even, or perhaps especially, through this crisis.

Sometimes it’s as simple as listening carefully – with a “constructive ear” - to the ‘problem talk’ to notice people’s own motivations, resources and strategies to make the changes they need.  We can help bring personalised solutions to life by asking such questions as:

• What will that change look like?
• How will you know?
• What will be different in a months' time?
• What will you be doing that’s different?
• And what difference will that make to you?
• Who knows you best? What will they see that's different?

Call on your Solution Focused Champion – you’ll find their enthusiasm infectious!  Use the tools and resources to support you within The ReSource Solution Focused Practice Pages.  And watch this space for Solution Focused Hints and Tips, coming up in future newsletters.