Welcome!
Welcome to this week's newsletter, published 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.
We are pleased to announce that the vaccination of front-line social care staff in Devon has gone really well so far. Thank you to everyone who has made this possible.
Please continue to encourage staff to get the jab, including anyone who missed out when they were invited, and please remember that vaccination and infection control measures go hand-in-glove as our combined way out of the pandemic.
We are maintaining our ongoing publication of the latest guidance updates in this newsletter and in the relevant sections of our Provider Engagement Network website, and your feedback on that information is always welcome.
Workforce Capacity Fund
Devon County Council submitted its proposals for approval by central government on 12 February to allocate its share of the national Workforce Capacity Fund. This must be spent by 31 March 2021 and must conform to government requirements. Our proposal has been developed in consultation with the Provider Engagement Network Reference Group.
Subject to approval of our proposals by central government we will allocate the grant as follows:
Circa 90% of the grant will be paid directly to eligible CQC regulated providers (the rules did not allow for money to be passported to unregulated providers) for them to use flexibly on measures that will enhance their staffing. However, the size of grant would have been of little value if distributed between all providers so, to achieve greatest impact, we will target the funding for:
- Providers in outbreak* who have had more than five staff sick or isolated, paying up to £10,000 each per location (*for the purposes of this fund a provider will qualify for this financial support if, since 16 January, they have reported to Public Health England that five or more employees have received a positive coronavirus test)
- Small providers (15 beds or less in a care home location or 20 or less service users if a community provider location setting), paying up to £6,000 each per location.
Both these schemes will be by application from an invited list of eligible providers and the sums quoted are a maximum grant. We are making the application process as simple as possible, as timescales for application are very short to meet government requirements.
The balance of the grant allocation will be used as follows:
- We will fund a Proud to Care local recruitment campaign in March
- £50,000 will be used to support regulated domiciliary care providers with the costs of onboarding people newly recruited after 1 February 2021 where the additional hours are used to meet DCC and NHS commissioned need. Full details to follow
- To ensure availability of staff to support providers via our Temp Bank and purchase of agency staff
- We will buy additional occupational therapy and district nursing capacity to support providers and assist with discharge of people from hospital.
Care home testing update
On Tuesday 16 February an email was sent to all adult care homes in England informing them of several key changes to care home testing policy and process. The key changes are outlined below:
- With immediate effect, if someone tests positive with a polymearse chain reaction (PCR) test, they should not be tested using PCR or Lateral Flow Device (LFD) for 90 days. If they develop new symptoms during this time, they should be retested immediately using PCR.
- Rapid response LFD testing for staff is being extended (from Monday 22 February). This should no longer automatically stop after seven days. Instead, care homes should continue with rapid response testing until five days have elapsed since the last positive test. Staff should only be tested on the days they are due to attend work.
- LFD testing for residents is being introduced (from Monday 22 February). This should be undertaken at the same time as the PCR testing in an outbreak - on day one and on an additional day between days four and seven. The usual principles of consent and best interest decisions apply to inform your decision whether this is appropriate for each resident.
- PCR outbreak testing is moving from Pillar 1 to Pillar 2. The policy for when to carry out the outbreak PCR remains the same. All staff and residents should be tested on day one and on an additional day between days four and seven.
To support care homes with these changes, please see the following guidance:
Roll-out of testing for personal assistants
NHS Test and Trace has announced that it is making weekly COVID-19 testing available to personal assistants working in adult social care in England. Personal assistant testing guidance
To raise awareness, the Department of Health and Social Care is holding a webinar series and it is recommended that personal assistants attend.
Webinars will take place on:
- Friday 19 February at 1.00pm
- Thursday 25 February at 4.00pm
- Wednesday 3 March at 4.00pm
You will also be able to access a pre recorded session following the same link.
COVID-19 vaccination updates
COVID-19 vaccination: easy-read resources Easy-read guides on coronavirus and vaccination. Revised leaflet with changes on severe asthma and carers.
New vaccine uptake plan published Including vaccination buses, WhatsApp groups and charity engagement.
COVID-19 vaccination: information for healthcare practitioners Guidance for healthcare practitioners about the vaccination programme. Updated details on page 5.
Nationwide drive to urge vaccine take-up in priority groups Further push to encourage top 4 priority cohorts to get their jab.
COVID-19 vaccination: care home and healthcare settings posters Added updated priority group poster.
COVID-19 vaccination: British Sign Language resources British Sign Language videos on COVID-19 vaccination.
COVID-19 vaccine adverse reactions A report covering adverse reactions to approved COVID-19 vaccines.
COVID-19: Death and disability research
Research highlights the importance of vaccination and ongoing infection, prevention and control measures for people with disabilities:
- Between 24 January and 20 November 2020 in England, the risk of death involving the coronavirus was 3.1 times greater for more-disabled men and 1.9 times greater for less-disabled men, compared with non-disabled men. Among women, the risk of death was 3.5 times greater for more-disabled women and 2.0 times greater for less-disabled women, compared with non-disabled women.
- Looking at people with a medically diagnosed learning disability, the risk of death involving COVID-19 was 3.7 times greater for both men and women compared with people who did not have a learning disability. After using statistical models to adjust for a range of factors, a raised risk of 1.7 times remained unexplained for both sexes.
- Patterns in excess COVID-19 mortality risk experienced by disabled people remained largely unchanged between the first and second waves of the pandemic.
Hydration resources during COVID-19 due to increased risk of dehydration
COVID-19 positive care home patients are at higher risk of dehydration. In some cases increased drowsiness results in difficulty in fluids being taken. A raised temperature also increases fluid requirements alongside an existing poor fluid intake in many older people. It is particularly important to encourage fluids early on and monitor fluid intake, helping to reduce the need for a hospital admission and IV fluids:
More detailed hydration resources, training videos and a hydration toolkit to support care homes in South Devon and Torbay is also available from Support with nutrition for care homes - Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust. Contact details: Tel: 01803 654396, email.
Concerned about the COVID-19 vaccine...
There has been a wealth of material produced to help promote vaccination take up and we are conscious that we have bombarded providers with it. We have therefore done our best to highlight the promotional materials, which we think are most effective in addressing concerns about vaccination with the following audiences: people concerned about pregnancy and fertility, people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and people concerned with overall vaccine safety.
Record number tested by NHS Test and Trace
More than 3 million people were tested by NHS Test and Trace this reporting week, the highest number ever in a single week.
In total, almost 21.8 million people have now been tested at least once since NHS Test and Trace was launched; that equates to a third of all people in England.
Of those people who took their tests in-person, at either a local or regional test centre, nearly all (97.6 per cent) received their results the following day, while the average turnaround time for home test kits was just 35 hours.
NHS Test and Trace has successfully reached 87 per cent of the people who received a positive test result, and 93.5 per cent of their contacts, making a real impact in breaking chains of transmission.
If you start to display any of the symptoms of COVID-19 such as a:
- new and continuous cough
- high temperature
- loss of, or change to, your sense of taste or smell
it’s vital that you arrange a test as soon as possible.
You can book a visit to a test site to have the test or order a home test kit if you cannot get to a test site. You’ll be told when booking your test where your nearest centre is. Book a free NHS test now or call 119.
Free online events to help business owners with their wellbeing
"Running a business is stressful at the best of times. Running a business during a pandemic is even harder," says Dr Louise MacAllister of Devon Communities Together.
We and Devon Communities Together launched a project this year that gives business owners in Devon the chance to talk informally to an experienced volunteer about the pressures of trying to keep a business afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s called ‘Listening Ear’. It doesn’t provide business advice as such, but it does give people the time to talk to volunteers – many of whom have run their own businesses - and to focus on themselves and their mental wellbeing.
There are some free online events starting this month, with expert guest speakers talking about support opportunities and other ways to help people shape their business.
“Your wellbeing is important to both your health and the future of your business,” says Dr MacAllister. “Talking to one of our Listening Ear volunteers is a way for you to prioritise your own mental wellbeing, especially when you may not feel comfortable talking to your friends and family.”
Care home infection control champions
This pandemic has shown just how important infection prevention and control (IPC) is within care homes. One of the most important elements of preventing infection is staff knowledge and empowerment.
To support care home staff who want to learn more about infection control, the Devon system are introducing a Care Home IPC Champions role.
Every home should have an IPC champion. These champions will link with senior infection control nurses for education and advice - learning sessions will be available to you.
What is a champion?
- A member of staff with a passion in IPC - the champions develop their IPC knowledge and other skills useful to assist others in the home.
- A link for other staff to get more information from - someone who constantly wants to review practice making changes to improve.
Who can be a champion?
Anyone with a passion for IPC. The champions are supported by the care home manager, proprietor and care team. It’s important that we don’t just limit these roles to senior staff. Benefits of having a champion
- Becoming a champion is a great way to motivate and develop staff.
- Champions can do additional training and share with other team members.
- CQC like homes to have champions.
- Having an IPC Champion is one of the best ways to improve infection and control in the home.
If you would like to put yourself or a member of your care home staff forward to be an IPC Champion, please let us know.
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