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.
As vaccinations are delivered to more and more of the population, we continue to remind you that infection control measures must still be adhered to, both within care settings and, crucially, when travelling between settings.
Remember to make use of the guidance and other advice we do our best to keep up to date on our Provider Engagement website.
Care home providers should continue to limit all staff movement between settings unless absolutely necessary to help reduce the spread of infection.
This guidance sets out what’s expected of providers on the routine movement of staff and how to manage the risks of deploying individuals who work in multiple settings in those exceptional circumstances where it is the only remaining mechanism to ensure enough staff are available to care for service users safely.
FAQs on second vaccinations in care homes
Your frequently asked questions have been answered.
Information for managers regarding recording adverse events in care homes
This information sheet provides advice regarding the reporting process of any significant adverse reactions to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Changes to testing for extra care and supported living settings
The Department of Health and Social Care has announced that extra care and supported living services are now able to access the Rapid Lateral Flow Device (LFD) Testing, in addition to the existing Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing regime.
For high risk supported living and extra care setting, who qualify for LFD, please make your order for LFD tests for your organisation via GOV.UK.
Further information can be found via their extra care and supported living testing webinars and in the attached update.
If you are a supporting living provider or extra care provider not receiving weekly PCR testing then please contact us.
User guide and FAQs for personal assistant testing
The Department of Health and Social Care developed a user guide and FAQs to support personal assistants with testing.
Capacity Tracker – new discharge questions on testing discharged patients
There is a new set of questions relating to the testing of discharged patients from hospital in the Capacity Tracker. You can find guidance about the questions and how to answer them in the Help/What’s new section of the Capacity Tracker.
Watch the last care homes vaccination webinar again
View the recording of the webinar which brought GPs and care home repesentatives together on Thursday 25 February.
Resources for vaccinating people with a learning disability
COVID-19 vaccine film produced by Skills for People and Learning Disability England.
Public Health England easy read COVID-19 vaccination leaflet and easy read What to expect after the vaccine leaflet.
Reminder to stay vigilant
Do not let the vaccine persuade us that testing and other prevention measures are no longer needed
“Testing for coronavirus is still a vital and very real necessity right now, especially if you’re in contact with people through the work you do,” warns Steve Brown, Director of Public Health Devon.
Exeter bomb reminds us about business continuity
A care home had to be evacuated as part of the Exeter bomb incident at the weekend (27-28 February), so we are taking this opportunity to remind providers of the need to have up-to-date emergency and business continuity plans in place, for which there is advice on the Business Continuity part of the PEN website.
DCC coverage of the bomb blast.
Devon vaccination webinar for all staff
Health and social care staff across Devon are invited to a webinar about latest coronavirus vaccine news on Friday 5 March from 12.00noon to 1.00pm.
The webinar will be hosted by senior NHS and social care leaders and clinicians in Devon and will provide national and local updates.
You will need to register to attend prior to the broadcast and questions can be asked during the webinar.
Please email to register for this webinar.
Recovery Champions by Talent for Care
A free course to help with resilience and wellbeing for managers and all front-line staff.
The programme starts on Tuesday 9 March and runs for eight weeks. Attendees are required to attend two hours per week. Deadline for applications is Monday 8 March 12noon. For more details please email Nicola Wright and see the attached flyer.
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