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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.
The issue contains further information on vaccine safety including allaying fertility fears and risks of blood clots. Please do take up the opportunity get your vaccine, both to protect yourself and others.
Remember to make use of the guidance and other advice we do our best to keep up to date on our Provider Engagement Network website.
Get your vaccination now while there are thousands of spaces
Health and care workers who have yet received their first dose of the vaccine are among those being encouraged to book an appointment to get their vaccine before the supply constraints begin in April.
There are thousands of spaces available that health and care workers can book onto before the end of March.
You can book an appointment through the national booking service.
Getting your vaccination during April
Frontline social care workers can still access vaccinations via the alternative local route. Throughout the month of April, eligible frontline social care staff can self-refer through either the online referral form or by emailing Devon CCG directly. The CCG team will then source the best available vaccination slot for you from those available. If you still have staff who have not been vaccinated or maybe have new starters during April please do take up the opportunity and protect yourself and others.
Please note all existing appointments for first and second doses are not being cancelled. If you have an appointment, please attend it. If you already have an appointment over the coming weeks, whether for your first or second dose, this remains in place and it’s really important that you attend it as planned.
 Plymouth midwife reassures women the coronavirus vaccine is safe
Charlotte Wilton, acting head of midwifery at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, has shared a video message aimed at women who are concerned about getting the COVID-19 vaccination and whether it will affect their fertility.
 Latest MHRA statement on AstraZeneca safety
The MHRA has confirmed that available evidence does not suggest that blood clots are caused by AstraZeneca.
This follows a detailed review of reported cases as well as data from hospital admissions and GP records. This has been confirmed by the government’s independent advisory group, the Commission on Human Medicines, whose expert scientists and clinicians have also reviewed the available data.
Latest data suggests the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine has an 80% reduction in hospitalisation and death from COVID disease.
Half a million people now vaccinated in Devon
The 500,000th person in Devon received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination last weekend – a remarkable achievement in just 14 weeks.
More than half of our adult population, 95% over 65s and a quarter of people aged 16-64 years have now received their vaccination since Kathleen Viney became one of the first people in Devon to have the jab on 8 December.
Reaching half a million vaccinations is a fantastic achievement and a huge credit to all the staff and volunteers across Devon.
 And the winner is…. Devon scoops top award for supporting unpaid carers
A new project that supports unpaid carers in Devon has received a national award for its ‘outstanding contribution to healthcare’ during the height of the pandemic.
The Carers Hospital Service received the accolade at the Health Service Journal Awards 2020 this week for supporting thousands of unpaid carers.
While support for unpaid carers is available, reaching them has always been difficult because people’s caring roles are often not identified.
Between April 2019 and January this year, 3,900 carers were helped by the Carers Hospital Service, three quarters of whom were not previously known to be carers.
 Vaccination video for people with learning disabilities
The NHS in Devon is supporting people with learning disabilities to take up the potentially life-saving coronavirus vaccination.
A short film has also been produced by The Turning Tides Project, in partnership with NHS Devon and NHS England, to support people with learning disabilities to have the COVID-19 vaccine.
When contacted for their vaccination, people with learning disabilities should let their GP or community learning disability nurse know if they need extra support or reasonable adjustments to make them feel more confident about having the vaccine.
Guides on supporting autistic people and people with learning disabilities
The Social Care Institute for Excellence produced a series of guides for families and professionals supporting autistic adults and adults with learning disabilities during the coronavirus crisis.
Have your say on COVID-status certification
The government is reviewing whether COVID-status certification could play a role in reopening our economy, reducing restrictions on social contact and improving safety as the UK recovers from the coronavirus outbreak.
COVID-status certification involves using testing or vaccination data to confirm that a person has a lower risk of getting sick with or transmitting COVID-19 to others. Such certification would be available both to vaccinated people and to unvaccinated people who have been tested.
The government will assess how effective certification would be in reducing risk, and its potential uses in enabling access to settings or relaxing COVID-secure measures.
The review is considering the ethical, equalities, privacy, legal and operational aspects of a possible certification scheme, and what limits, if any, should be placed on organisations using certification.
The consultation is open until 11.45pm on Monday 29 March. Please visit the government's website for details on how to take part.
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Celebrating success - Poems during lockdown
Headway Devon have been running Day Services online during lockdown. One of the activities has been poetry writing, which was really helpful for their clients in overcoming issues like manual dexterity, written and oral communication, anxiety and depression. Creative expression can help clients with the process of reshaping their personal identity as presented in this moving and powerful poetry.
 Rain
The rain when it rains then it pours
Bringing life and death
Wherever it falls
Can be such a magical scene,
Very serene.
Let’s hope it’s all saved for future
Generations to see
What we don’t want is
To see an arid scene.
AB
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