Happy Easter and a big thank you
We all welcome the easing of lockdown restrictions and are looking forward to celebrating Easter. However, we must still remain vigilant in terms of infection prevention and control.
We have issued a public thank you message to all providers which includes the following statement by Jennie Stephens, Chief Officer for Adult Care and Health:
“As we reflect on the year since the first lockdown in response to the pandemic, I’d like to pay tribute to all those involved in providing adult social care services in Devon, especially those working in care homes – and delivering care in people’s homes – who have done everything they can to keep residents safe and enjoying the best quality of life they can in the circumstances.”
We wish you all a safe and happy Easter!
Fees uplift, Infection Control Fund and Testing Fund
Devon County Council has written directly to all providers with details of the annual fee increases for 2021-22.
For non-care home fees we have agreed an increase of 1.72%.
For care home fees we have agreed that fees will be increased as follows:
Under the personalised fee model the care hour rate will increase by 2.35%, residential accommodation fees will increase by 2.64% and nursing accommodation fees will increase by 2.5%.
The non-banded fee model rate will increase by 2.21% and the banded fee model rate will increase by an average of 2.21%.
On 29 March the Government announced the extension of the Infection Control Fund and the Rapid Testing Fund through to 30 June 2021, in line with the period of the Roadmap to Recovery period and the next national planning phase.
The purposes of these national funds are to reduce transmission of COVID-19 within and between care settings and to support the rapid testing of staff and visitors. Payments from the funds must be made within 20 working days of 29 March and expenditure undertaken by 20 June. We are doing all we can to get the new grant agreements issued to providers as they must be signed and returned during the week commencing 12 April.
70% of the Infection Control Fund is being passed direct to providers on a per-bed basis. Local authorities can use their discretion to allocate the remaining 30% of the Fund to support infection prevention and control in care settings. For Devon the amounts are £1,821,00 (residential), £510,00 (community) and £999,000 (discretionary).
60% of the Rapid Testing Fund is being passed direct to providers on a per-bed basis. The remaining 40% of the Fund can be used at the discretion of the local authority to support rapid testing in Extra Care Housing and Supported Living care settings. For Devon the amounts are £1,426,000 (residential) and £798,000 (discretionary, community).
In order to receive this financial support, providers are required to have completed the Capacity Tracker twice previously and commit to doing so on a weekly basis.
The above fees uplift and grant allocations are accompanied by a huge thank you to all providers for the work you have undertaken in such challenging times.
Care home testing and infection control
A message from Director of Public Health, Steve Brown.
As lockdown begins to ease regular asymptomatic testing remains an important component of the response to the pandemic alongside self-isolation, vaccination and infection, prevention control measures. We are regularly asked questions about testing in care home settings and thought it would be useful to reiterate some key messages:
- If you have a positive PCR test DO NOT retest using LFD or PCR for the next 90 days unless you develop symptoms
- If you develop new symptoms you should always retest with a confirmatory PCR regardless of when the last test was
- If you do retest within 90 days, for some other reason and test positive you should treat as a new positive and re-isolate and contact tracing should happen
- If someone tests positive they must self-isolate for the appropriate period (10 days for staff and 14 days for residents) or until a negative PCR indicates the LFD result was a false positive
- Be very careful to register the tests and the results accurately
- If you are living with someone or are a close contact of someone outside of work who has tested positive you must self-isolate.
There are some useful resources to support LFD self-testing. The NHS training portal is available for all staff carrying out LFD testing. DHSC recommends that this should be completed along with the short competency assessment.
Staff vaccination during April
Throughout April, eligible frontline social care staff can self-refer for vaccination through either the online referral form or by emailing Devon CCG directly. The CCG 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.
COVID-19 guidance updates
Testing for adult social care settings
New accessible summary of existing guidance outlines the COVID-19 testing available for testing staff, residents and visitors for all adult social care settings.
Testing in adult care homes
New accessible summary of existing guidance on testing shows how to access test kits. Also step-by-step guides on how to use polymerase chain reaction and rapid lateral flow test kits for regular and outbreak testing of residents and staff.
Guidance for stepdown of infection control precautions and discharging patients to home settings
Advice on appropriate infection prevention and control precautions for stepdown in hospital or discharge to home or residential settings for COVID-19 patients. For information on isolation and IPC measures for asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals see section 7.
Guidance on mitigation of risks in occupational settings with a focus on ethnic minority groups
View the Consensus statement from Public Health England, the Health and Safety Executive and the Faculty of Occupational Medicine.
Guidance for supported living
The Department of Health and Social Care announced on Tuesday 30 March that visits in and out of extra care and supported living settings can now be supported by rapid lateral flow testing. Both ‘high risk’ and ‘wider’ settings (as defined by the extra care and supported living testing risk-based criteria) will be able to order rapid lateral flow tests for this purpose.
Supporting equitable uptake of the COVID-19 vaccination in people with Severe Mental Illness
People with Severe Mental Illness (SMI), who face reduced life expectancy of 15-20 years when compared to the general population, are included in priority group six to access the COVID-19 vaccination but may find it difficult to attend vaccination appointments. Some people with SMI may not know they are eligible so it is vital that we take an inclusive approach to ensure people with bipolar, schizophrenia and similar illnesses access their vaccination. For instance, people with an eating disorder (either a high or low BMI) or people with a diagnosis of personality disorder.
There is a suite of resources available to support equitable uptake of the COVID-19 vaccination.
 Shielding advice for the clinically extremely vulnerable to stop from Thursday 1 April
More than 52,000 clinically extremely vulnerable people in Devon will be told they are no longer advised to shield from Thursday 1 April 2021 as coronavirus infection rates continue to fall across the country.
In line with the government’s COVID-19 Response - Spring 2021 roadmap, those on the shielded patient list will begin to follow the national restrictions alongside the rest of the population, but are still advised to take extra precautions to keep themselves safe.
Protect, respect, connect - decisions about living and dying well during COVID-19
The CQC conducted a special review of Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions taken during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following an interim report, published in December 2020, the CQC has now published its final report: 'Protect, respect, connect – decisions about living and dying well during COVID-19'.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth, Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care, discusses the findings and the importance of good end of life care planning.
 A year living with coronavirus and our message of thanks and hope
Tuesday 23 March 2021 was named a National Day of Reflection by the end of life charity, Marie Curie, and offered a moment to stop, catch our collective breath and remember.
It's been a long journey and it's not over yet. But while it has been extremely difficult for a lot of people, some good things have come from the changes we have had to make in our lives. We sent you a special email looking back over some of positive things that have happened in Devon during the coronavirus pandemic.
Also find an archive of all our previous emails.
Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) webinars
The DSPT is a free online self-assessment toolkit that helps evidence that your organisation manages personal data, digitally and on paper form, in a safe and secure way. It helps demonstrate compliance with data protection legislation, answers two of the CQC Key Lines of Enquiry. Importantly, it provides opportunities, ongoing use of NHSmail and potential sharing of care records.
Devon Care Homes Collaborative will be running introductory DSPT webinars in April. These one hours sessions will give an overview of the DSPT including a live registration process to get you started and will take place on:
If you've already made a start to the DSPT, we are running two more workshops. To attend these two hour sessions you need to already be registered with the DSPToolkit and have your ICO registration in place.
These sessions will take place on:
- Thursday 22 April from 2.00pm to 4.00pm. DSPT: Staffing and Policies & Procedures Workshop. Registration
- Friday 30 April from 11.00am to 1.00pm. DSPT: Data and IT Systems Workshop. Registration
Capacity Tracker changes
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Capturing second dose of COVID-19 vaccination. This information will be captured in the Capacity Tracker from mid-April 2021.
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Enhanced provider access. Enhanced access will give you visibility of your organisation’s information compared with consolidated information of comparable providers so you can see your organisation in a wider context. It also supports benchmarking.
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Workforce absence within business continuity for care homes and hospices. The collection of absence data for workforce within daily business continuity has been slightly modified. The subtle change is to reflect that those staff ‘not on shift’ should no longer be recorded in the non-covid absence field. This should now only capture those members of staff that should be at work but are unable to due to non-related COVID-19 absences such as non-covid sickness, maternity leave or furlough. Providers should no longer record staff not on shift within this part of their daily business continuity return.
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