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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.
This week sees further easing of lockdown restrictions, particularly in relation to visiting out of care homes, but this increase in freedom can only take place while remembering the important infection control measures we must all keep in place in care settings.
Make sure you keep up-to-date with the latest need-to-know information by visiting our Provider Engagement Network website.
Care home locality support meetings
This is an open invitation for care home providers and registered managers. The meetings are informal opportunities to engage with Devon County Council / Market Management Team and the locality Assistant Director / Social Care Operational teams to get together to share and exchange information, such as emerging issues / concerns, discuss market support offers and hear local system updates.
Meeting dates and how to join.
New Safeguarding Adult Concern Referral Form
Devon County Council and the Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership (TDSAP) are launching a new Safeguarding Adult Concern Referral Form on Monday 10 May.
Referrers are encouraged to use the form to raise a safeguarding adult concern with the local authority. The form will be available from 10 May on the TDSAP website. The form arises from national developments and local stakeholder engagement and has been designed to be more user-friendly than the previous one.
Testing in day centres
Rapid Lateral Flow Testing (LFT) is now available for all staff and service users in adult daycare centres in England. This will be :
• Twice weekly LFD testing for staff in addition to weekly PCR (in line with other high risk adult social care settings such as care homes)
• Up to twice weekly LFD for service users where possible
For further support and information, please attend one of the DHSC rapid lateral flow testing webinars at 11.00am every Monday.
Please see the day care testing guidance.
 Government guidance updates
Care homes residents allowed more out-of-home visits
Residents will be able to leave care homes for low-risk visits without needing to self-isolate on their return.
Arrangements for visiting out of the care home
This guidance sets out how care homes can support residents on visits outside of the care home.
Guidance for people receiving direct payments
Advice for people who buy care and support through a direct payment. Updated 'Using direct payments during the coronavirus outbreak: guidance for people receiving direct payments and personal assistants (easy read)' with new version. Page 30 now says: 'Anyone who has a direct payment can access regular testing.'
Looking after people who lack mental capacity
Guidance for health and social care staff who are caring for or treating a person who lacks the relevant mental capacity.
Updated 'The Mental Capacity Act (2005) and deprivation of liberty safeguards during the coronavirus pandemic' and additional guidance to reflect visiting arrangements being eased on 12 April 2021.
COVID-19 vaccination and blood clotting
Information on the benefits and risks of the COVID-19 vaccination.
Go for the flow! Get your free COVID-19 tests now
Everyone in Devon over the age of 16 years old can now get free rapid lateral flow device (LFD) COVID-19 tests, and should be using them twice a week.
These tests are important to do regularly because they detect people who are carrying coronavirus but don't have any symptoms, so could be spreading it unknowingly. They are quick and easy and the results are usually back within an hour.
Devon County Council are working hard to make sure it is convenient to access symptom-free testing at a range of locations across Devon. You can:
Local testing centres
To find out the days, times and locations of a testing centre near you, visit our website. It is regularly updated with any changes to the community testing service schedule so please check before you set off.
Other national updates
Study shows household transmission cut by COVID-19 vaccination
A new study from Public Health England has shown that one dose of COVID-19 vaccine reduces household transmission by up to half. Those who do become infected three weeks after receiving a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca vaccine were between 38% and 49% less likely to pass the virus on.
Protection was seen from around 14 days after vaccination, with similar levels of protection regardless of age of cases or contacts.
Support for people with a learning disability
Primary Care Nurses play a key role in supporting patients to have their vaccination. This short video from Rachel Salloway explains the role of Learning Disability Primary Care Nurses.
The Learning Disability vaccination flow chart explains the pathway for people with a learning disability and highlights important considerations and available support.
'Join the Millions' vaccination campaign materials
There are now new 'Join the Millions' assets encouraging the public to join the millions already vaccinated.
What can I do after I've had my COVID-19 vaccine?
Although the COVID-19 vaccine gives you the best protection against becoming seriously ill if you catch coronavirus, it's important to remember that it doesn't make you invincible.
The COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective, but it doesn't take full effect immediately. The first dose should give you good protection from three or four weeks after you've had it. But you need to have the two doses to give you longer lasting protection.
Also, no vaccine is 100% successful and a small minority of people will not get full levels of protection. And while being vaccinated offers you protection, it is still not clear the extent to which it will stop you passing it on to others, who may not have had their vaccination yet.
Remember, there's a chance you might still get or spread COVID-19 even if you have the vaccine.
So, even when you've been vaccinated, don't ditch the soap and fling your mask in the bin. You still need to stick with the important things you've been doing for the past year, like keeping your distance from others, wearing a face covering when required and washing your hands regularly and well.
Don't take risks just because you've been vaccinated. For now, continue following the restrictions and public health advice.
South West Care Homes Network first event and award nomination
Care homes are invited to the first event from a new South West Care Homes Network
The event will take place on Tuesday 18 May at 1.00pm. We will be showcasing local case studies and providing a platform for learning and sharing ideas across the South West.
The event will take place quarterly and focus on the improvement elements of the Enhanced Health in Care homes (EHCH) framework related to Medicine Safety and Managing Deterioration in care homes.
Thank you to everyone who completed our survey. Your feedback has informed the agenda including:
- Recognition for your staff and teams through Awards for Excellence & Care Home Heroes 2021. Nominate an individual, team, care home or collaborative of care homes.
- Opportunities to learn and share with an initial focus on EHCH work and ‘Care Home Champions’.
- Time to reflect on the challenges and successes of the past year.
- The chance for you to find out more about other care homes in the region.
- Updates on care elements of the EHCH framework to include subjects such as Medicine Safety, Managing Deteriorations, Piloting new tools and accessing opportunities and exploring your ideas to improve your Care Home culture and confidence around Safety in care.
- Exploring ideas on ways to engage, collaborate and achieve together across the South West.
If you have any questions or would like to put forward a case study of good practice please contact us.
Personal Assistant Training - Employer and PA survey
NHS Devon CCG and Devon County Council are currently working with a user-led organisation, Living Options Devon, to explore the training needs of Personal Assistants (PAs) in Devon.
It can be challenging to for a PA to know what training they should undertake and who to approach to complete this training.
Living Options Devon have created a survey to capture PA training needs and this will then feed into a funding application which, if successful, would enable Living Options Devon to offer free training to PAs in Devon.
To help us with this please:
- Ask your employer / Direct Payment recipient (or their representative) to complete the PA employer survey to find out what they feel the priorities and needs are for PA training
- Complete the PA survey if you are a PA.
The deadline is Monday 10 May 2021.
At the end of the survey, it asks for you to provide and give consent to Living Options Devon holding your personal details. If you are happy to fill this section in, this means you and the PAs could be contacted directly by them for training opportunities in the future. If you do not wish to share your details, you are able to fill the survey in anonymously.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Domiciliary care workforce challenge
Do you have a product, service or innovation which could tackle issues or challenges facing the domiciliary care workforce?
The South West Academic Health Science Network, West of England Academic Science Network and Health Education England, have launched a challenge to find solutions ready for adoption and spreading to support the domiciliary care workforce.
They are looking for a product, service, technology, process, way of working or toolkit that can make a measurable impact on workforce indicators, such as number of domiciliary care workers, satisfaction levels, sickness absence, wellbeing, turnover rates, skills and confidence, leadership, productivity, diversity and inclusion.
There’s a maximum of £100,000 available to support the spread / adoption, and fund an innovator and host activities. Find out more.
The call for innovation closes at 5pm on Monday 31 May.
Download the brief and attend Live Q&A Sessions on:
Celebrating success - Conversations in social care
Len Loft (Northam Care Trust) shares his experience and benefits of the Kickstart project and workforce investment (12th minute into the video). Also, Mims Davies, Minister for Employment, talks about recruitment and valuing social care.
Care talk business podcast
Remember to share your good news stories in this newsletter
Has your support helped transformed someone’s life? Have you got innovative practice to share? Send us your celebratory photos and words and we’ll help share good practice.
Revisit previous good news stories
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