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.

It looks like the vast majority of COVID-19 restrictions will be removed on Monday 19 July, but many of the remaining ones will be in the health and care sector. We will continue to alert you to relevant guidance updates and remind the public that infection prevention and control remains a priority in care settings.

Remember that we do our best to keep the content and structure of our PEN website up-to-date and your suggestions how to improve the site are always welcome. 

Plans to ease restrictions announced

COVID-19 restrictions are set to end in England from step 4 of the Roadmap after the Prime Minister set out how life will soon return close to normal.

The decision to open up will be made in a balanced and careful way, with the Prime Minister being clear that people’s personal judgement will now be key in learning to live with the virus.

Subject to a final review of the data next week, legal restrictions will end on Monday 19 July but there will still be guidance and restrictions in place for adult social care, which we will keep communicating to providers as they are updated.

Government guidance updates

Coronavirus testing for adult social care settings
The document outlines the COVID-19 testing available for testing staff, residents and visitors for all adult social care settings.
Updates include:

• 'On-site testing for adult social care (ASC) services: rapid lateral flow test guide' and 'Self-test for ASC services: summary rapid LFT guide' to clarify how to report missing or damaged components in test kits and how to read results.
• 'Self-test for ASC services: summary rapid LFT guide' to reflect independent health provider registration page update.

Organisation testing registration: record of users
Updates include:

• Guidance and spreadsheet to record the details of people tested for coronavirus on that day.
• Updated spreadsheets to allow coronavirus test results to be uploaded in bulk.

Coronavirus testing for adult day care centre workers and service users
How eligible adult day care centres in England can order, test and register regular PCR and LFT for all staff and service users. It's been updated to reflect changes that coronavirus test results can now be uploaded in bulk.

Coronavirus testing for home care workers: information for agencies
How home care agencies in England can order regular tests for their home care staff. It's been updated to reflect changes that coronavirus test results can now be uploaded in bulk.

Coronavirus testing service for extra care and supported living settings
Regular retesting for extra care and supported living settings that meet the eligibility criteria. It's been updated to reflect changes that coronavirus test results can now be uploaded in bulk.

Vaccination guidance

COVID-19 vaccination: worried about having your second dose of AstraZeneca?
A leaflet for people who have had their first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine and have concerns about having the second dose.

JCVI interim advice on a potential coronavirus booster vaccine programme for winter 2021 to 2022
Interim advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on the requirements for a potential COVID-19 booster vaccination programme for winter 2021 to 2022 states that pending further data and final advice, millions may be offered booster vaccine from September:

• Millions of people most vulnerable to COVID-19 may be offered a booster vaccination from September to ensure the protection they have from first and second doses is maintained ahead of the winter and against new variants.
• In stage 1 this includes care home residents, people aged over 70, front-line health and social care workers, clinically extremely vulnerable adults and those who are immunosuppressed.
• In stage 2 this includes adults aged over 50, all adults in an influenza risk group or COVID-19 at risk group and adult household contacts of immunosuppressed adults.
• The 2-stage programme would take place alongside the annual flu vaccination programme. Further details of the flu vaccination programme will be set out in due course.
• The final JCVI advice will be published before September and will take into account the latest epidemiological situation, additional scientific data from trials and real-time surveillance of the effectiveness of the vaccines over time and emerging variants. The final advice could change from the interim advice as further data is analysed.

Extension of the Infection Control Fund and Rapid Testing Fund 2021

The government has extended this Fund until September. This guidance sets out the measures that the extension to the Fund supports, including distribution of funds, conditions and reporting requirements. Look out for local implementation news from Devon County Council.

Care Home Locality Forums

Come and join us for the July Care Home Locality Forums. This is an opportunity for care home providers / managers, Devon County Council / Market Management Team and the locality Assistant Director / Social Care Operational teams to get together to share and exchange information, on emerging issues, discuss market support offers and hear local system updates.

This month we will be sharing updates on the latest Round 4 Infection Prevention and Control Grant Funding, workforce support from the Proud to Care Team and would like to hear from you about your current experiences of your local system, challenges and opportunities. We also want to hear your views about the Locality Forums: what works well? what can we do better?

If you would like to join the meetings please click on the links below:

North - Tuesday 13 July, 3.00pm - 4.00pm
West - Wednesday 14 July, 2.00pm - 3.00pm
East - Thursday 15 July, 11.30am - 12.30pm
South - Friday 16 July, 2.00pm - 3.00pm

For more information about the Forums please email us.

Personal Care Provider Forums

This is an open invitation for providers of personal care at home to attend the Devon County Council Personal Care Provider Forum. These are informal engagement opportunities for personal care providers, Devon County Council teams (Operations and Market Management) and NHS Devon CCG to get together to share and exchange information. These are core forums to update on emerging issues and concerns, to discuss market support offers and hear local system updates. They also serve as a helpful venue to exchange ideas and feedback from yourselves as providers.

The monthly forums will be held on the following Fridays:

23 July from 2.00pm to 3.00pm
20 August from 10.00am to 11.00am
24 September from 10.00am to 11.00am
15 October from 10.00am to 11.00am
12 November from 10.00 to 11.00am
10 December from 10.00am to 11.00am

If you would like to join these meetings, please email us stating Personal Care Provider Forum in the subject line. Please note that invitations will be sent to one address within an organisation for that provider to circulate as appropriate.

CQC to publish death notifications in care homes at location level

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is going to publish data about the number of death notifications relating to COVID-19 they have we've received from 10 April 2020 to 31 March 2021, from every CQC registered care home location in England. They plan to bring that data to their Public Board meeting on Wednesday 21 July and publish it on their website that day. For further information please visit the CQC website.

Care homes who have notified the CQC will be contacted by the CQC who will share the data they intend to publish for their location in a process which commenced on Monday 5 July and will run until Friday 9 July.

The data includes all death notifications submitted between 10 April 2020 and 31 March 2021 where COVID-19 was either suspected or confirmed regardless of the place of death.

The CQC knows that most providers have done all they can to ensure that information about the circumstance of peoples’ death is shared appropriately and will continue to engage with trade associations before publication.

Devon County Council (DCC) understands the potential impact that publication of this data may have on care homes and is able to offer homes media support if they are approached by their local press. If any Devon care home finds itself in this situation please notify DCC.

Latest guidance for admission into care homes and supported living at a glance

Care homes
People admitted to a care home from the community no longer have to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival.

To ensure this happens as safely as possible, the person is subject to an enhanced testing regime consisting of:

• a PCR test before admission within 72 hours (an LFD test will not be accepted by the care home)
• a PCR test on the day of admission (day zero)
• a further PCR test seven days following admission (day seven).

If a resident has been discharged from hospital, from an interim care facility or transferring from another care home, they should self-isolate upon arrival for 14 days within their own room. Care home settings can differ significantly and care home managers can undertake a risk assessment to consider if any proposed self-isolation period upon admission is appropriate directly after admission from another care home or care facility.

For urgent admissions (regardless of symptoms) the individual should be tested upon arrival and self-isolate for 14 days within their own room, even if they have a negative COVID-19 test result. This is because of evidence of the asymptomatic spread of the virus and the effectiveness of isolation in stopping this transmission.

Supported living (SL)
Any individual moving into a supported living setting should self-isolate for a 10-day period. This should increase to 14 days if deemed necessary following a local risk assessment. Self-isolation should begin from the day the individual moves into their home. If the person is being admitted from their own home they do not need to isolate. Service users do not need to undertake an enhanced testing regime as per care home guidance.

Capacity Tracker updates

PPE status
Please check your PPE status. Those which were Amber have been changed to Red by the Capacity Tracker team and will be contacted by the  team. The team is also encouraging DCC to contact providers to check / support you with any PPE issues you might have.

Infection Control Fund and Rapid Testing Fund extended
The Department of Health and Social Care has announced that the Fund will continue until the end of September 2021 for care homes, CQC registered community / domiciliary care providers. The guidance states that the completion of the Tracker is a mandatory part of receiving the Fund.

Good news!
The Capacity Tracker team informed us about a significant increase in update frequency from the South West area - one of the best in the country.

“South West region now reporting highest level of care homes updating within 48 hours -  84% (against national level of 81%) and home care providers at 98.4%."

Q&A sessions

Please make use of the South West Q&A sessions. The sessions are proving very popular and are designed to provide a regular forum for you to ask any queries you might have about the Tracker.

Details of the sessions and joining links:

• Care home sessions from 8.30am to 9.30am every Wednesday until further notice.
• Home care sessions from 10.00am until 11.00am every Wednesday until further notice.

Thank you to everyone who updates the Tracker. DCC appreciates your co-operation when times are extremely busy. It is critical for Department of Health and Social Care planning.

If you have any queries about the above, please contact the Capacity Tracker Support Centre on 0191 691 3729 or via email.

Celebrating success - Congratulations to Joseph!

Joseph has been doing a supported internship in the Made-Well cafe. The internship is coming to an end and he's been offered a paid job as a centre assistant.
Jospeh is working in all areas of Made-Well including hospitality, horticulture, maintenance, animal care, woodwork and enterprise projects. Well done Joseph!

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

Issue 36, 8 July 2021

Are your colleagues missing out? Ask them to sign-up to this PEN newsletter here!

Care homes: optimal days for testing

Due to increasing demand for testing within the community, the Department for Health and Social Care is asking care homes to test if possible on Thursday or Friday or over a seven day week to support the laboratories to maximise their capacity. Conducting your testing later in the week should provide you with faster turnaround times across the network.

A big thank you to all homes who are already doing this or who are now able to move their PCR testing later in the week.

Acceleration of second doses for all cohorts

The government has set out their latest guidance for appointments of a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to be brought forward from 12 to eight weeks for the remaining people in all cohorts who have yet to receive their second dose. This is to ensure everyone has the strongest possible protection from the Delta variant of the virus at the earliest opportunity possible.

When to call 999

With the health and care system under significant pressure, we all need to be making the most effective use of health services when residents and people we care for are unwell. Outcomes for residents will be better if they can be safely supported at home rather than in an overcrowded hospital emergency department.

Please make sure the 111 service and GPs are used for advice whenever possible, following this national guidance on when to call 999.

Helping to prevent infection: a quick guide

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has produced a useful quick guide called Helping to prevent infection. 

Local guidance for regulated care providers who provide care and support to people in their own homes

The guidance provides a standard operating procedure describing key business processes in relation to the provision of regulated care.  It covers processes related to the initial sourcing of care, managing restarts, managing package variances, reviews, package closures / handbacks and the complaints process.  For all processes it provides information on key responsibilities, timescales and key contact information.

The main guidance comes with ‘NHS Shared Business Services e-Invoicing Information Guide for Suppliers‘ and ‘NHS Shared Business Services – Good Invoicing Guide‘ both provided by Devon Clinical Commissioning Group to aid the payment of invoices for packages of care commissioned by them.

Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) success

It’s great news that Devon, Plymouth and Torbay care homes have made a great progress on compliance with national data security measures using the DSPT. We are now second from the top! The achievement is even greater when we look back at the starting point in early March. Care homes showed then under 5% compliance. So to have reached the average national level is a great success. Thank you to everyone who has worked on this.

The next DSPT introductory sessions being hosted by Devon Care Homes Collaborative (DCHT) are on Thursday 15 July, Wednesday 21 July and Thursday 29 July at 2pm. Places can be booked via the DCHT website.

June's CQC COVID-19 insight report focuses on learning disatibility

This month’s CQC insight report looks ahead to the provider collaboration review of how services worked together for people with a learning disability during the pandemic.

• COVID-19 Insight - issue 11
• News story: Care for people with a learning disability during the pandemic

Brexit

The EU Settlement Scheme application deadline expired on Wednesday 30 June, but there is still plenty of Brexit information on our PEN website.

Coronavirus: EU Settlement Scheme - guidance for applicants 

Guidance for EUSS applicants in or outside the UK who have been affected by restrictions associated with coronavirus.

Added content to show that the deadline to apply for most people was 30 June 2021. Those with vulnerabilities may still be able to apply.

Are your contact details up-to-date? We encourage providers to up-date their contact details (especially email addresses) with the DCC Procurement Team. We use these details to communicate with providers and it’s very important that we reach the correct person in your organisation, to receive appropriate referrals and timely updates from DCC, and don’t miss out on any opportunities. Please ensure we have your most recent email address.

Don’t forget to upload your vacancies to our jobs board to benefit from our free recruitment service. To find out more about how the Proud to Care Team can support you with recruitment, retention, training and education, please email us.

Working with the NHS to attract and retain people in adult social care

Following representations from care homes, Paul Renshaw, Director of Workforce at Devon Integrated Care System and Sally-Ann Turner, DCC’s HR Strategy Manager, are considering a more collaborative approach to recruitment with the NHS.
Providers Jonathan Lobb, Marcus Lyward and Lucy Ball have volunteered to get involved in further exploratory discussions with Paul and Sally-Ann and more participants are welcome.

To get involved in this work or make your views known on this issue, please email Sally-Ann.

Read about the potential strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats identified so far.

Peer Improvement Tips for Care and Health (PITCH)

PITCH is the new name for The Yellow Card in Devon and Cornwall for use by health and social care staff, voluntary sector and allied health professionals in Devon. The purpose of PITCH is for reporting generic themes and trends of both good practice and challenges faced within the health and care system. This presentation provides further details about why and when PITCH should be accessed.

National COVID-19 guidance updates

The GOV.UK website

The NHS.UK website

DCC COVID-19 updates

Coronavirus advice to the public

Weekly stakeholder briefing

Coronavirus local dashboard and data (report on confirmed cases and deaths at a district level).

Together for Devon

Together for Devon is a partnership of health and social care organisations working together with local communities across Devon, Plymouth and Torbay to improve people’s health, wellbeing and care. Their website contains general information on vaccination including FAQs.

National vaccination publication collection

The national government page contains vaccination guidance, training resources, consent forms, letters, leaflets, posters and more.

NHS Devon vaccination stakeholder briefings

Read the latest weekly briefing and view previous ones.

Webinars, online training and forums in one place

Make sure you have the opportunity to participate in local and national webinars, online forums and training by visiting our website.

PEN events calendar

Check the calendar for future events.

PEN newsletter archive

View previous issues