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Welcome to another issue full of information we hope you will find useful. Please note the latest round of locality care home forums and make sure you are on the mailing list to receive direct invitations to these important events.
We keep the content and structure of our PEN website up-to-date and your suggestions on how to improve the website are always welcome.
National guidance updates
The document COVID-19: management of staff and exposed patients and residents in health and social care settings was updated on Tuesday 11 January and should be read carefully in full.
The update contains detailed information on returning to work after a continued positive lateral flow test, and states that if an individual tests positive using a rapid lateral flow test (LFT), they will no longer need to take a confirmatory PCR and should begin their self-isolation period immediately.
It also states that anyone who has tested within 90 days of a positive PCR or lateral flow test should continue to undertake regular asymptomatic rapid Lateral Flow testing (LFTs) during this time. Therefore, anyone who is not currently carrying out regular LFT testing because they have tested positive in the last 90 days should now restart regular asymptomatic LFTs and anyone who tests positive in the future should continue their regular LFTs when they return to work. This applies to all individuals, including staff, people receiving care and support and visitors.
As well as following the detailed guidance link above, the stay at home guidance contains a useful infographic on ending self-isolation to help determine how staff may return to work if they meet the detailed criteria listed in the guidance.
Please note that the Guidance for testing for adult social care settings outlines the COVID-19 testing available for testing staff, residents and visitors for all adult social care settings. The update includes removal of an on-site testing and self-test attachments and an addition of the 'Step-by-step guide to COVID-19 self-testing: SureScreen 25 pack nose-only test'.
The testing in adult care homes guidance was also updated on 12 January and contains information on how to access test kits and step-by-step guides on how to use PCR and rapid lateral flow test kits for regular and outbreak testing of residents, staff and visiting professionals.
Mandatory staff vaccination: three weeks to go
New regulations require frontline health and social care staff and volunteers, carrying out face to face CQC regulated activity, to be fully vaccinated by Friday 1 April 2022, unless medically exempt.
A 12 week grace period began on Thursday 6 January this year, with regulations fully in force from 1 April 2022. Staff must be fully vaccinated or have secured a medical exemption by this date.
This means that staff must have had their first dose by 3 February in order to have had their second dose by 1 April. Guidance covering all details of the regulations will be published soon but in the interim we would recommend that you ensure all staff are aware of the requirement and collect evidence of their compliance.
If you have staff who remain hesitant please do contact our vaccine hesitancy nurses who can support both you and your staff directly.
Vaccinations can be booked through the National Booking Service, or by ringing 119, or by attending one of the many walk-ins available across the county or as advertised on social media.
The guidance which provides information on the Adult Social Care Omicron Support Fund, including distribution of funds, reporting requirements and how this funding can be used by local authorities, was updated on Monday 10 January.
Next care home locality support forums
These forums are engagement opportunities for care home providers and their registered managers, DCC Market Management Team and the locality Assistant Director/Social Care Operational team. You can view previous meeting minutes in the online library.
The next care home locality forums:
- East – Thursday 20 January 4.00pm to 5.00pm
- South & West – Tuesday 18 January 2.00pm to 3.30pm
- North – Thursday 20 January 1.00pm to 2.30pm
If you have not received the calendar invite please email us stating which locality meeting you would like to receive invites for (North, East or South & West).
Requesting lateral flow test kits from the PPE hubs
Over the last week we have had received several requests from care providers for LFD test kits. If you access test kits nationally please go via your usual online ordering route or contact 119 if you are running low. Only in emergency situations should providers use the DCC online ordering form, stating the reason for an emergency request.
Any queries relating to your order please email us.
For domiciliary care providers and personal assistants accessing LFD test kits
The Department for Health and Social Care has shared that from 11 January 2022 there will be one million LFTs available via the online ordering channel and the pharmacy channel is also getting more tests (over 100% increase in mid December) from Tuesday 11 January.
You can also continue to use the DCC online ordering form, though a limited number of test kits will be provided. Please note you should allow seven to ten days for your order to be fulfilled and orders can be fast-tracked in emergencies provided there is stock.
Update from UKHSA on the management of Omicron cases in care homes
The letter from UK Health Security Agency 6 January 2022 contains the following points:
- Omicron cases and outbreaks in social care settings can be managed in the same way as any other standard variant of COVID-19 (including alpha and delta) and in the absence of genotyping or sequencing results, we should assume Omicron may be circulating.
- For confirmed outbreaks, recovery testing can be carried out at 14 days after the date of the most recent case and if no further cases are identified through recovery testing, then outbreak restrictions can be routinely stood down.
- Identification of an outbreak should trigger daily serial LFD testing for staff for seven days, as well as two rounds of whole home PCR testing.
- For single cases of Omicron, whether in residents or staff, it is no longer necessary to introduce COVID-19 outbreak restrictions. These will only be implemented with the identification of more than one case or if there are other specific concerns relating to the risk of spread in the setting.
- However, in anticipation of a change in national policy, following the identification of a single COVID-19 case the UKHSA South West Health Protection Team will recommend considering one round of whole home LFD testing for residents where the index is a resident, in addition to the currently recommended seven days of staff LFD testing.
Additional COVID-19 advice for people with weakened immune systems
The government has provided new guidance for people whose immune system means they are at higher risk of serious illness if they become infected with COVID-19. The letter is for information only and no action needs to be taken.
Overall, the national consultation responses showed that the overwhelming majority of health and care providers are strongly in favour of the option to extend the provision of free PPE.
The government has decided to extend free PPE to health and care sectors by up to one year to March 2023 or until the infection prevention and control guidance on PPE usage for COVID-19 is either withdrawn or significantly amended (whichever is sooner) and further information will be provided in due course.
Reporting Issues with PCR courier collection
Over the last few weeks there have been issues with couriers not collecting PCR tests from providers. If you have experienced this and wish to report a failure of collection so it can be investigated/learning implemented please email Carehometesting@dhsc.gov.uk.
Please continue to use the usual booking process to arrange a collection, the above email is to report any collection issues.
Evidence of booster eligibility for 16/17 year old unpaid carers
16 and 17 year old unpaid carers who have been identified through Department for Work and Pensions or local authority data are eligible for boosters and are able to book booster appointments through the National Booking System or to attend walk-in services.
Are lateral flow tests accurate?
Rapid lateral flow tests are most useful at identifying COVID-19 in people without any symptoms. The tests are over 80 per cent effective at finding people with high viral loads who are most infectious and most likely to transmit the virus to others.
Analysis by NHS Test and Trace shows LFD tests to have an estimated specificity of at least 99.97 per cent when used in the community. This means that for every 10,000 lateral flow tests carried out, there are likely to be fewer than three false positive results. LFD tests identify the most infectious people. These people tend to spread the virus to many people and so identifying them remains important.
Skills for Care CEO applauds Samaritans' wellbeing support for frontline care staff
Skills for Care CEO, Oonagh Smyth, applauds the Samaritans' current wellbeing campaign, including their helpline to support the adult social care workforce. Meanwhile, Samaritans volunteer, Faith Williams, describes her experience answering calls from health and social care workers during the pandemic.
For anyone feeling the pressure, there is always someone to turn to. Find out more about the support available by visiting 'Our Frontline: support for social workers'.
CQC re-prioritises efforts in light of current pressures
On 21 December 2021, CQC shared an update on our adult social care regulatory priorities. They will be keeping all of our inspection priorities under review, to respond to the Omicron variant and pressures faced by adult social care providers and their teams.
CQC is currently focusing on:
- an ambition to complete 1000 infection prevention and control inspections in adult social care over the winter period and respond rapidly to requests to set up new Designated Settings
- and from January, a programme of activity to rate adult social care services that are registered and not yet rated and to inspect providers currently rated as Requires Improvement, to identify where improvement has taken place and re-rate where possible. Supporting the creation of additional capacity in the system.
DILIS community equipment loans into care homes
Devon NHS CCG has agreed additional temporary funding until the end of March 2022 to improve support to care home providers through the provision of community equipment into care homes on a loaned basis to individual residents, in the following circumstances:
- to support a hospital discharge
- to prevent the admission of a resident into hospital
- to enable a resident to continue to remain living in the care home when their needs change and the care home doesn’t have the correct equipment / cannot source the correct equipment to meet the changed need.
Any equipment required must be ordered by a health or social care professional who is an authorised prescriber with Millbrook Healthcare (the commissioned community equipment provider). The equipment will be loaned for an initial four week loan period and will be reviewed within this period. Following review, if the equipment is no longer required by the resident, it will be collected and must not be retained by the care home provider for use by another resident. This will allow us to recycle and reuse the limited supply of equipment that we have seen in recent months due to the pandemic and other factors, and to ensure that we can keep stock available for care homes use. The loan period can also be extended if required to continue to support a short stay resident. If the review identifies the equipment is required on an ongoing basis, the loan will become a permanent loan to that resident, but will be collected and must be returned when it is no longer required by that individual.
Over the coming months, COVID-19 work pressures permitting, the Council is planning to work with care home providers to review the Council and NHS’s care home equipment policy, within the context of the legislative position and the fee model review work, to arrive at a clear position longer term with regards to equipment provision by the care home provider and what will be loaned by the Council/NHS.
How might a nursing, occupational therapy, dietetic and physio student support the people who live and work in your home?
In many, many ways. Please open this infographic for some ideas.
Devon County Council, Headway and Northam Care Trust are currently working with the Clinical Placement Expansion Programme (CPEP) team to explore learning opportunities for clinical students. It is likely that you already have the systems in place to be able to host a student in your home, nonetheless, a CPEP team has been created to guide you through the process, assisting you to become an Approved Placement Provider and “student ready”. Additionally, there is a payment of approximately £100 per week, per student for placements of one week or more.
If you would like to be involved, we would love to have a conversation with you. Please email Terrie Chaplin, CPEP Lead, or phone her on 07494 873454.
Hannah Blatchford from Headway Devon adds:
"At Headway Devon we understand the importance of introducing students to the rich learning environment of working first-hand in social care settings. We fully support placement opportunities that provide invaluable exposure to real life challenges for students, when working directly with individuals receiving social care and the experienced professionals working in this sector. This is essential for helping trainee clinical practitioners to develop their skills and understanding, and prepare them for their future careers".
Liberty Protection Safeguards delay
In July 2018, the government published a Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill, which passed into law in May 2019. It will replace the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards with a scheme known as the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS).
The target date for the implementation of LPS has been delayed by the government. A twelve week public consultation on the draft regulations and Code of Practice for the LPS is due to take place in early 2022. The government will confirm the date of implementation of the LPS following this consultation.
We do not yet have regulations or the Code of Practice that will be required before the Act can come into force, but we will continue to work on getting ready for LPS behind the scenes and update you as new information comes forward.
Further information is available on the Department of Health and Social Care and the Devon County Council websites.
 Interactive table in Tavistock library provides stimulation and fun for those living with dementia
Various local groups have helped fund a Tovertafel for Tavistock Library, an interactive table providing fun activities for older people living with Alzheimer’s or dementia related illnesses.
As an interactive device, the Tovertafel projects games and activities which older people living with dementia can enjoy with their carers or families.
Thanks to Tavistock Dementia Alliance, Home Instead Tavistock and Tamar Valley, Tavistock Memory Café, Tavistock Lions, Tavistock Town Council, Tesco’s Bags for Help and the National Lottery, older people throughout the local area and their carers or families can enjoy the Tovertafel for free in the local library.
Lynn Roddy, owner of Home Instead Tavistock and Tamar Valley and Chair of Tavistock Dementia Alliance, was instrumental in getting a Tovertafel into the local library.
She commented:
“The Tovertafel will be a great local resource where people can take their relatives or clients living with dementia to enjoy mental stimulation and some fun! I know our caregivers at Home Instead will readily use it with their clients, and it is available to everyone!”
To find out more about the Tovertafel in Tavistock library and how you can use it, please call 01822 612218 or email the library.
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.
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