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This week saw the announcement of Our Plan for Living with Covid by the government and this issue contains a link to the announcement plus key changes, but our over-riding message about the continued need for infection control vigilance in the social care sector remains unchanged.
We do our best to keep the content and structure of our PEN website up-to-date in these fast-changing times and your suggestions on how to improve the website are always welcome.
National Living with Covid Plan
On Monday 21 February the government announced Our Plan for Living with Covid.
Here are the main changes which are of the most relevance to social care, with phased implementation dates.
Change from Monday 21 February:
- End of twice weekly testing in education and childcare settings.
Changes from Thursday 24 February:
- End of legal requirement to self-isolate (if positive or a close contact who is unvaccinated)
- No request for contacts to test daily for seven days
- End of self-isolation and other support
- Revocation of The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 3) Regulations
- Local authorities will continue to manage local outbreaks of COVID-19 in high risk settings as they do with other infectious diseases
- Routine contact testing will end
- No legal requirement to inform employer when positive and required to self-isolate.
Changes from Thursday 24 March:
- End of COVID-19 provisions for Statutory Sick Pay and Employment Support Allowance.
Changes from Friday 1 April:
- Updated guidance setting out the ongoing steps that people with COVID-19 should take to minimise contact with other people
- End of free universal symptomatic and asymptomatic testing
- Limited symptomatic testing available for a small number of at-risk groups. The government will set out further details on which groups will be eligible.
- Free symptomatic testing will remain available to social care staff
- End of domestic use of Covid Pass
- Removing the health and safety requirement for every employer to explicitly consider COVID-19 in their risk assessments
- Replacing the existing set of ‘Working Safely’ guidance with new public health guidance.
Latest national guidance updates
Supported living services during coronavirus (COVID-19). Updated to reflect the latest self-isolation advice for residents, removed lines on vaccination as a condition of deployment. 16 February
Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for adult social care services. Added updated information regarding vaccination and testing. Moved the instructions for use for SureScreen 25 rapid lateral flow tests. Summary document. 16 February
Coronavirus (COVID-19): testing in adult care homes. Removed information on requirement to take one PCR and three lateral flow tests a week. 17 February
Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for adult day care centre workers and service users. Removed information on the requirement to take a weekly PCR test and three lateral flow tests a week. 17 February
Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for homecare workers. Removed information advising staff to take a lateral flow test every day before work. 17 February
Living with Covid-19 update from DHSC
What does the removal of self-isolation regulations mean for ASC?
There will be no change in advice for staff who currently need to self-isolate across ASC from Thursday 24th February. Guidance will be updated to remove references to the legal requirement but anyone who tests positive and who is an un-vaccinated contact should still stay at home and avoid contact, and should stay away from work. The same applies for care home residents where guidance currently advises self-isolation.
From Thursday 24 February, does anything change about testing to reduce isolation periods e.g. if you’re a vaccinated contact or if you’ve tested positive?
There is no change in advice in when to test from Thursday 24 February apart from updates to guidance to remove references to the legal requirement. For example, if staff are asymptomatic vaccinated contacts, advice remains that they should stay away from work, take a PCR, and if negative, they can return to work whilst testing daily. Or, if an individual has tested positive, the advice continues to be that individuals should stay home, and only come back to work following two negative consecutive LFD tests from days 5 and 6.
The PM’s speech and Living with Covid document didn’t mention continued free asymptomatic testing for staff. Should we keep testing now and will testing provision end?
Testing for all staff, residents, and visitors should continue in line with the relevant testing regimes set out here – testing remains important to quickly identify individuals who are likely to be highly infectious and enables them to self-isolate to reduce transmission and keep the most vulnerable safe. Further detail on future testing will be provided by DHSC in due course.
Adult Social Care Infection Control, Testing and Vaccination Fund: October 2021 – March 2022: 2nd Reporting Point
Thank you to those who completed and submitted the second monitoring report(s) for the current round of Infection Control monies by the deadline of Friday 18 February. If you have not yet submitted your return(s) we would be grateful if this could be done as a matter of priority.
Monitoring links: Community Care Services Monitoring Form R2
Care Homes Monitoring Form 2
Please note that completion of the monitoring forms is a requirement of the grant agreement. Failure to comply will impact on your eligibility for any further funding through this grant.
For any queries and to return the monitoring form, please contact us.
Additional booster jabs for care home residents and over 75s
The government has accepted the advice from the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to offer, from spring, an additional booster jab to people aged 75 years and over, care home residents and people aged 12 years and over who are immunosuppressed.
Health Secretary statement on spring COVID-19 booster vaccinations
COVID-19 rapid testing made easier for partially sighted people
New app and video-call support service with specially trained NHS Test and Trace staff will help partially sighted people to take lateral flow tests at home.
The Be My Eyes app connects people with low to moderate vision with agents from 119 through a live video call. Users can now benefit from live video assistance from NHS Test and Trace staff to help guide them through how to order, use the tests and register their test results.
Webinar and COVID-19 booster resources: Vaccination in the adult social care agency workforce
This latest webinar, hosted by Sir David Pearson, Chair of the COVID-19 Booster Taskforce, focuses on the importance of vaccination for the adult social care agency workforce, sharing good practice and addressing vaccine hesitancy.
The webinar, scheduled for Thursday 24 February 11.00am – 12noon is aimed specifically at social care agencies and their staff. Please cascade this invitation to your colleagues and find out more about the vaccination programme for social care.
Vaccination remains the best defence against COVID-19. Download the latest winter vaccine campaign materials from our toolkit and make use of our boosters narrative for adult social care to help you and your colleagues, including all agency care staff, make informed choices.
Health and Social Care Skills Accelerator Programme
Free and flexible training available on Tuesday 1 March:
Free Personal Assistant / Unpaid Carers Training - Exeter College
CMI Level 2 Team Leader Award - Learn Devon
Level 2 Award in Wellbeing and Mental Health - Learn Devon
Also:
Care Recruitment Event - DWP Job Centre Exeter, Wednesday 2 March, 10.30am - 12.30pm
South Devon Cares Event, South Devon College, Friday 4 March 10.00am - 2.00pm
National Careers Week - Health and Social Care Day, Exeter Works Hub, Thursday 10 March 10.00am - 4.00pm.
Fully funded eLearning for all of adult social care
We have funded the Grey Matter eLearning platform for a year for all social care providers and personal assistants. You can access over 100 social care eLearning courses from the Care Certificate, safeguarding, dementia awareness and more.
If you would like more information or to sign up for an account please follow the below links:
 Devon Wellbeing Hub provides free, confidential support for individuals and teams working in the NHS, social care, healthcare and the police throughout Devon who are struggling with any element of their wellbeing.
Individual and team support
The Hub offers individual and team support. If you’re struggling with the pressures of your job, family life or financial strains, one of our compassionate clinicians can help you. If your team energy is low, or you and your colleagues are collectively experiencing difficulties following distressing and stressful events arising from COVID-19, our clinical psychologists can help support you through reflective practice, supervision and coping strategies, tailored to help improve the psychological wellbeing of the team.
Get in touch
You can refer yourself or your team by phone or email. We also welcome referrals for individual members of staff from managers and occupational health departments via email, providing the member of staff has clearly consented.
The Hub can be contacted between 9.00am and 4.30pm from Monday to Friday on 0300 303 5455 or via email. Please do get in touch, the Devon Wellbeing Hub is here to help.
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