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As well was containing information we think providers will find useful, this issue features another good news story submitted by readers. Please feel free to share good news and good practice with us.
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.
Locality Operational Forum dates reminder!
Our first round of Locality Operational Forums will be held on Teams on the following dates:
East – Monday 20 March 2023, 1.30-2.30
Click here to join the meeting
South - Monday 20 March 2023, 2.30-3.30
Click here to join the meeting
West – Wednesday 22 March 2023, 1.30-2.30
Click here to join the meeting
North – Thursday 23 March 2023, 3.30-4.30
Click here to join the meeting
Further Locality Forums will then be held every two months.as opportunities to address local health and social care issues, in particular in relation to the four acute hospitals.
All providers in a locality will be invited to their geographical forum to be briefed by an Assistant Director (or representative) on operational challenges in their area. It will be important to ensure effective connection with the Local Care Partnerships.
Locality Operational Forums are open to providers from all sectors within an area and will:
- Only discuss locality issues, primarily from an operational perspective
- Escalate to sector specific forums when necessary
- Facilitate mutual responsibility for raising issues from system and provider perspectives
- Be accountable for active participation and communication
These forums are engagement opportunities, to meet with the locality Assistant Director/Social Care Operational Team and relevant Market Management Team representatives to discuss and share local concerns, topics of interest and hear about the latest market support.
If you have not received the calendar invitation then please email socialcarebusinessrelations-mailbox@devon.gov.uk stating which Locality Forum you would like to receive invites for (North, East or South & West).
Issues raised at Locality Operational Forums should be locally-based only. Any issues which are wider should be referred to either the relevant Sector Forums or the new quarterly Countywide Strategic Forum.
The overall Provider Engagement Network structure showing the Strategic, Sector and Locality Forums can be seen at PEN participation - Provider Engagement Network (devon.gov.uk)
Housing with Support, Enabling, & Day Services Sector Forum
The countywide Housing with Support, Enabling, & Day Services Sector Forum meets monthly on the last Thursday of the month from 11am until 12 noon. It‘s a chance for organisations who provide supported living, enabling, extra care, shared lives, day services, enabling and the homeless support services that are commissioned by DCC, to get together to discuss or raise any strategic or process issues rather than individual service users issues.
The main aim is to unblock any barriers we encounter when working across this market, escalate issues appropriately and basically join up our work better. If you deliver these services and would like to join the forum then please contact us: socialcarebusinessrelations-mailbox@devon.gov.uk
March – Thursday 30 11am-12noon
April – Thursday 27 11am-12noon
May – Thursday 25 11am-12noon
June – Thursday 29 11am-12noon
July – Thursday 27 11am-12noon
August – Thursday 31 11am-12noon
September – Thursday 28 11am-12noon
October – Thursday 26 11am-12noon
November – Thursday 30 11am-12noon
Discharges to care homes post Norovirus infection
Norovirus is circulating quite widely in Devon with both hospitals and care homes being affected. Given the ongoing pressure this is causes, Bridget Spooner (Infection Control and Prevention Nurse, Royal Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust - Wonford site) has provided some advice and best practice to consider when considering how to manage this during any transfer of care.
We continue to need everyone to work together to minimise risk across our systems of care, every delay to discharge once a person is medically fit means a longer wait for others needing a hospital bed.
“Where a person has been admitted from a care home that is experiencing an outbreak and the same infection is identified on admission through clinical sampling or there is the impression that they have been admitted due to that infection already being acquired, the hospital will aim to transfer the person back to their care home as soon as they are medically fit. We ask for your support to facilitate this whenever possible. Support is available through the local Community Infection Management Service who can offer advice on source isolation and outbreak management. This continues to be the case for COVID-19 infection as well as Norovirus.
Patients who have had recent Norovirus infection but are now resolved with more than 48 hours since their last symptom of diarrhoea and vomiting and a return to their normal dietary intake can safely be moved to residential settings. This is the case even if the ward is declaring itself as otherwise ‘closed’. Closure refers more to the situation where, in order to bring outbreaks to a close, admissions are suspended to that area so that numbers decrease. During this period, appropriate, safe discharges are also encouraged and optimised so that cleaning and reopening can occur as quickly as possible.”
We recognise that Registered managers are responsible and able to make risk assessed decisions to take residents affected by Norovirus back into their home at any stage of their recovery, even whilst symptomatic. We are happy to support with the infection control status (as we understand it at any given point) of any transfers we are making to support decision making for you.
If you want to discuss this further or any individual case, please seek advice from your local team, either your Infection Prevention and Control team or Hospital Discharge service.
 Free Career Coaching for Adult Social Care staff
Are you looking for new/different ways to invest in – and retain – your staff members? The One Devon Retention Group are looking for an Adult Social Care coaching cohort of 10 individuals. These can be from the same provider, or can be employees from different providers within the same staff group (e.g. Dom Care/ Care Support/ Registered Nurses). The cohort will all receive six 1-2-1 coaching sessions over Teams, which is a total time of 3.5 hours over a 10 week period (there is a 4 week gap between sessions 5 and 6).
What’s the catch? There is none! Employers don’t need to do anything except show up for a brief induction and support their staff member to have the time to do the coaching.
The coaching is with an external provider and for further information and to get involved, please contact Annie Broadbent, Torbay and South Devon NHS Trust annie.broadbent1@nhs.net
Mobile Night Support and Supported Living to be explored at Sector Forum on 30 March
Similar to other Local Authorities across the country, DCC has decided to work jointly with Supported Living services to develop Mobile Night Support for people living in Supported Living. This Mobile Night support may in due course be expanded into other service areas.
People who may need support at night will be connected via technology and equipment and alarm systems to a service that can respond urgently to a presenting care need and where necessary dispatch a care worker to that person’s home.
DCC is keen to do all it can to develop a local market of providers across Devon. We understand that some Supported Living providers who are operating at sufficient scale may wish to deliver a mobile night service to people in the houses they support.
DCC are planning some engagement events to get your views, starting with Supported Living Providers at the Housing with Support Day and Enabling Forum on 30 March at 11 am.
An invitation to the forum and joining links will be sent closer to the time.
National Hospital Discharge Advice reminder
We understand that some providers are concerned about accepting residents back from the hospital who have tested positive for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 infections, such as flu. The same principles apply for both COVID and flu/other discharges i.e. if the person can be discharged into a care home safely, based on a risk assessment, then the admission to the care home can go ahead.
It is important for care homes to have a plan in place to prevent the spread of all respiratory infections, including COVID-19, flu and RSV. This includes following standard infection prevention and control measures as described in:
Further guidance and resources can also be found here:
Consultation on DCC adult social care Vision and Strategies extended to end of March
The opportunity to give feedback on Devon County Council’s refreshed Vision for Adult Social Care and its 3 new Strategies: Living Well, Ageing Well and Caring Well in Devon has been extended until 31 March. The documents can be viewed on the DCC ‘Have Your Say’ web page below.
https://www.devon.gov.uk/haveyoursay/categories/social-care/
 NEW! Optimal Handed Care - Moving and Handling Course
The Health and Social Care Skills Accelerator Programme (HSSAP), part funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) is pleased to be offering FREE Optimal Handed Care Moving and Handling courses to Domiciliary Care Providers to support you and your organisation with single handed care approaches. These 3-hour sessions will increase your confidence and enhance your practical skills in safe moving and handling practice.
Courses will run weekly and be available through Petroc College and South Devon College from March to July 2023.
Spaces are limited so book early to avoid disappointment! To find out more or to book a place, please contact hssap@petroc.ac.uk or louisenorthcott@southdevon.ac.uk.
*Eligibility criteria applies.
** Places are only open to care staff that already have the mandatory Moving and Handling Training qualification.
Are you struggling with the cost of living? Reminder!
There's some useful advice on our website for residents and businesses in Devon who are struggling to afford to pay for their energy, water, food or other essential items. It includes information about support for low-income families via the Household Support Fund, such as free school meal holiday vouchers, the holiday activities and food programme and 'Fuel, Food and More' grants.
There's also help for those using pre-payment meters, and who are struggling to meet their energy needs, via Citizens Advice Devon.
The Warm Spaces website has a map of places in the community that are free to go and be comfortable and warm with no judgement. They include places such community centres, churches and libraries.
If you can't afford the food you need, you can contact one of Devon's foodbanks listed on our PinPoint website. There are a number of supermarkets, cafés and restaurants offering free or £1 meals for children during the school holidays.
Good News: the story of David, resident at Sefton Hall
David, 76, originally from Oxford, was a scientist, who also holds an MBA and worked internationally. He came to Sefton Hall in Dawlish before Xmas ‘21, after many placements in multiple / different care settings over some 10 years, had failed. It seemed like the same was about to happen again.
He has been under treatment from NHS services for 15 years. David came with a diagnosis of advanced dementia, chronic pre-disposition to episodic complex behaviours & other conditions.
Despite the teams best efforts, he had not settled, (quite unusually for the home).
One of Sefton Hall’s Nurses, Daniela, an RGN., really felt something was unusual and not right. She researched his medication. She also looked at their potential side effects and became aware he was on a high dose of medication intended to relieve ‘the shakes’ he previously suffered from. She found out this medication had been prescribed for over 10 years before he came to us. He registered newly with the Homes GP. when he came to us.
Upon approaching the GP, she (the GP.) was open to the possibility of the medication side effects triggering the behaviours David had experienced and agreed to reduce his medication.
David subsequently regained full and normal health, does not have a dementia and has now left Sefton Hall. He has bought a flat overlooking the sea. He has also bought a laptop and is now going to resume research.
David has little recollection of recent years, but despite this, is so happy to be ‘alive’ again.
This story is of course double edged, but he only looks forwards.He visits the Home regularly and has become a real friend.
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