Please note the change to the Devon County Council Remittance Advice process covered in this week’s issue, and make sure you have the required restricted access shared mailbox in place.

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.

DCC Remittance Advice process change: Restricted Access Shared Mailboxes Required with Short Form to complete

Devon County Council is working to establish a process whereby all remittance breakdowns are emailed to Care Home providers in the future, which requires changes to our ICT systems.

This will mean that a full breakdown can be provided at an earlier stage via email, reducing demand/workload on your finance teams. A pilot is underway to test the new process with several local care homes. Once this pilot is complete, feedback has been collated and, all necessary amendments have been implemented, the plan is to roll it out to all Adult Social Care providers who require remittance breakdowns.

For this new process to work all providers who require a remittance breakdown are required to set up a shared mailbox that is restricted to those people who manage the remittances.

On receipt of an emailed remittance, providers who do not already use Egress for secure email, will need to create a free Egress account to retrieve their remittance advice.  This is necessary to ensure compliance with our information security obligations under data protection laws.

ACTION REQUIRED – ALL CARE HOME PROVIDERS: Please complete this short form once you have a shared mailbox set up for remittance advice.

Devon County Council will only send remittance information to this email address. 

Please note that you must use the current online form for reprint requests - as detailed on your remittance slip, until we communicate with you about a go live date for this longer-term change.

If you have any queries about this issue please email socialcarebusinessrelations-mailbox@devon.gov.uk

Autumn 2023 Vaccination Programme announced

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has announced its advice regarding persons who will be eligible for a COVID-19 booster vaccine in autumn 2023.

The UK COVID-19 vaccination programme is now entering its third autumn season. Vaccination helps to protect against severe illness, hospitalisations, and deaths from COVID-19.

The advice for this autumn is to offer the vaccine to those at high risk of serious disease and who are therefore most likely to benefit from vaccination.

Specifically, JCVI advises the following groups to be offered a COVID-19 booster vaccine this autumn:

• residents in a care home for older adults
• all adults aged 65 years and over.
• persons aged 6 months to 64 years in a clinical risk group, as laid out in the Immunisation Green Book, COVID-19 chapter (Green Book)
• frontline health and social care workers
• persons aged 12 to 64 years who are household contacts (as defined in the Green Book) of people with immunosuppression.
• persons aged 16 to 64 years who are carers (as defined in the Green Book) and staff working in care homes for older adults.

From autumn 2023, JCVI additionally advises that primary course COVID-19 vaccination for persons who have not had any COVID-19 vaccines before should consist of a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Eligibility for primary course vaccination will be the same as for the autumn 2023 booster.

NHS England will confirm details on how and when eligible people can access the autumn booster vaccine in due course.

Further details can be found here JCVI statement on the COVID-19 vaccination programme for autumn 2023, 26 May 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Information sheet related to linen processing within adult social care

In response to recent queries this summer regarding bacteria being present in linen, UKHSA have issued a summary sheet of best practices for controlling the spread of bacteria.  This information can be found here: Linen processing within adult social care: information sheet - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Main messages

• In the summer bacteria can grow on linen faster because of higher temperatures.
• Appropriate handling of linen can decrease the risk of infection from contaminated linen. National guidelines on correct handling of linen are in place and are outlined in the above document.

In addition to the summary sheet, more Information on laundry practices is available in the following guidance: Prevention and control of infection in care homes - an information resource (publishing.service.gov.uk). 

MyLife Referral Form has been turned off 

Please note that the online MyLife safeguarding referral form on the Safeguarding Adults Partnership has been turned off, for the time being. The Word form remains on the site for email referrals into the Devon County Council Adult Safeguarding Hubs. 

Home - Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership

Safer Recruitment Practices & Temporary Agency Staff Vetting

Please remember that all providers must ensure  that staff supplied by ‘Agencies’ are properly vetted and inducted into  services prior to providing care and support to individuals.

The Care Quality Commission sets out clear standards regarding safe recruitment, induction and training of staff to ensure they are suitable and competent for care and support roles. This duty extends to ensuring as far as is reasonably possible that temporary staff  ‘hired’ from a Temporary Staffing Agency have also been through the same stringent pre-employment checks and have received the same level of legislative & mandatory training and other employees. You should also ensure that temporary workers are appropriately inducted into your services and know how to raise concerns should they need to.

Devon County Council also places these responsibilities on non-regulated service Providers via our contracts for non-regulated support and enabling services.

Temporary Staffing Agencies should provide you with profiles of their workers when they assign them to you. The profile should confirm the workers experience, training / competencies; give a confirmation that a full employment history has been reviewed, with satisfactory explanation for gaps in employment; satisfactory employment references have been obtained and that DBS Disclosure has been sought from the Disclosure & Barring Service upon engagement. Where appropriate, an annual confirmation should be available to demonstrate the Agency has obtained a confirmation that no criminal convictions, cautions, reprimands or bind-overs have been received that would prevent the worker from working with vulnerable adults or children.

Concerns regarding the suitability and competence of temporary agency staff should always be directed to the Staffing Agency you have engaged to provide them. However, serious concerns which result from allegations of abuse, neglect or the competence of temporary agency workers should be alerted to Devon County Council’s safeguarding teams via:

Home - Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership

Information for professionals - Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership

Children services links below:

Make a request for support or report a child safety concern - Devon Children and Families Partnership (dcfp.org.uk)

Making a request for support | Devon Children and Families Partnership | Devon County Council

Further advice on safe recruitment in social care is available by following this link

 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-hiring-toolkit-supports-care-providers-with-safer-recruitment

The Council has also become increasingly aware of circumstances where international recruits to the sector are at a higher risk of being exploited. Should you suspect or become aware of such circumstances, particularly where the Staffing Agency also makes arrangements for local accommodation for the agency worker, please help us to protect them by alerting us and other appropriate authorities.

https://modernslavery.gov.uk/start

Modern Slavery Helpline: 0800 0121 700

September Locality Provider Forums

The next round of Operational Locality Forums for all care providers in a particular area will be taking place on:

South - 18 September, 1.30-2.30pm

East - 19 September, 2-3pm

West - 21 September, 1.30-2.30pm

North - 21 September, 3-4pm

Invite links and agenda items will be sent out closer to the time.

Free Falls Prevention and Response Training in North Devon

This training is being offered by the NHS Northern Devon Care Home Team to enhance or update skills and knowledge in reducing the risk of falls and knowing what to do when they occur.

This training is being offered virtually or face to face and will be based around the recommendations of the World Guidelines for Falls Prevention recommendations. training will include:

1. Identifying falls risks and the main causes
2. The physical and psychological effects of having a fall
3. How to reduce the risk and number of falls
4. Immediate procedure to follow for a witnessed or unwitnessed fall
5. Planning prevention of further falls

To book on this topic please complete and submit Pre-Training Assessment form via the following link to enable us to tailor the training to your care setting.

https://forms.office.com/e/06nJxzqeSp 

A Yellow Heat-Health Alert has been issued for the South West

A Yellow Heat-Health Alert has today been issued by the UK Health Security Agency and the Met Office. 

YELLOW Heat-Health Alert - South West and is in effect between 16 August at 12 and 19 August at 9am.

Advice and information from the UKHSA:

User guide to use of impact based Heat-Health Alerts system

UKHSA Action Cards

Heat-Health Alert Action card for the voluntary and community sector

Heat-Health Alert Action card for commissioners

Heat-Health Alert Action card for providers

Heat-Health Alert Action card for national government

Further Advice and guidance

UKHSA Adverse Weather and Health Plan and supporting evidence

Hot weather and Health: supporting vulnerable people

Find the latest weather forecasts and warnings

Met Office National Severe Weather Warning Service

Flood Alerts and Warnings

Proud to Care Summer Recruitment Campaign now live!

Proud to Care is running a new digital recruitment campaign on social media and Google. This campaign aims to portray the variety of roles and career pathways available in the adult social care sector, and move away from the preconception of care work being just personal care for the elderly.

Please visit our social media channels to see for yourself and share via your own accounts:

Facebook: @ProudtoCareDevon

Twitter: @ProudtoCare

Instagram: @proudtocaredevon

LinkedIn: @ProudtoCare

To benefit from applicants from this campaign, ensure you advertise your vacancies for FREE using Proud to Care’s self-service Jobs Board.

For further information, please email Proud to Care.

Remember to share your good news stories in this newsletter

Has your support helped transform someone’s life? Have you got innovative practice to share? Send us your celebratory photos and words and we will help share good practice.

Revisit previous good news stories

Issue 139, 17 August

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

Introducing the new Eastern Training & Education Opportunities page

A page full of funded training in collaboration with the Eastern Care Services Team and others. Including Restore2, oral health, prevention & control of infections and more! Available for Registered Care Homes and Care Providers in Mid Devon, East Devon and Exeter.

NHS and Care Volunteer Responders

The Volunteer Responders programme – now named NHS and Care Volunteer Responders - is being expanded to support adult social care providers in England. You can now arrange volunteer support for recipients of social care, including domiciliary care and people living in care homes. The volunteer services on offer include:

• Check in and Chat – short-term telephone support consisting of friendly conversations to improve mental health and wellbeing.
• Pick up and deliver – transportation of medication to people’s homes from NHS sites.
• Community Response (coming soon) – help with activities including collecting and delivering food shopping and essential items and / or prescriptions and medications.

For more information, please visit the NHS Care Volunteer Responders website. 

Social media support for Adult Social Care vacancies

If you are a provider with vacancies you are struggling to fill, Proud to Care can help increase your job’s exposure through their social media accounts.

Once your advert is live on Proud to Care’s Jobs Board, not only can they can share your job advert through Proud to Care’s Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts, but can also post in local Community Facebook Groups to reach potential applicants at a more local level.

To find out more and request social media support, please email Proud to Care.

DCC COVID-19 updates

Coronavirus advice to the public

PEN events calendar

Check the calendar for future events.

National COVID-19 guidance updates

The GOV.UK website

The NHS.UK website

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.

Get involved in Provider Engagement Network activities

There are a variety of ways for you to engage with us. These include regular emails, newsletters, webinars and engagement meetings. 

PEN participation - Provider Engagement Network (devon.gov.uk)

PEN newsletter archive

View previous issues

Integrated Care System for Devon (ICSD)

ICSD 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.

Are your contact details up-to-date?

We encourage providers to update their contact details (especially email addresses) with the Procurement team. We use these details to communicate with providers. It is very important that we reach the correct person in your organisation to receive appropriate referrals and timely updates from DCC, and that you do not miss out on any opportunities. Please ensure we have your most recent email address.

NICE newsletters and alerts sign up

Keep up to date with the latest news and guidance that may impact on your service and clients via the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

Sign up to receive NICE newsletters here.

Remember that the Devon COVID 19 Vaccination Support Team are here to help!

If you have an enquiry regarding your COVID 19 Vaccination, please contact the Vaccination Support Team Email:d-icb.devonvaccinationsupport@nhs.net Telephone: 01752 398 836 Check your eligibility here.

Want to work for Yourself offering care and support? Community Catalyst can help!

Benefit from free professional advice to help you get set up!  

Too find out more please contact Simon Tickner, Devon Community Catalyst by calling or texting 07741 260 674, or emailing simon.tickner@communitycatalysts.co.uk  - or you can leave your details on the website to get a call back.

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.

Agency Contact List online reminder

Dear Providers,  you can find the Agency Contact List on the PEN Website here  should you need to find additional staff.

Also please remember that COVID-19 Cases have been increasing recently so this is a timely reminder in case you require additional staffing.

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.

‘Pinpoint’ – the Devon Community Directory

PinPoint is Devon's community directory, used by the public, GP’s, health sector, DCC staff in order to find suitable services and support in their local area. Please can providers ensure you have your company/ service details registered on here and ensure the information is always up to date. It is populated by providers through setting up an account. If you need help or see any errors please email pinpoint@devon.gov.uk

Affordable, Devon Based, Quality Assured Healthcare Training from Life Lessons

Are you looking for regulated, accredited, cost effective, quality Healthcare Training delivered by an experienced, knowledgeable and personable trainer? Training that your staff will engage with and enjoy?

Life Lessons Training offers over 35 different Healthcare courses including mandatory training, induction training and update training. We can come to you and do some in house training or you can come to us, the choice is yours!

Contact Rosie by leaving a message on 07543 678002 or emailing rosie@lifelessonstraining.com or visit www.lifelessonstraining.com

Self-Neglect Provider Training

Here is the full list of all the training offers with Grey Matter Learning and details on how providers can access below.  

A selection of eLearning that might be suitable for Self-Neglect:

• Mental health first aid
• Oral health care
• Sepsis Awareness
• Skin integrity and pressure ulcers
• Safeguarding (contains a section on self-neglect)

How to access Grey Matter Learning

To sign up for an account, all providers and personal assistants contact the Grey Matter Learning team. Select access training and then complete the contact us page that you would like an account under the Devon County Council funding. A member of the Grey Matter Learning team will then be in touch with you to set up an account.