Welcome to the Contracts and
Performance Newsletter
3rd Edition – May 2018
As we enter the start of a new financial year (and the lead-up to the summer!) we are aware that such matters can often be at the forefront of care providers minds. Therefore, this edition of our newsletter has a distinctly financially-orientated theme, including information that we hope will go some way in clearing up confusion relating to top-up agreements for people funded by WSCC to receive care.
This edition also offers some guidance relating to the potentially awkward conversations that care providers have with prospective customers, or their relatives, about their financial status and how this links with planning their care.
We are proud to announce that the 2018/19 edition of the annual West Sussex Care Guide will soon be published. This is a useful resource for care professionals as well as people looking for care for themselves or for friends and family members. This will be published both as an electronic version and in hard copy print.
As with the previous edition, we end this newsletter with another set of "Top Ten Tips" from the Care and Business
Support Team - this time relating to agency staff and how to more effectively make use of an integral and often unavoidable resource in a way that can be of benefit to the day-to-day running of a care service. The item offers
guidance and ideas for care providers relating to planning for and managing agency cover to ensure good continuity of care for individuals being supported by your service. The item includes some links to
further information, which we hope you'll find useful.
Please
see the contents list below showing all the other items in this edition.
We
are still eager to hear about good news relating to your care services that we
can share. Please send links or scanned images from publications
to contracts@westsussex.gov.uk.
Feel
free to contact us if you have any feedback about the newsletter or any
suggestions for items to include in future editions. We hope you find this
newsletter a useful resource that offers care providers relevant and important
information.
Kind
regards
Contracts
and Performance Team
As
you may have already seen, the UK Government have now reached an agreement
with the European Union on citizens’ rights.
If
this applies to you, or any of your staff, we hope it provides you with the necessary reassurance.
Here
is a brief summary of the agreement reached for EU citizens and their
families:
- People who, by 29
March 2019, have been continuously and lawfully living here for 5 years will be
able to apply to stay indefinitely by getting ‘settled status’. That means they
will be free to live here, have access to public funds and services and go on to
apply for British citizenship.
- People who arrive
by 29 March 2019, but won’t have been living here lawfully for 5 years when we
leave the EU, will be able to apply to stay until they have reached the 5-year
threshold. They can then also apply for settled status.
- Family members
who are living with, or join, EU citizens in the UK by 29 March 2019 will also
be able to apply for settled status, usually after 5 years in the
UK.
- Close family
members (spouses, civil and unmarried partners, dependent children and
grandchildren, and dependent parents and grandparents) will be able to join EU
citizens after exit, where the relationship existed on 29 March
2019.
There is no need
for EU citizens living in the UK to do anything now.
More information related to EU citizen status can be found on the gov.uk website here.
 All care services contracted with West Sussex County Council to deliver care should now have received a letter informing them of the uplifts to our usual maximum care rates for the 2018-19 financial year. These were sent week ending 23rd March 2018.
If you have not received a letter, please email our team at contracts@westsussex.gov.uk and we will ensure this is sent over to you with a copy of the new Schedule of Rates, if appropriate.
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We regularly receive enquiries about top up payments so hope the following reminder is helpful.
All individuals
may exercise choice over the care home they live
in. When the local authority funds a person’s care, if their choice is
more expensive that the rate the local authority would ordinarily pay for the
person’s care, they can still move into the care home as long as there is a
third party (such as a family member of charity) willing and able to fund the
“gap” for the duration of the placement. This is called a ‘Top-up’.
West Sussex County Council,
in line with the Care Act 2014, will discuss and enter into a formal agreement with the third party(ies) to collect any third
party ‘top up’ payment(s) as required. These are subsequently paid
together (gross) with our (West Sussex)
payment(s) of care home fees. Any variation of fees for individuals with third party top
up agreements will require the Provider to notify the Third Party and the Council of any proposed variation and will require at
least 8 weeks’ notice. This allows time for the necessary discussion and
agreement to fee variation with the relevant funding parties.
Third party top ups are sometimes confused with a client contributions, the two are separate. Third party ‘Top ups’ are discussed and agreed by the Council and paid gross with our agreed fees. Client contributions will depend upon the outcome of a statutory financial assessment, the outcome amount will be notified to the Service Provider in writing and these are required to be collected by the Service Provider direct from the Service User. Any changes in subsequent financial assessments which affect the Service User’s contribution are notified in writing by the Council to the Service Provider.
Choosing long-term care could be one of the most expensive decisions individuals make. Good financial planning is vital, particularly as West Sussex residents can expect to pay around £45,000 or more per year for care in a residential home, yet many people do not take financial advice to help them make informed choices.
People who are funding their own care may not be aware of all the available options. It may seem simplest to pay care fees from savings, income or selling your home, but this may not be the best solution.
Providers should encourage people funding their own care to access independent financial advice at the point of referral.
Having an early conversation with people referred to you provides increased options for the individuals looking to make decisions on care homes and how they will fund their care. If someone living in your service is no longer able to pay for their fees, (because they have reached the capital threshold of £23,250), they may then be supported by the local authority. Where the local authority takes responsibility for funding they cannot guarantee that the person will remain in the same home if the fees are in excess of the rate usually paid for people funded by West Sussex County Council.
An early conversation and referral to independent financial advice therefore also helps you as a business. This is where Carewise can help. Carewise was
set up by the County Council, Age UK West Sussex, West Sussex Partners in Care
and the Society of Later Life Advisers (SOLLA).
Carewise includes a panel of care fees specialists, who are independent financial advisers specialising in financial planning for later life. They can advise people on what type of care and support at home or residential care they can afford and help to preserve savings and assets for as long as possible.
All the Carewise care fees specialists are Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checked and trained in safeguarding adults. They are also members of the ‘Buy with Confidence’ or equivalent consumer scheme and accredited by SOLLA, a consumer organisation that aims to improve the standard of financial advice for older people.
For more information on the Carewise scheme and to see a list of local care fee specialists, visit our Connect to Support website or contact Adults’ CarePoint on 01243 642121 or email socialcare@westsussex.gov.uk.
There are of course other financial advisers available and you
are advised to ensure that they are appropriately qualified and we would
recommend, accredited by the Society of Later Life Advisers.
Following February’s letter sent to all care providers in West Sussex, please can you ensure that you have returned your listing information for your care service to enable us to be certain that the information published is correct. If you have not returned it and wish to email the details to us, please do so by Thursday 3rd May via contracts@westsussex.gov.uk. Please feel free to check your service's details in the current Care Guide edition, which you can find an electronic version of here: West Sussex Care Guide 2017/18. |
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Western Sussex Dietitians based at St
Richard’s Hospital in Chichester provide a Community dietetic service as part
of a service agreement with Sussex Community Foundation Trust. The service
provides a domiciliary service for individuals in their own homes and in care
homes who are unable to attend an outpatient appointment to see a
dietitian.
The NRICH project was adopted to promote consistent nutritional
screening practise and a food first approach in care homes. A number of
resources including an NRICH Care Home Resource pack and other tools and
information promoting nutrition are available via the Western Sussex Hospitals website.
 The e-Learning for Healthcare website is a Health Education England programme working in partnership with the NHS to improve care by providing e-learning to educate and train the health and social care workforce. Its programme (which you can browse here: https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/) includes courses and e-learning modules such as DOLS and dementia, which are now
available for care homes and hospice staff - some free of charge. These e-modules are provided by
Health Education England. In order to enrol onto the course, please use this link to the e-LfH portal to browse and register.
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Dementia Action Week 2018 will take place on Monday 21 May – Sunday 27 May 2018. Throughout this week, West Sussex County Council will be encouraging everyone to help raise awareness of Dementia across the county.
WSCC has listed events and information in support of the campaign (link here).
The page for the campaign, which is being led by Alzheimer's Society, is here: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/DementiaActionWeek
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Some of you may be aware of the Velo South event
taking place in the County on 23 September 2018. The event company CSM Active is
organising the event; as a domiciliary care provider registered in the County
or a Care Home in or near the affected roads, they will be contacting you with
further details and contacts so you can make any necessary contingency
arrangements (for care staff and rotas) for this day. If you have any questions
in advance of this information, please contact: route@velosouth.com. You can also view the route to check whether your service may be affected by the event on the Velo South website.
1. Develop a relationship with the manager
and office staff of the care agency that you have chosen to use. Good
communication is key!
2. Confirm with the agency that all mandatory
training and key skills assessments have
been carried out.
3. Check:
- Compliance with the Working Time Directive (ensure that the opt out agreement has been signed if necessary)
- Disclosure and Barring Service checks
- Eligibility to work in the UK
4. To ensure you have the right
candidate for the role, be clear with the agency
about your requirements and expectations.
5. When the person arrives from
the agency ensure that there is someone available
to welcome them, check their photo ID and obtain their emergency contact details.
6. A nominated person should go through the agency staff induction to
enable the person to work effectively.
7. Induction should be appropriate to the role and might include the
following:
- Contact details of person on call for the service
- Floor plan of the setting
- Care plans
- First aid kits
- Fire evacuation and Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan
- Business Continuity Plan
- Safeguarding
- Confidentiality
- Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR) Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) guidance,
-
Home’s policies and procedures
8. Agency staff should also be introduced to the people living in
the home as well as to the ethos and values of the home
9. If you are using agency staff on a regular basis consider offering them:
- Bespoke training to aid understanding of people you are supporting; for example, people with Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, or dementia
- Supervision
- An invitation to staff meetings
10. Encourage feedback from agency
staff as this could support your quality assurance practice and procedures.
Offer developmental feedback to the agency staff too.
Further
links, information and resources
Agency Workers Regulations Guidance
Employing People – Gov. UK
ACAS Employing Staff
Contract and working hours
Night working hours
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