COVID-19 - News updates for all West Sussex Care and Support Providers
04 June 2020
Welcome to today's newsletter, which includes the following:
Please let us know if there is anything else you would find helpful to include in the newsletters and we'll do our best to add them. Contact us at contracts@westsussex.gov.uk.
A new dedicated COVID-19 website is now live and available for all care providers across West Sussex.
The West Sussex Connect to Support provider zone brings together a wide range of useful and up-to-date information in one easy to use website. This has been designed to support your business, your workforce and your customers during the pandemic. Here you will find national and local guidance and resources on essential topics including PPE, infection control, COVID-19 testing and workforce and recruitment.
There is also a ‘resource pack’ which provides you with ready access to key guidance and information from each of the topic areas.
The website will be regularly updated as the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve.
‘Business as usual’ support and guidance is also available on the new provider zone.
We have also established a single point of contact for care providers for COVID-19 enquiries. You can find the details on the home page of the provider zone.
We hope you find these new resources useful.
If there are any other areas of information, advice or guidance that you would like included on the new provider zone please let us know by contacting contracts@westsussex.gov.uk.
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The following information was shared with all registered care homes in West Sussex this morning, however we thought it would be a useful update for all care providers. We will provide further updates in as they become available.
On 15 May 2020 the government announced a care home support package backed by a £600m infection control fund. Many care providers are facing challenges, however care homes have been particularly susceptible to outbreaks of COVID-19. Therefore, this fund focuses on how to prevent and control COVID-19 in all registered care homes, and help improve infection control measures and so reduce coronavirus infections.
Allocation of the money to local authorities was determined predominantly by the number of CQC registered beds across all client groups. The expectation is that 75% of the allocation be passported to care homes directly and the remaining 25% be determined by local need in improving infection control measures. To be eligible for the money, care homes must be registered on the NHS capacity tracker and show that they have completed the tracker at least once and commit to completing it on a consistent basis.
The funding is being given to care homes in two tranches, with the second tranche being allocated only if providers have consistently updated the capacity tracker. Please note conditions relating to the grant have been set by the government which the local authority has no discretion to change.
The government expectation of us, as your local authority, was that our Chief Executive Officer would work with system partners to agree a return communication to the government consisting of:
- a letter that sets out a short overview of their current activity and forward plan;
- a short template that confirms the current level of access to the support offer. This template asks for confirmation of the number of care homes in our area where these commitments are being delivered, including homes that we do not directly commission from, as well as details of issues and support needs; and
- confirmation that as a local authority we are carrying out a daily review of the local care market (including all relevant data, especially on care homes), and taking actions immediately where necessary to support.
The county council’s letter and template was returned to the government on 29 May 2020 and these will be reviewed at regional and national levels. We have now published our letter that sets out our care home resilience plans together with the template showing current levels of access to support. You can find these documents on the links below.
In addition, we have also published the levels of financial support given to the care market. Please find this information on our new Provider Zone website here under the ‘COVID-19 West Sussex County Council care provider funding support’ section.
With thanks again,
Contracts and Performance Team
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