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Investigations are ongoing into a cluster of Listeria monocytogenes (LM) cases linked to two mousse desserts (chocolate and vanilla, and strawberry and vanilla). These products match clinical isolates from the outbreak, and other desserts may also be affected.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA), UKHSA, and local authorities are investigating. NHS hospitals have been advised to remove these products, and care homes are also instructed not to serve the affected mousse. Schools are not impacted, as they do not serve high-risk consumer groups.
Actions Required:
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Withdraw from food service and sale all desserts at healthcare settings (regardless of brand), manufactured at B. & A. Susca Limited, Pine Street, Off Bennett Street, Hyde, Cheshire, SK14 4TG. This is a precautionary measure while investigations continue.
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Place on hold/quarantine desserts removed from service/sale, until further advice is provided by the Local Authority and FSA. Disposal is not required.
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Other Cool Delight brand desserts not from this manufacturing site are not affected. If unsure whether a product is from this site, place it on hold and contact the supplier to confirm its origin.
While LM levels in the affected products are below the legal threshold for healthy consumers, immunocompromised individuals, including hospital patients and pregnant women, are at greater risk.
For more information on Listeria, please visit this link. You can also read the FSA’s evidence to NHS food review.
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Over 15,000 CQC-regulated care providers are using the Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS) to improve their businesses and drive sector change. Recently, the workforce data for adult social services departments in England became Accredited Official Statistics.
ASC-WDS is the leading source of workforce intelligence for adult social care, supporting CQC, DHSC, and government planning. It’s free to use, with over 50% of CQC-regulated providers benefiting by influencing policy, recording staff qualifications, and accessing funding through the Learning and Development Support Scheme. ASC-WDS also allows providers to benchmark themselves against Good and Outstanding care providers. It’s a valuable tool for managing training and improving care quality.
As part of Department of Health and Social Care's (DHSC) ambitions to streamline data requests to Adult Social Care Providers, the DHSC Adult Social Care Data Policy Team have launched the Data Duplication Survey on Capacity Tacker.
The survey seeks home care and care home provider insight into external requests they receive for data and information that is already available and up-to-date on Capacity Tracker.
The survey has been produced in consultation with provider representatives. Their feedback has helped streamline a set of survey questions purposely developed to only take a few minutes of your time.
Every response will help to ensure the results are as representative as possible. Analysis of the results will be made available on Capacity Tracker.
The results will help identify the scope and scale of any duplicative requests for data already submitted through Capacity Tracker, and inform next steps in collaboration with sector partners to ensure all possible time efficiency savings from Capacity Tracker are realised for care providers and the wider sector.
If you have any questions about the survey, please email ascdatatransformation@dhsc.gov.uk
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On 12th March, the government announced changes relating to international recruitment of care workers and senior care workers. From 9th April, care providers in England who wish to recruit a new worker from overseas, or those switching from another visa route, will have to first prove that they have attempted to recruit a worker from within the UK who is already in the route and needs new sponsorship.
The Home Office are running three webinars providing further information on these changes and what they mean for ASC providers. The sessions will cover:
- Changes to Certificate of Sponsorship requests for sponsoring care workers and senior care workers based entirely in England.
- Changes to Minimum Salary Requirement
- Changes to deductions from salary
Please use the links below to register for a session:
The Department of Health and Social Care is pleased to confirm that the LDSS will continue in financial year 2025 to 2026, supporting care employers to invest in their workforce through funded training opportunities.
Updated guidance is now available on GOV.UK: Learning and Development Support Scheme (LDSS). The guidance includes all the information care employers need to access the scheme and includes a list of over 100 training courses and qualifications eligible for LDSS funding.
Many care employers have already claimed towards learning and development since the scheme launched in September 2024, supporting their staff to gain new skills and specialisms and to secure recognition for existing expertise. Care employers will now continue to be able to access these benefits through LDSS funding in financial year 2025/26.
Please note that the LDSS remains open for claims for eligible courses and qualifications that have been started and paid for between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025 (inclusive). To receive funding, claims must be submitted by 21 March 2025. Late claims submitted between 22 and 31 March 2025 will be considered on a case-by-case basis. If care employers are concerned about meeting the claims deadline for this financial year (21 March 2025), they should contact the NHSBSA support team at ASClearninganddevelopmentsupport@nhsbsa.nhs.uk as soon as possible.
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