Finance and Capacity

Latest update on the Capacity Tracker:

Capacity Tracker User,

We are, as ever, extremely grateful for the immense work you have done in providing data via the Capacity Tracker over the past two years. This has been one of the main sources of information for central government in directing the management of the pandemic and local councils have also used your information to assist in identifying the support you need.

As you will know, the Capacity Tracker has also been the source of information on vaccination uptake for care home residents and all staff, as well as for Home Care settings and other non-CQC registered providers. As we move into the next financial year, we need to give you some important messages about Capacity Tracker:

1. The Department does need the Capacity Tracker collection to continue into the new financial year given its ongoing role in enabling the effective targeting of support in response to the pandemic, especially now as we transition to living with Covid-19.
2. You may also be aware that the Infection Control and Rapid Testing Fund (ICTF) will conclude on 31 March 2022 (guidance here). Whilst one of the conditions of access to the fund was timely completion of the Capacity Tracker, we would like to emphasise the importance of your continued submission of data and set out what we are doing to reduce your burden in supplying this key information.
3. In partnership with provider colleagues, the CQC and local government, we have received feedback from the sector on all data items currently in the Capacity Tracker collection. As a result of this feedback, we are removing questions that are no longer required and reducing the reporting frequency on most items. From 4 April, we are removing many questions directly relating to the ICTF (referred to as IPC funding questions in Capacity Tracker) and flu vaccination. We will also be reducing the frequency that you are asked to update the workforce and COVID-19 vaccination questions from daily to weekly. We will also be adding a field for care homes to be able to report the number of residents receiving a second booster where relevant – as was first announced earlier this month for spring 2022 rollout, as here. We would like to particularly stress the continuing importance of the COVID-19 vaccination data that you provide to us at DHSC and more widely to enable national oversight of the level of vaccination and protection in adult social care settings.
4. In addition to removing these questions, we are also working on a further phase to either remove or improve the remaining questions in Capacity Tracker. This will include improving vital areas such as the questions on workforce and visiting, to make sure they deliver the data that are needed for decision making by DHSC, yourselves as providers, councils, and the wider social care community. We will consult further in this phase to decide which further data items to remove.
5. Care Home vacancy information is used across NHS England and Local Authorities daily to provide vital information on bed capacity nationally. Using the Capacity Tracker to identify vacant capacity remains invaluable for those staff in discharge teams, maintaining daily updates provides confidence the information is accurate and importantly for those waiting for care, saving time and resources to reduce delays for people in hospital awaiting discharge. The Covid-19 vaccination deployment programme use the information entered by providers to track and triangulate resident and staff vaccination rates, particularly with the spring booster roll-out commencing this week along with the continued evergreen offer.
6. We have also received feedback about ways of maximising the value of the Capacity Tracker to you as providers. We are taking this on board and will also be looking to review and refresh the current “provider view” element of Capacity Tracker, which you can use to compare and benchmark your data items against the national, regional and local picture. If you have specific views on how to improve what you see from the analysis pages, please contact DHSC at Capacitytracker-guidance@DHSC.gov.uk.
7. Further on in the year there will be a more significant consideration about the future of central provider data collection and you will be invited to workshops to discuss your data needs.

The NHS and Somerset County Council have jointly agreed funding to pay all carers working in CQC regulated care in Somerset a retention bonus by March 2022, provided they have been employed and working in the care sector for the last 6 months.

Anyone who has joined or joins between September 2021 and March 2022 will still be entitled to the payment on completion of their six months. This £250 bonus payment will be based on an FTE hours and is therefore pro-rata.

There will also be a preparation start payment of £250 for all new starters in the domiciliary care sector reflecting set up costs, such as changes to insurance or transport arrangements, provided they had not worked in care in Somerset for the preceding 3 months. This will be paid 3 months after their start date if still employed and would not be pro-rata. These new starters would then be entitled to the further payment in line with the six month retention payment.

This is a huge signal of our continued intent to support our fantastic carers and providers and the work that they do for the people of Somerset. We intend to continue working with the sector on further initiatives including career progress, joint posts with the NHS, salaried positions and different models of care. The measures advised in this brief are over and above the recent hourly investment in domiciliary care pay rates.

Eligibility for these payments will be up until the end of March 2022 with carers who have joined between September 2021 and March 2022 receiving a payment after they have completed 6 months.

Further Information on how to claim for Carer Retention Payments:

• Carer Retention Bonus – Guidance for Providers
• Carer Retention Bonus – Questions and Answers (updated 20/01/22)
• Pay boost announced for carers in Somerset | Somerset County Council Newsroom (somersetnewsroom.com)

Please see the useful advice and guidance below from the CQC to care homes who are wanting to increase their bed capacity as part of the COVID-19 response.

If providers are making an application to increase their capacity and help meet DHSC or CCG COVID-19 contingency plans, it’s important they tell the CQC in their covering email and include the word ‘COVID-19’ in your email.

Further information (updated 17/12/2021).

Nationally there have been reports of business being targeted by scams.  With many people now working from home, increased stress, less opportunities to talk to colleagues and a different working environment are all things that criminals are using to their advantage to commit fraud. Employees are having to make decisions on their own without verification from their colleagues, making businesses more susceptible to scams and fraud.

Businesses Against Scams is a national initiative to help all businesses be aware of scams.  Sign-up here access to access a training session that takes around 10 minutes to complete, and which provides information on these frauds, what to look out for and how to prevent your company from falling victim to them.

Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards have produced an article for you to share with you staff about vaccine related scams.

A collaborative staffing solution in Somerset has now been launched with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Somerset County Council working in partnership to supply needs-led staffing throughout the county.  The aim is to provide a seamless staffing solution across all health and social care settings, starting with a focus on care settings affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

The temporary staffing team at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust will take the lead role in the coordination of this service for care providers.

In the event that a care provider identifies concerns re: safe staffing levels, that cannot be resolved through implementation of its own existing business continuity plans and arrangements, care providers are now able to then contact the Temporary Staffing Team (by email or phone) and submit a staffing request.  Bank / Agency staff cover will be sought by the team, with the provider invoiced at existing Somerset Foundation Trust rates.

To access the process, contact details and staffing request form, please please download: Collaborative Staffing Request Form new 2022

To view the Standard Operating Procedure, please download: SCC Staffing Sop Update 2022