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ASC Provider briefing - 25 March 2022
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Dear Care Provider Colleagues,
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Welcome to this week's briefing.
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Thank you to those of you who joined us at the Provider Webinar and Q&A with Mel Lock on Tuesday. For the full agenda, slides, and to watch the recap, see below. This week's briefing also includes the latest updates on guidance, information about an issue ordering test kits, a message from the Community Tissue Viability Team, and more. As ever, we appreciate your continued hard work under the current challenging circumstances.
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Please find the latest news and updates from Adult Social Care below:
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Latest Covid-19 Outbreak update
(Friday 25 March 2022)
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We have seen a further increase in our 7 day rate per 100k this week, today being reported at 1381.5 (for the period 15th to 21st March).
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The level of Covid transmission locally and nationally is now significant with increasing cases county wide and large numbers of staff now isolating across health and social care. We have 72 homes with active outbreaks and another 56 with declared clusters of cases.
As ever, please do contact us via ASCCOVID19@somerset.gov.uk and we will do what we can to support you.
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Notification of cases of Covid-19
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The Public Health team will no longer be routinely informing care settings when they identify cases of Covid-19 in their settings. Following feedback and in moving towards managing Covid-19 outbreaks in line with other disease outbreaks, this will hopefully reduce the extra administrative burden in managing Covid-19 cases.
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How to manage case of Covid-19 in care settings
- As always, please continue to inform the Health Protection Team (HPT) at UK Health Security Agency who can be contacted on 0300 303 8162, option 9 for a Covid call or if 2 or more cases email swhpt@phe.gov.uk
- UKHSA will send you an online form to complete if you have 2 or more cases
- Please follow the guidelines:
- IPC team will support with a day 3 call. Please note, the IPC team will not be currently calling homes on day 10, but will send an email requesting details
- Please follow all guidance with testing and if in an outbreak, to perform recovery testing 10 days after the last positive case of Covid-19
- Once your outbreak is over, after all PCR results from recovery testing are negative, please inform the following:
Latest guidance updates
- Visits are to be facilitated wherever possible in a risk-managed way
- Due to the vulnerability of those living in care homes, additional measures including IPC, individual risk-assessments, testing and isolation on return form some high-risk activities are required to keep staff and residents safe.
- Visitors should only enter the home if they have a negative lateral flow test on the day of the visit
- Latest change: during an outbreak, restrictions may be lifted after 10 days (reduced from 14 days) since the date of the last positive test/symptom onset date and if there are no positive results from a round of PCR testing
- Due to the higher risk nature of health and social care settings, the advice for residents and staff members working in these settings has not changed since recent general public guidance changes.
- Latest change: during an outbreak, restrictions may be lifted after 10 days (reduced from 14 days) since the date of the last positive test/symptom onset date and if there are no positive results from a round of PCR testing
Access to Test Kits
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We’ve just had confirmation that there is a technical issue impacting on staff access to test kits. There is no capacity/supply problem, but we are being advised that the problem occurs where staff try to use a pre-existing account that they have set up. UKHSA/NHSD are working to resolve the problem but in the interim, staff are able to order via the NHS Staff option without using a registered account. You simply access the online system and self declare that you work in health and social care. A quick resolution to this problem has been requested as we appreciate the importance of continued testing in social care.
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Provider Webinar and Q&A
Thanks to all those who joined us for the Provider Webinar and Q&A on Tuesday.
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In this webinar Mel Lock (Somerset County Council’s Director of Adult Social Care) was joined by Alison Bell (Public Health), David Partlow (Strategic Manager), James Sangster (Service Manager for Adults, Health, and Commissioning), and Brickchand Ramruttun (Assistant Director of Adult Social Care Operations).
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The full agenda included:
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- Covid update with Alison Bell, including detailed information on risk assessments. Download her presentation here.
- Spring booster vaccine programme, business continuity, and Proud to Care update with David Partlow.
- Annual fees and uplifts update with Mel Lock, as well as a thank you for Social Care Day of Reflection and Remembrance.
- Request for engagement from providers on the fair cost of care with James Sangster.
- Introduction from the new Assistant Director of Adult Social Care Operations, Brickchand Ramruttun.
For information on previous webinars and the next webinar, please visit the Webinars page on our website.
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Deadline Next Week! Retention Bonus for Care Providers
The deadline for applying for the retention bonus is the 31st of March. You can apply for:
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- A retention bonus of £250 for those who have been working in registered care for the last 6 months;
- A £250 payment for new starters in domiciliary care (who had not worked in care in Somerset for the preceding 3 months).
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Important DHSC Communication to All Capacity Tracker Users
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.
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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.
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We have received feedback on all the data items currently in the Capacity Tracker collection, and as we go into the new financial year we will be removing questions that are no longer required and reducing the frequency of a large number of items.
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Message from Community Tissue Viability Team
When accepting a patient with complex wounds into your care it is really important that there is a clear understanding around expectations surrounding the wound care and who will be delivering it.
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If the patient has Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (VAC) or is being managed with compression therapy (which require additional training) there should be a clear conversation about how this will be managed long-term. The District Nurse Service may be able to support the transition of care, but cannot be expected to commit to this indefinitely.
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The Community Tissue Viability Team oversees Negative Pressure Wound Therapy across Somerset and can facilitate training to ensure staff are able to take on the long-term wound care needs for patients. Equally, they can provide advice about different compression therapy options that could be easier to manage for Nursing Home staff and minimise potential risks to patients if there are limited staff able to bandage; they will also provide on-going assessment and support to this group of patients as required.
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If you have any queries or would like advice on the wound management of any current or potential patients please contact the Community Tissue Viability Team on 01460 243353 or TVN@somersetft.nhs.uk.
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Kerry Grimshaw – Tissue Viability Service Manager
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Cervical Screening - Easy Read and BSL Resources
The Department of Health and Social Care, with the support of NHS England and NHS Improvement, has launched the latest Help Us Help You – Cervical Screening Campaign, to highlight the benefits of cervical screening and remind people that it can help stop cancer before it starts. They are particularly interested in targeting disabled women and people with cervixes, especially those with a learning disability as they are less likely to attend a screening.
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Now Recruiting: Service Delivery Manager
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The RCPA is recruiting a part time (24 hour) Service Delivery Manager based in Taunton. Please view the attached advert for full details. The closing date for applications is Friday April 8th, 2022.
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Do you stand for social care? Stand for election
The deadline for candidates to stand for local election is on the 5th of April, ahead of the 5th of May election. If you are interesting in standing for County Council/Unitary or the City, Town and Parish councils, nominations must be submitted in person to the local district council office in Mendip, Sedgemoor, Somerset West and Taunton, and South Somerset by 4pm, 5th April 2022.
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These are crucial elections for Somerset with the creation of a new, unitary council in April 2023 – the first major change to the way the county is governed in almost 50 years. New councillors will build a new and very different kind of local government, that will shape the county for decades. They will have more power to drive the changes people want, whether standing for their county, or more locally in city, town, and parish council elections.
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For more information, including links to nomination packs, a useful guide, and an invitation to drop-in event on the 30th March, see the press release.
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Upcoming Event Reminders
- Weekly meeting: Every Friday at 3pm the Health Protection Team host a meeting to answer any questions care providers have about updated Covid guidance. Teams meeting link.
- RCPA Registered Managers Network Meeting (29th March 2022, 10am-11.45am). Read the agenda and information on how to join.
- Social Care Jobs Fair (April 13th 2022). Wells Town Hall. All places now filled.
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Updated Guidance
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Please continue to share or promote these briefings and our webpage to others in your organisations.
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Our incident room mailbox and contact details (see below) remains operational during core working hours so please get in touch if you have any urgent concerns or queries we can look to assist you with.
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Somerset’s Provider Engagement Team
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Adult Social Care (ASC) COVID19 Response Team
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