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ASC Provider briefing - 24 June 2022
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Dear Care Provider Colleagues,
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Welcome to this week's briefing.
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Thanks to everyone who joined us on Tuesday 21st of June for the Provider Webinar and Q&A with Mel Lock. You can watch the recording on Teams. Topics discussed included the provider letter from DHSC, the fair cost of care exercise, and hospital admissions, discharges, and delays.
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Please find the latest news and updates from Adult Social Care below:
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Public Health Update
Several Somerset care homes have been affected by scabies outbreaks this year. It’s an uncomfortable and contagious skin infection caused by a mite. It can easily be confused with other skin conditions such as eczema, as it causes a rash and itching. The rash usually starts on the hands and spreads across the body. It can be difficult to identify as can present differently in elderly people and can take over 8 weeks for the rash to appear. Delayed diagnosis leads to outbreaks, which can be difficult to control. It passes from person to person from direct close contact.
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Scabies can be confirmed by scraping a small surface section of skin to be examined under a microscope. Dementia could be a risk factor for scabies in care homes, possibly due to wandering behaviours and increased number of physical contacts could increase the risk of transmission.
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Permethrin cream is prescribed and applied to the whole body for 8-12 hours, and repeated seven days later. If hands are washed during this time, the cream needs to be reapplied. Some residents could be offered Ivermectin tablets as an alternative to the cream. All care home staff and residents require treatment.
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Clothes, bed linen and towels should be washed at 50°C or above. Any clothes not possible to wash should be put in a plastic bag for 72 hours.
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A doctor may diagnose secondary skin infections to be treated with antibiotics on staff/residents.
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Mask Wearing in Care Homes
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As a result, the release of the update for NHS settings has caused some confusion within Adult Social Care settings regarding the use of face masks.
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Although universal mask wearing has been stepped back in select areas within NHS settings, the updated guidance continues to recommend universal mask wearing in areas where clinically vulnerable individuals are cared for.
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In summary - Face masks should continue to be worn by all care workers and encouraged for visitors within care homes, irrespective of whether the person being cared for is known or suspected to have COVID-19 or not.
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iPad Closedown Question and Answer Sheet
Please find attached an updated question and answer sheet for care providers (new information in green). The most important message is, if they want to be able to continue using their iPad, they need to accept the reset command during the first week of July. For further queries, please don’t hesitate to contact Emma Lenden (emma.lenden1@nhs.net) or the iPad team (ipad.offer@nhsx.nhs.uk).
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SEND Annual Survey
The partnership delivering Special Educational Needs and/or Disability (SEND) services in Somerset, Somerset County Council, Somerset NHS Clinical Commissioning Group and Somerset Parent Carer Forum have launched their SEND annual survey. They would like to hear from professionals who access or work in a SEND service, as well as parent carers and young people. Let us know what is working well and what improvements you would like to see.
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Letter to Providers
This week, DHSC wrote to providers around upcoming changes to data collection and the information they will be requesting you submit via the Capacity Tracker from 31st July.
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The current data collection will be reduced from weekly to monthly, in line with the 'living with Covid' policy. This does not apply to separate requests for daily data from Discharge teams.
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The data that will be requested will include:
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- care home bed vacancies and home care service users
- workforce resourcing including absences
- vaccination - COVID-19 and (seasonal) flu including data relating to the coming autumn’s COVID-19 booster campaign
- visiting (care home) data.
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Digital Skills Framework
The Digital Skills Framework covers seven key themes for effective digital working and can help people working in adult social care to develop their digital skills. It is linked to case studies and training that is currently available to the sector.
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NHS-TD and Skills for Care are now at stage 2 of developing the adult social care skills framework. This stage includes developing specific skills and capabilities for each theme and further case studies and links to training.
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Skills for Care are leading on the employer engagement section of this work. To support the development of the framework, we will be holding a series of workshop, facilitated by Skills for Care, for employers and local authorities to develop the framework further.
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Employers who are at all stages of their digital journey, from those that are just starting to use technology to those that use technology such as hand-held devices every day. Skills for Care are looking for staff who are involved in learning and development of staff, Nominated Individuals, Registered Managers, Deputy Managers, Senior staff and Digital Champions.
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Local Authorities – staff who are involved in supporting the development and roll out of local digital initiatives to the adult social care sector.
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At the workshop you will be introduced to the framework and then asked a series of questions about the specific skills and capabilities you feel should be included for each key theme.
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Workshops will take place on the following dates next month, please not you will not need to attend all of the sessions, however if you have multiple staff who would like to be involved, please do indicate which dates these staff will attend.
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- Wednesday, 6th – 10:00 – 12:00
- Thursday, 7th – 14:00 – 16:00
- Tuesday, 12th – 14:00 – 16:00
- Thursday, 14th – 10:00 – 12:00
- Thursday, 21st – 10:00 – 12:00
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If you would like to be involved, please email digital@skillsforcare.org.uk stating which workshop date you would like to attend and provide us with the following information:
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Type of care delivered as registered with CQC (if applicable):
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What type of technology do you currently use? i.e. hand held mobile devices for care planning, email, echo fall systems, oximeter monitoring
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Are you happy for details to be stored? Yes/No
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Reminder: Visits from Proud to Care
We would really appreciate it if you would allow the Proud to Care Team (Natasha Gosney and Rose Wheeler) to visit your care settings to capture parties, activities and the strong bonds between staff and the people they support and create some positive media representation of what it’s like working in care. Tash and Rose would come in, film, make cups of tea and would love to meet the team and the people they support. If we use the content created, your settings will be tagged on our social media and if you advertise jobs through the Proud to Care platform we will add links to your vacancies. We want it to be a relaxed meeting and nothing formal.
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Recruitment Events
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We are planning to hold two workforce recruitment events on either side of the county, with a specific intention of looking at the potential employment of refugees from Ukraine and elsewhere. We know that displaced people come with multiple skills and backgrounds and we are keen to support them into employment. The Proud to Care team will be attending these events. Further details to come closer to the time should any providers also wish to engage.
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North Sedgemoor patients get access to tests closer to home
Patients in the North Sedgemoor area can now get a range of blood tests and investigations at their local community hospital.
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It’s all part of a new community investigation hub that has launched at Burnham-on-Sea Hospital and means that many patients no longer need to travel to Musgrove Park Hospital for hospital-related blood tests.
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The service is run by the North Sedgemoor primary care network with assistant practitioner Debbie Sinclair providing the lead role.
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The overall vision for Somerset is for all 13 primary care networks in the county to have their own similar hubs.
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Come and meet marrgo, the new buying website
We are thrilled to have recently launched our new innovation, marrgo, the new buying website for the care sector, and are delighted to have the opportunity to introduce marrgo to the RCPA. We know from talking to you and your peers across the care sector that it is vitally important that organisations have peace of mind when buying goods and services; furthermore, being able to purchase products at great prices from a trusted source of suppliers are equally important. With more and more purchasing heading online, technology must play a role to ensure purchasing is as convenient as possible. As a result, we have invested significantly to develop and bring you, marrgo, the only curated buying website dedicated to the care sector which can provide peace of mind and exceptional value. Come to the session on the 5th of July at 10am on Microsoft Teams: “How can a buying website help you and your organisation” to find out more.
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Digital Image Library
As part of Centre for Aging Better's age-positive image library, they'll be photographing people over 50 who are carers. They’ve hired a professional photographer to travel around England, with shoots scheduled to take place in June.
If you’re a carer and interested in volunteering a couple of hours to be photographed, then contact digital@ageing-better.org.uk for more information.
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Latest Covid-19 Outbreak update
(Friday 24 June 2022)
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Our 7 day rate per 100k this week has again increased, today being reported at 143.7 (for the period 11th to 17th June). We are still experiencing substantial pressure in the system, which is currently OPEL level 4.
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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.
- Looking After People's Oral Health; A Training Session for Health & Social Care Professionals, Tuesday 5th July, 9.30am to 12.30pm. View the meeting agenda here, and Sign Up Here
- Application of the Mental Capacity Act for 16 and 17 Year Olds, Tuesday 11th October 2022, 9am to 1.30pm. See the flyer, and book your place here.
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Updated Guidance
- No new guidance this week
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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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