What's New Bulletin 86 - 24 March 2022
This is the eighty sixth weekly provider bulletin, containing information on guidance, procedures and new initiatives. Very urgent or high priority communications may still be issued on an ad hoc basis, but we will try to keep these to a minimum.
COVID RELATED INFORMATION
- UPDATED GUIDANCE COVID-19 vaccination: spring booster guide and resources for those aged 75 and older and older residents in care homes (information for all providers)
- UPDATED GUIDANCE Visiting arrangements in care homes (information for all care homes)
- UPDATED GUIDANCE Coronavirus (COVID-19): admission and care of people in care homes (information for all care homes)
- Infection Control and Testing Fund round 3 – Final spend reporting (information for all Birmingham providers)
- Workforce Recruitment and Retention Fund round 1 and 2 – Final spend reporting (information for all Birmingham providers)
- Covid Memorial Meadow Seed Sowing Event - Saturday 26 March 10 till 1 Birmingham Peace Garden (information for all providers)
IN OTHER NEWS
- Quality monitoring visit (QMV) update (information for all Birmingham City Council contracted providers)
- Department of Health and Social Care, Care Home and Home Care Markets Survey – Have your say (information for all providers)
- Falls and Fracture Prevention Service (information for all providers)
- NHS England and NHS Improvement Autism Programme webinars during World Autism Acceptance Week (information for all providers)
- Resources to support social care workers in discussing sexuality and relationships (information for all providers)
- Elevated cyber threat following Russian invasion of Ukraine (information for all providers)
- Department of Health and Social Care Help Us Help You – Cervical Screening Campaign (information for all younger adult providers)
COVID RELATED INFORMATION
1.UPDATED GUIDANCE COVID-19 vaccination: spring booster guide and resources for those aged 75 and older and older residents in care homes (information for all providers)
People aged 75 years and older, residents in care homes for older people, and those with weakened immune systems will be offered a spring booster of coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine. Appointments will be available from the National Booking Service shortly.
A field is being added to the Capacity Tracker for care homes to be able to report the number of residents receiving a second booster where relevant.
The full guidance can be found below:
Resources can be found below:
COVID-19 vaccination: spring booster resources
2.UPDATED GUIDANCE Visiting arrangements in care homes (information for all care homes)
This guidance sets out how care homes can support families and visitors to visit residents. It has been updated to reduce the duration of outbreak management in care homes from 14 days to 10 days.
The full guidance can be found below:
Visiting arrangements in care homes
3.UPDATED GUIDANCE Coronavirus (COVID-19): admission and care of people in care homes (information for all care homes)
This guidance sets out how to protect care home residents and staff during the coronavirus outbreak. It has been updated to reduce the duration of outbreak management in care homes from 14 days to 10 days.
The full guidance can be found below:
Coronavirus (COVID-19): admission and care of people in care homes
4.Infection Control and Testing Fund round 3 – Final spend reporting (information for all Birmingham providers)
Further to the distribution of the Infection Control and Testing Fund round 3 grant funding, all recipient locations are now required to provide final spend reporting declarations for all months from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022. Allocation lists have been circulated to providers that set out the amount and breakdowns of the funds distributed - if you don't have copies, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk . Please complete and submit the relevant online form using the links below for each CQC registered location which has received the grant from Birmingham City Council. Deadline for submission is 15 April 2022.
Care Homes final spending report
Community Care final spending report
Please ensure that you input the correct CQC location name and ID number when completing the forms. Incorrect details will render the form invalid and it will be classified as a non-return.
5.Workforce Recruitment and Retention Fund round 1 and 2 – Final spend reporting (information for all Birmingham providers)
Further to the distribution of the Workforce Recruitment and Retention Fund round 1 and 2 grant funding, all recipient locations are now required to provide final spend reporting declarations up to 31 March 2022. Allocation lists have been circulated to providers which set out the amount of the funds distributed - if you don't have copies, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk . Please complete and submit the relevant online form using the link below for each CQC registered location which has received the grant from Birmingham City Council. Deadline for submission is 15 April 2022.
Workforce Recruitment and Retention Fund round 1 and 2 final spending report
There is a single form covering both care homes and community care locations. Please ensure that you input the correct CQC location name and ID number when completing the forms. Incorrect details will render the form invalid and it will be classified as a non-return.
6.Covid Memorial Meadow Seed Sowing Event - Saturday 26 March 10am to 1pm Birmingham Peace Garden (information for all providers)
We all lost something to the Covid19 pandemic. Whether it was our peace of mind, time spent with family and friends, our employment or the education of our children. There was no area of our lives that remained untouched by it. For some, the loss was the ultimate one - loved ones taken before their time. To commemorate the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Roots to Fruit Midlands Limited, are to install a legacy garden and have been asked to include an element within the space that acts as a memorial to that loss. It was quickly decided for this to be a living, breathing thing, an antithesis of the virus, an explosion of colour, life and hope.
Creating a glorious wildflower meadow, Roots to Fruit are inviting YOU to make YOUR mark on it. Their first event is on Saturday 26 March 10am to 1pm. Please feel free to turn up at any point between those 2 times!
Students have produced postcards using traditional methods to make the paper - but with the added twist of embedding wildflower seeds within it! Join on the dates below to write your message onto a postcard and then to plant it alongside all of the others to create the meadow. Over time see this bloom and blossom into something beautiful. A buzzing, thriving home to pollinating insects and other wildlife - a swirl of colour standing in defiance of the darkness.
Location - St Thomas Church Peace Garden, Bath Row, Birmingham B15 1LZ
Dates for Sowing the Meadow of Hope;
Saturday 26 March 2022 - 10am to 1pm
Wednesday 30 March 2022 - 10am to 1pm
Saturday 11 June 2022 - 10am to 1pm
Wednesday evening 27 July 5pm to 8pm
IN OTHER NEWS…………..
7.Quality monitoring visit (QMV) update (information for all Birmingham City Council contracted providers)
The Commissioning Team suspended Quality Monitoring Visits in March 2020 to prioritise our response to the Covid-19 pandemic. During this time, the process has been reviewed and revised – the fundamentals remain unchanged however the end to end process has been streamlined to make it more effective and efficient. Details of the arrangements in place can be found below:
Quality Monitoring Visits | Birmingham City Council
Providers will be contacted in due course when your visit is due. We ask that you do not contact us to check when your visit is due, as this will depend on a number of factors and will be subject to change. Whilst the above link contains all relevant information about the new processes and tools that will be used with immediate effect, there are a number of documents that will be available for download once accessibility issues are resolved. In the meantime, copies have been circulated to providers
Should there be any questions about the Quality Monitoring Visit arrangements email Chris MacAdams, Commissioning Manager at chris.macadams@birmingham.gov.uk
8.Department of Health and Social Care, Care Home and Home Care Markets Survey – Have your say (information for all providers)
On 7 September 2021, the Prime Minister announced changes which will affect the care home and home care provider market. To help understand this market better, DHSC is asking care home and home care providers to complete their survey now available within the Capacity Tracker.
The survey is an opportunity for providers to share information about who is receiving care in their service and information about that care. This will help DHSC to understand what it's reforms will mean in practice for residents, service users and provider businesses. It will also help monitor how reform is affecting the care market in the coming months. Provider responses will provide valuable insight alongside lots of other evidence and information gathering on charging reform. DHSC would like to thank in advance all care home and home care providers that take the time to complete the survey.
If you have any further questions relating to the DHSC Care Home and Home Care Markets Survey, please email: capacitytrackerfeeratesurvey@dhsc.gov.uk
The Capacity Tracker can be accessed below:
If you have questions or queries regarding how to update the data and where to report specific scenarios, please contact capacitytracker-guidance@dhsc.gov.uk. If you are experiencing technical issues with Capacity Tracker, please contact necsu.capacitytracker@nhs.net or the Capacity Tracker Support Centre on 0191-691-3729.
9.Falls and Fracture Prevention Service (information for all providers)
The Falls Prevention Service is a Therapy led team assessing and providing interventions for high risk fallers within community settings. They are a Multidisciplinary team made up of Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Rehab Technicians and a Specialist Nurse. The team complete a comprehensive Holistic initial assessment in their own homes, analyse the risk factors for each patient and implement change to reduce their risk of falling. They work alongside many other teams such as the Early Intervention Community Teams, Speech and Language, District Nurses, Care/Nursing Homes, Neurotherapy teams, Continence teams, Dieticians and GP’s from across the city, to ensure that patient’s care and wellbeing are of high standard.
There is a referral form on the BCHC website which details their criteria for referral.
10.NHS England and NHS Improvement Autism Programme webinars during World Autism Acceptance Week (information for all providers)
Monday 28 March 9:30am to 11am: an opportunity to hear about the early findings on autism diagnosis from engagement with autistic people and their families, clinicians and those working in the field of autism research. There will be a focus on the key stages in the pathway that can create barriers and delays in the system, with suggestions around how to reduce these.
Wednesday 30 March 10am to 11:30am: an interactive learning event aimed at improving the quality of mental health treatment and support for autistic people. We will be sharing tools and research which can be used in mental health settings to support reasonable adjustments to better support the needs and outcomes of autistic people, as well as opportunities to be involved in research and innovation.
Join these webinars to find out more about the work of the programme, to meet the team, and for opportunities to get involved and take away learning that can be put into practice now.
If you have any questions or issues registering, please email england.autismteam@nhs.net
11.Resources to support social care workers in discussing sexuality and relationships (information for all providers)
Skills for Care, in collaboration with Supported Loving, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), has conducted a learning materials review to provide social care staff in England with information on resources to best support people who draw on care and support with matters of sexuality and intimate relationships.
The review has now been published on their website, alongside:
- a supporting personal relationships guide
- a learning materials review database, cataloguing resources collated within the review
- an information video with Jim Thomas, Head of Workforce Capacity and Transformation at Skills for Care
- a podcast covering sexual safety through empowerment from the CQC.
Find out more and download resources below:
Supporting personal relationships (skillsforcare.org.uk)
12.Elevated cyber threat following Russian invasion of Ukraine (information for all providers)
Care providers should protect themselves against the elevated cyber threat due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Digital Social Care and the NHS Transformation Directorate (formerly NHSX) have updated their information and a reminder that advice is available below:
Better Security, Better Care Local Support Organisations
13.Department of Health and Social Care Help Us Help You – Cervical Screening Campaign (information for all younger adult providers)
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. The campaign encourages those eligible for screening - women and people with a cervix aged 25-64 - to attend screening.
Providers are being asked to help communicate the important campaign messages to your service users, in particular disabled women and people with a cervix, especially those with a learning disability as they are less likely to attend screening. A number of resources in alternative formats including BSL and easy read materials have been circulated to providers. If you don't have copies, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
The key campaign message is: Don’t ignore your cervical screening invite. Two women die every day from cervical cancer, but getting your screening can help stop it before it starts. And remember, if you missed your last one, book an appointment with your GP practice now.
Full details including a toolkit, posters, digital assets and formats including easy read, large print, audio, braille and BSL versions to empower women and people with a cervix to attend their cervical screening by providing reassurance, addressing misconceptions and increasing motivation to book an appointment when invited are available on the PHE Campaign Resources Centre (CRC) below:
Cervical Screening campaign | Campaign Resource Centre (phe.gov.uk)
Information for people with a learning disability:
- an easy read style poster featuring a woman with a learning disability with easier to understand words including saying ‘smear test’ instead of ‘cervical screening’
- easy read social statics – 16x9 and 1x1 for signposting to the easy read leaflet - to be used with the easy read link below:
Having a smear test - easy read guide
- an easy read leaflet which explains why cervical screening is important and what happens at the appointment can be downloaded on the ‘Further help and support’ pages below:
- additional easy read assets can be downloaded via the website and include a Beyond Words picture book and another great easy read and film by Jo’s Trust.
Information for people who use British Sign Language
- the campaign TV ad with BSL which is on UKHSA UKHSA Youtube below:
Cervical screening saves lives - don't ignore your screening invite
- a film with BSL featuring Dr Zoe Williams speaking to some amazing women about why it’s important to attend cervical screening when invited, and to answer their questions about screening. Watch the 3m36s video with BSL below:
Cervical screening saves lives - a conversation with Dr Zoe Williams