What's New Bulletin 102 - 14 July 2022
This is edition 102 of the 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.
- URGENT ACTION REQUIRED – Cost of Care exercise 2022 – Older Adult Care Homes – Deadline extended to 17 July 2022 (Information for Birmingham located care homes with an older adult or dementia service specialism registration)
- URGENT ACTION REQUIRED – Cost of Care exercise 2022 – Home Support, Extra Care and Supported Living – Deadline extended to 17 July 2022 (Information for all home support, supported living and extra care sheltered housing providers)
- Heat-health Alert & Amber Warning Update – Level 3 alert (information for all providers)
- Birmingham Games Letter For Carers To Park Vehicles - 14 days to go to the Commonwealth Games - Planning ahead for the Commonwealth Games road closures 28 July to 8 August 2022 (information for all providers)
- UPDATED GUIDANCE Infection prevention and control in adult social care: COVID-19 supplement (information for all providers)
- UPDATED GUIDANCE Coronavirus Act 2020: status (Information for all providers)
- West Midlands Care Home Safety Network Event 20 July 2022 - Deterioration, by West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (information for West Midlands care homes)
- Department of Health and Social Care update on mandating specific data collection from 31 July 2022 (information for all providers)
- Capacity Tracker - future data collection provider survey deadline 22 July 2022 (information for all providers)
- Care Quality Commissions (CQC) new regulatory model (information for all providers)
1. Urgent action required - Cost of Care exercise 2022 – Older Adult Care Homes – Deadline extended to 17 July 2022 (Information for Birmingham located care homes with an older adult or dementia service/specialism registration)
Please note that the deadline for cost of care submissions is 10 July 2022, a little over 1 week away. We want to remind you that this is the single greatest opportunity to date that the care market has had to influence how social care is funded in the future and it is therefore of great concern that we have had only received a very small number of submissions and that of the number of care homes eligible to complete the exercise, less than 50% have registered to use the CareCubed FCoC tool.
We want also to remind providers which are currently contracted to the Council that completion of the exercise is a contractual requirement and that failure to engage with the process will be considered a breach of contract.
Full instructions and the link to register with CareCubed FCoC are on our website below:
Cost of care exercise 2022 - Birmingham City Council
If you have further questions please contact us at costofcare@birmingham.gov.uk
2. Urgent action required - Cost of Care exercise 2022 - Home Support, Extra Care and Supported Living – Deadline extended to 17 July 2022 (information for all home support, supported living and extra care sheltered housing providers)
Please note that the deadline for cost of care submissions is 10 July 2022, a little over 1 week away. We want to remind you that this is the single greatest opportunity to date that the care market has had to influence how social care is funded in the future and it is therefore of great concern that we have had only received a very small number of submissions. We want also to remind providers which are currently contracted to the Council that completion of the exercise is a contractual requirement and that failure to engage with the process will be considered a breach of contract.
Full instructions and links to the toolkit are on our website below:
Cost of care exercise 2022 - Birmingham City Council
If you have further questions please contact us at costofcare@birmingham.gov.uk
3. Heat-health Alert & Amber Warning Update – Level 3 alert (information for all providers)
A Level 3 Met Office Heat-health Alert has been issued for the West Midlands. There is a 90% probability of hot weather between 3pm on Wednesday 13 July 2022 and 3pm on Saturday 16 July 2022. This weather could increase the health risks to vulnerable patients and disrupt the delivery of services.
Level 3 Met Office Heat-health Alert
Please share the following information and continue to share the attached guidance with your staff, service users, communities and partner networks to help ensure that citizens – particularly those who are most vulnerable - are adequately supported. A Heatwave Care Home Managers guide is also attached.
In addition, please be aware that the Amber Warning of extreme heat affecting the West Midlands has been updated. This period of extreme heat is expected to last between midnight on Sunday 17 July and 11:59pm on Tuesday 19 July. Further details below:
A hot spell is likely to develop from Sunday, likely peaking early next week, leading to widespread impacts on people and infrastructure.
What to expect:
- Population-wide adverse health effects are likely to be experienced, not limited to those most vulnerable to extreme heat, leading to potential serious illness or danger to life. Government advice is that 999 services should be used in emergencies only; seek advice from 111 if you need non-emergency health advice
- Substantial changes in working practices and daily routines likely to be required
- Significantly more people are likely to visit coastal areas, lakes and rivers leading to increased risk of water safety incidents
- Delays on roads and road closures are possible, along with delays and cancellations to rail and air travel, with potential for significant welfare issues for those who experience even moderate delays
Further useful links to guidance include:
Swim England safety advice for open water swimming in hot weather
NHS guidance on keeping your baby safe in the sun
AGE UK advice for older adults staying safe in hot weather
BCC guidance on staying safe during heatwaves
British Red Cross guidance on first aid for heat exhaustion and heatstroke
You can also sign up to receive Met Office Weather Alerts via email using the link below:
Sign up for Met Office Weather Alerts
4. Birmingham Games Letter For Carers To Park Vehicles - 14 days to go to the Commonwealth Games - Planning ahead for the Commonwealth Games road closures 28 July to 8 August 2022 (information for all providers)
During the Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham this summer (28 July to 8 August 2022), there will be a number of road events which will result in road closures and overall increases in demand for public transport for the duration of the games. Please ensure your business continuity plans have been reviewed and updated if needed to reflect any disruption to travel. Slides (BCCAdultSocialCare_040422) which shows the events that will impact on the routes along with other information, and slides that include hotspot grids showing the busiest areas in the city by time of day and types of transport (Hot Spot Grids), have been circulated to providers. If you don't have copies, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
Below is a link to the Commonwealth games website, which gives further details about road closures and parking restrictions for all the venues and events.
How could my area be affected? (birmingham2022.com)
A letter for Carers who deliver home care has been circulated to providers, which they should display on their Cars when they are parked in any Common Wealth Games Parking Control Areas while they are delivering care to Birmingham Citizens, so they will not receive a Parking Penalty Notice. If you don't have a copy of the letter, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
Please ensure all Carers and Drivers display their ID Badges so they can access Roads which will be closed during the Games thus ensuring the Traffic Marshalls allow them entry into those streets.
This Letter doesn’t allow Vehicles to Park on No Stopping Routes, it is only for Control Parking Zones where Carers either cannot park on Citizen Driveways or Citizen has not given them a Visitor Parking Permit for the street.
5. UPDATED GUIDANCE Infection prevention and control in adult social care: COVID-19 supplement (information for all providers)
This guidance sets out how to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in adult social care settings in England. An attachment has been updated; ‘COVID-19 supplement to the infection prevention and control resource for adult social care’:
1. correction to first paragraph, continuous positive airway pressure ventilation (CPAP) removed as an example of an AGP in the community, clarified suctioning and tracheostomy procedures in the first paragraph.
2. Updated ‘IPC considerations for people receiving care’ to reflect that people with cognitive conditions such as dementia may present with atypical symptoms.
3. Updated to clarify that all visitors are encouraged to wear face masks rather than face coverings.
Please find the full guidance below:
Infection prevention and control in adult social care: COVID-19 supplement
6. UPDATED GUIDANCE Coronavirus Act 2020: status (Information for all providers)
This guidance is a table setting out the status of each measure in the Coronavirus Act 2020. It has been updated to reflect changes to the status of provisions contained within the Coronavirus Act, including temporary powers that are no longer in force and those that have been extended since the last update to this table.
The full guidance can be found below:
7. West Midlands Care Home Safety Network Event 20 July 2022 - Deterioration, by West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (information for West Midlands care homes)
This series of network events is being organised by the West Midlands Academic Health Science network (WMAHSN), inviting care homes from all over the West Midlands to join us to share developments and celebrate excellence in care homes across the region.
These events will be held quarterly and are open to all care homes in the following regions: Black Country and West Birmingham; Birmingham and Solihull; Coventry, Warwick and Rugby; Staffordshire and stoke; Hereford and Worcester and Shropshire Telford and Wrekin.
The next event is 20 July 2022, 2pm to 4pm around deterioration management tools.
To book a place, please visit the link below;
West Midlands Care Home Safety Network Event 20 July 2022
8. Department of Health and Social Care update on mandating specific data collection from 31 July 2022 (information for all providers)
The Health and Care Act received Royal Assent in April. It includes:
- A provision for Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Secretary of State to mandate data collections from CQC-regulated providers which will go live from 31 July and
- A provision to make enforcement regulations which will go live from November 2022.
On 20 June DHSC shared a bulletin with further detail (see link below) an FAQ document, and assurance session slides via Capacity Tracker. Copies can be found within the Capacity Tracker Resource Centre. You will need to use your Capacity Tracker login to access them.
DHSC Adult Social Care Up-date Bulletin
DHSC will publish further guidance by mid-July on GOV.UK which will include full details of the specific data fields that are being mandated in Capacity Tracker from 31 July and will not require a log-in.
Find out more below:
9. Capacity Tracker - future data collection provider survey deadline 22 July 2022 (information for all providers)
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is working on a future data collection from care providers, which will eventually replace the Capacity Tracker dataset that becomes mandatory from 31 July 2022.
The DHSC is engaging closely with all stakeholders to identify and agree key data needs and look at opportunities to streamline current data collections from care providers, so that data can be captured once and shared with all those that need it. This includes providers, councils, CQC, and national government. This will add real value in gaining a full view of the challenges for the sector and reduce overall provider data burden.
Initial workshops were held through April and June. The aim of this first set of workshops was to identify your data needs, data concerns, the data you collect and what data you provide to different organisations.
If you were unable to attend one these workshops, or you did attend and have further feedback, you are invited to complete the following survey to share your views with us by Friday 22 July 2022:
Provider data survey for care providers – understanding your data needs (~20 mins) (office.com)
10. Care Quality Commissions (CQC) new regulatory model (information for all providers)
Over the last 12 months the CQC have been working with health and social care providers and professionals, the public and other stakeholders to develop a new regulatory model. They have now published a new page on their website that gives an overview of this new model. The CQC will use this page to share more detail as it gets finalised, so keep checking back;
How we will regulate - Care Quality Commission (cqc.org.uk)
The CQC have also published a timeline on their website that sets out how they plan to implement their new regulatory model, ensuring providers are given enough time to prepare:
What we are doing when - Care Quality Commission (cqc.org.uk)
A video has also been made available of the new regulatory model that sets out what a year might look like for a provider when they start to regulate in this new way: