What's New Bulletin 108 - 25 August 2022
This is edition 108 of our 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.
- Are you or anyone you know interested in a job in Adult Commissioning within Birmingham City Council? (information for all providers)
- UPDATED GOVERNMENT GUIDANCE Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for adult social care services (information for all providers)
- Changes to the public health response to Covid-19 from September 2022 (information for all Birmingham providers)
- REMINDER Changes to Birmingham City Council Commissioning response to PPE, workforce, and other Coronavirus issues information updated on the Capacity Tracker (information for all providers)
- COVID-19 autumn vaccination booster programme (information for all providers)
- IMPORTANT NOTICE please use home.support.payments@birmingham.gov.uk email only when submitting invoices (information for BCC contracted home support and supported living providers)
- Citizen Involvement Team People for Public Services Online Forum, Tuesday 6 September 2022 2:00pm – 3:30pm (information for all providers)
- iPad Closedown - Drop in Sessions for Care Homes 13 September 2022 (information for Care Homes)
- Capacity Tracker Upcoming Provider Training Sessions (information for all providers)
1. Are you or anyone you know interested in a job in Adult Commissioning within Birmingham City Council? (information for all providers)
Birmingham City Council Adult Social Care are recruiting to a number of roles across commissioning. Please see the list of opportunities on the site below. We would be grateful if you would share the link with your networks.
2. UPDATED GOVERNMENT GUIDANCE Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for adult social care services (information for all providers)
This guidance outlines the COVID-19 testing available for staff, residents and visitors for all adult social care services. It has been updated in line with the pause to routine asymptomatic testing from 31 August following announced changes on pausing routine asymptomatic testing, which will go live on 31 August. Services should not implement this new guidance until 31 August; until then original guidance can be found in the National Archives - see below:
Regular asymptomatic testing paused in additional settings
COVID-19 testing in Adult Social Care
The full guidance can be found below;
Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for adult social care services
3. Changes to the public health response to Covid-19 from September 2022 (information for all Birmingham providers)
The Birmingham City Council Health Protection Response (BCC - HPR) would like to thank providers for your service in keeping the residents of Birmingham safe throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Your tireless effort was key to keeping the deaths from Covid-19 much lower than predicted at the start of the pandemic. Covid-19 is no longer regarded as an enhanced incident and will now be managed in the same way as any other health protection issue (i.e., “business-as-usual", BAU) in the autumn. As a part of this change, the BCC - HPR team will stand down all operations on the 30th of September 2022. To enable a smooth change to the new ways of working, the BCC-HPR team will transition gradually over the coming weeks.
Information with the details of the stages of the transition and details of what is and isn’t changing has been circulated to providers. If you don't have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
Please note: The Department of Health and Social Care are still currently requesting that Covid-19 cases be reported via the Capacity Tracker as they occur for monitoring by central government.
4. REMINDER Changes to Birmingham City Council Commissioning response to PPE, workforce, and other Coronavirus issues information updated on the Capacity Tracker (information for all providers)
As we move further towards business as usual, Birmingham City Council Area Commissioners will no longer contact Birmingham providers about low reports or PPE, workforce issues or “other Coronavirus issues”. Please continue to update this information at the frequency requested by the Department of Health and Social Care as it will continue to be reviewed nationally and locally for strategic purposes. However, if you have any immediate operational concerns about workforce issues or other Coronavirus related issues, please contact your Area Commissioner as soon as possible – this advice applies to both contracted and non-contracted Birmingham providers. Details of who your Area Commissioners are and how to contact them can be found below;
Who to contact in the commissioning team | Birmingham City Council
Please continue to order your regular Covid-19 related PPE stock from the national portal (below). If you do become in urgent need of PPE, this can still be requested from the Council on the following number for the time being; 0121 796 2577.
5. COVID-19 autumn vaccination booster programme (information for all providers)
GOVERNMENT GUIDANCE COVID-19 autumn vaccination booster programme and resources (information for all providers)
People aged 50 years and older, residents in care homes for older people, those aged 5 years and over in a clinical risk group and health and social care staff will be offered an autumn booster of coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine. Appointments will be available from the National Booking Service shortly.
The full guidance and resources can be found below;
COVID-19 vaccination: autumn booster resources
A letter from the Deputy Director of Adult Social Care Operational Resilience has been circulated to providers. If you don't have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
REMINDER Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System message re preparation for the launch of the autumn/winter COVID/Flu vaccinations (information for all Birmingham and Solihull Care Homes)
Information from the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System has been circulated to providers, around the plans to start rolling out the flu and vaccination programme in Birmingham and Solihull from the 5th September with an aim that all care home vaccinations are completed in ten weeks. If you don't have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
The information contains a list of preparatory steps for care homes to take. In summary the ask is for care homes to:
- Commence the consenting process as soon as you can for flu and covid (Mid-August)
- Encourage all of your staff to take up a flu and covid vaccination (starts 5 September 2022)
- Email our COVID inbox with any queries on BSOLCovid-19VaccinationSVOC@uhb.nhs.uk
Changes to the Capacity Tracker around Flu and Covid-19 Vaccination Data Collection
While COVID-19 continues to circulate this Winter, the Department of Health and Social Care must continue to understand and monitor uptake of COVID-19 and flu vaccinations. As such, they request your continued support in encouraging uptake of both autumn boosters and the flu vaccine to all who are eligible.
The following questions which apply to Patients, Directly Employed Staff and Agency/Bank will be removed from the Capacity Tracker:
- Number known to have had the FIRST DOSE of the COVID Vaccination in the UK
- Number known to have had the SECOND DOSE of the COVID Vaccination in the UK
- Number known to have had the COVID vaccination BOOSTER in the UK
- Number known to have had the second BOOSTER in the UK
The following questions will be added to the Capacity Tracker:
- Number known to have received a full primary course of the COVID vaccination
- Number known to have received an Autumn booster (the Autumn Booster will refer ONLY to those delivered on or after 5 September 2022)
- Number known to have received this season's flu vaccination. Please restrict flu vaccine responses to the those that are delivered between September 2022 and March 2023 (inclusive)
A full primary course does not include COVID boosters. For most people, a full primary course is defined as 2 doses of COVID vaccination. For a small number of people, however, including people who were vaccinated abroad, people who have received a single-dose vaccination such as Janssen, or people who are severely immunosuppressed, a full primary course may mean a different number of doses.
An Autumn booster is defined as any booster delivered under the Autumn booster campaign, expected to begin in September 2022, as announced in May 2022 - see below
JCVI provides interim advice on an autumn COVID-19 booster programme
Please contactCapacitytracker-guidance@dhsc.gov.ukif you have any queries.
6. IMPORTANT NOTICE please use home.support.payments@birmingham.gov.uk email only when submitting invoices (information for BCC contracted home support and supported living providers)
As we move to establish arrangements through our new Finance system, can all contracted home support and supported living providers please maintain invoicing arrangements in line with established practices (see below)
Invoice, payment and fees | Birmingham City Council
Importantly, to ensure you are paid correctly and on time, all invoices must be sent solely to: home.support.payments@birmingham.gov.uk
Invoices sent to other email accounts, e.g. “@Captiva Direct Invoices”, are likely to create duplicates leading to delays and additional efforts to correct payments.
7. Citizen Involvement Team People for Public Services Online Forum, Tuesday 6 September 2022 2pm to 3:30pm (Information for all providers)
Birmingham City Council contract care services from over 1000 organisations. This can be support in your own home or care from nursing and care homes. One of our responsibilities is to make sure that the people of Birmingham receive safe, quality care.
Over the last 12 months we have been working with the NHS to develop a way to work together to monitor and rate the quality of care that a care organisation provides.
The team would like your support to develop a new system to capture the lived experiences of people who receive care services.
To book a place click the link below
People for Public Service Forum 6 September 2022
If you are unable to book a place, please do not hesitate to contact us via our emailgetinvolved@birmingham.gov.uk
If you can’t attend this time details of future arrangements will be posted on our webpage (see below) which includes all details of all papers from previous meetings.
Get involved in improving adult care services
8. iPad Closedown - Drop in Sessions for Care Homes 13 September 2022 (information for Care Homes)
In winter 2020, the NHS Transformation Directorate (formerly NHSX) delivered 11,000 iPads to care homes across England that had restricted access to specific technology. This was to support video calls when Covid-19 safety concerns meant care home residents were unable to see family members and friends in person.
On 30 June 2022, centrally funded support for Mobile Device Management software on the iPads ended. Between 1 and 11 July 2022, the iPads were issued with daily commands to reset to factory settings. Data on the iPad will have been deleted and the iPad will behave as if brand new out of the box. Homes who had taken action prior to the 30 June 2022 had the opportunity to create a new Apple ID and back up their data to the cloud, enabling them to retain photos and documents.
There are still a number of devices that have not accepted the reset command, and for these devices they will no longer operate until action is taken. The ‘Resetting your iPad FAQ’ document explains how the iPads can be placed into recovery mode and reset to factory settings - if you don't have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk . With the MDM removed from the devices, this can no longer be done remotely, and will need actioning by the care home. The iPad will need to be connected to a computer using the cable provided and a reset completed.
The NHS Transformation Directorate are hosting a drop in sessions to offer advice and guidance to care homes on how to reset their iPads. The session will be recorded and made available on the Digital Social Care Website after the event.
Drop in session is on 13 September 2022 2pm to 2:30pm
9. Capacity Tracker Upcoming Provider Training Sessions (information for all providers)
These sessions are for providers who are new to the Capacity Tracker, or who would like a refresh of how to use the system. The sessions will cover;
- Registering new users and approving accounts
- Bulk Uploads (where needed, for 5 or more locations)
- Updating information – provider details, contact details, opt in email preference
- Updating information – DHSC mandated and operational & benefits of updating the system
- Questions
Care Home Sessions
Friday 2 September 2022 11am to 11:45am Meeting ID: 386 678 719 068 + Passcode: ABTTFS
Friday 9 September 2022 2pm to 2:45pm Meeting ID: 355 237 849 330 + Passcode: 9R2V4T
Home Care Sessions
Friday 2 September 2022 2pm to 2:45pm Meeting ID: 343 719 740 945 + Passcode: VZoN6D
Friday 9 September 2022 10am to 10:45am Meeting ID: 389 552 851 607 + Passcode: xQRYwV