What's New Bulletin 126 - 5 January 2023
This is edition 126 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.
- UPDATED GUIDANCE Infection prevention and control in adult social care: COVID-19 supplement (information for all providers)
- Grant Money for Q1 2023 Energy Saving Projects – Deadline for installation and payment 1 March 2023.(information for Birmingham and Solihull providers)
- How well do you understand how Care Quality Commission (CQC) is changing? (information for all providers)
- Free offer to social care organisations from Digital Social Care: Microsoft Training (information for all providers)
- REMINDER NHS mail Weekly Drop-in Sessions, Hosted by The NHS mail team at NHS Digital (information for all providers)
- Cost of Care 2022 exercise report and Draft Market Sustainability Plan published (information for all providers)
- REMINDER Important information about the tendering of care homes, supported living and home support sensory services for Birmingham City Council (information for all providers)
1. 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. The section on face masks has been updated: visitors as well as staff might consider wearing a mask if they’re aware they are a household or overnight contact of someone who has had a positive test result for COVID-19.
The full guidance can be found below;
Infection prevention and control in adult social care: COVID-19 supplement
Please refer to the following previous bulletin item 3 for all the infection prevention control guidance updates that took place before Christmas and the advise given by our Birmingham Infection Prevention and Control Team;
What's New Bulletin 125 - 22 December 2022 - Care services providers' bulletin (birmingham.gov.uk)
2. Grant Money for Q1 2023 Energy Saving Projects – Deadline for installation and payment 1 March 2023.(information for Birmingham and Solihull providers)
The funding available is a grant of up to £10,000 (30% match funded) to help businesses invest in capital projects that will result in a reduction of carbon emissions. These capital projects could include solar panels, voltage optimisation, insulation or changes to make machinery more efficient. If you do not already have LED lighting, we would suggest this is your strongest choice in terms of price, speed of installation, payback time and energy savings. No project is too big or too small, your grant amount will be dependent on how much energy you save.
Eligibility criteria for the grant require businesses to:
- Have 5-249 full time equivalent employees.
- Have 2+ years of trading from the date of your application.
- Be a registered business or organisation (CIC) based in the Greater Birmingham and Solihull area.
Conditions of the grant being offered include (but not limited to):
- The business must show significant energy saving or renewable energy production and grants will be awarded based on the energy savings and value for money as well as project deliverability (i.e. timescales for delivery).
- The applicant business must provide a minimum of 30% match towards the total cost of the measures they wish to apply for grant funding towards.
- The energy efficiency and reduction measures will need to be installed, completed and paid for by 1 March 2023.
If you have any questions, or would like to see a list of suppliers to engage with for your quotes, please get in touch as we will be happy to help; Ruth@GBSLEPGrowthHub.co.uk or Marketing@GBSLEPGrowthHub.co.uk
3. How well do you understand how Care Quality Commission (CQC) is changing? (information for all providers)
We are developing a new regulatory model based on a single assessment framework, which we will implement later 2023 (the latest update on our timeline). Alongside this work we are developing a new provider portal, also due to launch in 2023.
CQC revised plan and approach for transformation
In 2023 we will launch a comprehensive communication campaign to ensure all health & social care providers and professionals understand what these changes are, what they mean for them and what they need to do to prepare for these changes being implemented.
To help us measure how successful this campaign will be, we want to know how well you understand these changes, both now and throughout 2023.
To help us do this we'd like your feedback through a short survey that can be found below;
How well do you understand how CQC is changing? (typeform.com)
4. Free offer to social care organisations from Digital Social Care: Microsoft Training (information for all providers)
Would you, or any of your staff, like the chance to improve your skills with Microsoft software. This is a free offer to social care organisations of Microsoft Training from Digital Social Care
January 2023
Get Started with Excel - Wednesday 18 January 2-3pm UK
Microsoft Accessibility Solutions - Thursday 19 January 2-3pm UK
Increase Collaboration with Microsoft Teams - Wednesday 25 January 2-3pm UK
February 2023
Microsoft Outlook for Social Care Providers - Wednesday 1 February 2-3pm UK
Microsoft Cloud Storage - Thursday 2 February 2-3pm UK
Get Started with SharePoint Online - Thursday 9 February 2-3pm UK
Get Started with Excel - February - Wednesday 15 February 2-3pm UK
5. REMINDER NHS mail Weekly Drop-in Sessions, Hosted by The NHS mail team at NHS Digital (information for all providers)
The NHS mail team now offer care providers a weekly drop-in session to support with NHS mail queries. There will be no agenda or slides, this is an open session to give care providers the opportunity to ask questions about NHSmail, directly to the NHSmail team, just pop in, ask your question and leave once you have your answer. No registration is required to attend but please note this session is for care providers only and not those in supportive roles for NHS mail.
Please click on the link below to join the session on the day. Every Wednesday between 11am and 12pm.
6. Cost of Care 2022 exercise report and Draft Market Sustainability Plan published (information for all providers)
As you will be aware, in the Summer of 2022 the Council carried out cost of care exercises and market sustainability assessments as part of the government’s Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care Fund. We previously shared via this bulletin the Cost of Care Summary report and the Draft Market Sustainability Plan on 20 October 2022. You can now find accessible versions of both of these documents on our website using this link:
Cost of care exercise 2022 | Cost of care exercises | Birmingham City Council
7. REMINDER Important information about the tendering of care homes, supported living and home support sensory services for Birmingham City Council (information for all providers)
Dear Care Provider,
The Council’s Cabinet have now approved the Commissioning Strategy 2023 for Care Homes (with and without nursing), Supported Living and Home Support Sensory Loss. A copy of the final Commissioning Strategy and the full report can be found here:
The current Care Homes 2018 and Supported Living 2018 contracts are therefore due to end on 30 April 2023.
The tender for the replacement contracts Care Homes 2023, Supported Living Services 2023 and Home Support Sensory Loss 2023 has now gone live and you can apply now using the link below:
Legal tender notices have been published via the following links:
Contracts Finder
Framework Agreement for the provision of Home Support Sensory Loss - Contracts Finder
Find a Tender Portal
Finditinbirmingham
View Opportunity | FinditinBirmingham
The anticipated start date for the new contracts is 3 April 2023. While the current 2018 contracts still remain open for applications, please consider applying to join the 2023 contracts only. N.B. providers successful in joining the 2018 contracts between now and 30 April 2023 will still need to apply for the 2023 contracts to continue to do business with the Council after 30 April 2023. Applications for the 2023 contracts will be prioritised for review over the 2018 applications.
How do I ask questions during the tender period?
As the tender process has now launched, there will be restrictions on the contact Commissioners may be able to have. Please do not contact Commissioners in relation to any aspect of the tender.
To ensure the tender process is fair and transparent, support will need to be accessed as follows:
Procurement Support Step 1 – Check the Guidance Document
Should you have questions about the procurement exercise or how to complete the Questionnaire, you should check the relevant guidance document which is available from the list of dropdown documents under each contract heading on the CareMatch Portal:
- For Care Homes or Supported Living 2023, please read document “001 P0996 FCA SQ Instruction Doc FINAL”
- For a Home Support Sensory Loss 2023 contract, please read document “001 P0995 Sensory Loss Framework Instructions Doc FINAL”
Procurement Support Step 2 – check the Clarification Log
Check the Clarification Log to see if your question has already been asked and answered:
Tender opportunities | Tender opportunities | Birmingham City Council
Procurement Support Step 3 – raise a clarification question via the CareMatch Portal
Raise a clarification via the Questions function in the CareMatch Portal. The answers to these questions will be published regularly here:
Tender opportunities | Tender opportunities | Birmingham City Council
How can I get support with the CareMatch Portal during the tender?
CareMatch Portal Support Step 1
Review the tender instructions document and any guidance in the CareMatch Portal, to check you are entering the correct type of information.
CareMatch Portal Support Step 2
Review the CareMatch Portal User guide for instructions, which can be found here:
User Guide for providers using Care Match Portal | Birmingham City Council
CareMatch Portal Support Step 3
Check the Clarification Log and bulletins, as we may have published some further information already to support you:
Tender opportunities | Tender opportunities | Birmingham City Council
CareMatch Portal Support Step 4
Only after you have attempted to resolve your technical issue using the above support, should you contact the Council’s Market Intelligence Team via email at:
marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
Please ensure you give as much detail as possible in your email, including screenshots where possible and which stage of the process you are stuck at. The team will respond either by email or will contact you by phone if they cannot resolve easily by email.
Please be aware once again that the Market Intelligence Team can only answer technical questions relating to the CareMatch Portal and not about any other aspect of the tender process. Please see guidance above for how to raise procurement/tender related questions.