1. REMINDER Important information about the tendering of care homes, supported living and home support sensory services for Birmingham City Council DEADLINE 12:00 noon 6 February 2023 (information for all providers)
2. REMINDER Adult Social Care Discharge Fund – applications invited closing date 31 January 2023 (Information for all Birmingham CQC Registered Care Providers)
3. Managing Deterioration in Learning Disability Homes 27 February 2023 2 - 3pm Virtual Event (information for West Midlands younger adult care homes)
4. Birmingham and Solihull (Bsol) Integrated Care System (ICS) Strategic Vision for Learning Disabilities and Autism (information for all providers supporting citizens in Birmingham and Solihull)
5. REMINDER Updated Level 3 Cold Weather Alert (information for all providers)
6. REMINDER Digitising Social Care – ‘face to face’ market engagement event 2 February 2023 (information for all providers)

1. REMINDER Important information about the tendering of care homes, supported living and home support sensory services for Birmingham City Council DEADLINE 12:00 noon 6 February 2023 (information for all providers)

Please be aware that tender applications can now be made for the following contracts:

• 2023 Care homes for over 65’s
• 2023 Care homes for under 65’s
• 2023 Supported Living
• 2023 Home Support – Sensory Loss

Please be aware the clarification deadline is 31 January 2023. Only technical queries about using the CareMatch Portal will be answered after that time.

Existing care providers who wish to continue to work with the Council will need to re-apply for these 2023 contracts which will replace the current arrangements on 3 April 2023. New providers may wish to consider applying should they wish to do business with the Council in future.

The tender application period is currently scheduled to end at 12:00 noon 6 February 2023, so please do ensure you make your application before this date.

For details about how and where to apply, please see the below webpage and links:

Tender opportunities | Tender opportunities | Birmingham City Council

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.

2. REMINDER Adult Social Care Discharge Fund – applications invited closing date 31 January 2023 (Information for all Birmingham CQC Registered Care Providers)

On 18 November 2022 the DHSC shared details of the £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund. Further details can be found on the government website

Adult Social Care Discharge Fund - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Birmingham City Council and Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (BSol ICB) have allocated £6m of the funding to be distributed to Birmingham located CQC regulated care homes, home support, supported living and extra care schemes on a discretionary basis in order to enable them to implement measures to enhance workforce capacity. The funding must be spent prior to 31 March 2023 on measures including, but not limited to:

• activities to support hospital discharge or to prevent or address delays as a result of workforce capacity shortages
• supporting payments to boost the hours provided by the existing workforce – including childcare costs and overtime payments
• the creation and maintenance of measures to secure additional or redeployed capacity from current care workers. For example, staff banks and redeploying staff
• local recruitment initiatives
• bringing forward planned pay increases

You can find on our webpage - ASC Discharge Fund | Birmingham City Council - link below - the following documents which provide further details about the grant and how to apply for funding – Grant Conditions; Appendix 1 – Grant application form; Appendix 2 – Spend return form; Appendix 3 – Allocations list care homes; Appendix 4 – Allocation list home support, supported living, extra care; Appendix 5 – Application instructions. Should you have further questions please submit these to ascdischargefund@birmingham.gov.uk

ASC Discharge Fund | Birmingham City Council

Applications for grant funding from eligible registered locations are now invited before the closing date on 31 January 2023. Please read carefully all grant documentation before applying. You should submit your application form to ascdischargefund@birmingham.gov.uk by midnight on 31 January 2023. Applications submitted to other Council email addresses risk not being considered or accepted.

3. Managing Deterioration in Learning Disability Homes 27 February 2023 2pm - 3pm Virtual Event (information for West Midlands younger adult care homes)

This event is being organised by the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network (WMAHSN). The event focusses on people with a Learning Disability and autistic people (LeDeR).

Research has shown that on average, people with a learning disability and autistic people die earlier than the general public, and do not receive the same quality of care as people without a learning disability or who are not autistic. Improving the recognition and management of people with a Learning Disability and autistic people through the introduction of Deterioration management tools can really make a difference to the outcomes of this vulnerable group of people.

We invite Learning Disability Care Homes as well as Care Homes with Learning Disability residents in the West Midlands region to join us in refresher training on our online training on testing approaches, tools and methodologies that help in improving health outcomes for residents with Learning Disabilities.

The session will include tools designed to help staff to spot the early soft signs of deterioration, escalate concerns and improve timely intervention.

Please extend this invitation to as many staff within your organisation or to partner organisations, as well as people who you feel would benefit from this training session.

Registrants will receive a diary invitation approximately 2 working days before the event. If you have not received your link by then, please contact laura.mould@wmahsn.org.

Who should attend?

• Care home Teams / managers/ owners of Learning Disability Homes or Care Homes with Learning Disability residents
• GP’s, ANP’s & Care Co-Ordinator's
• CCG / LA including Quality teams and CQC leads
• EHCH ICS leads
• Acute / Community trust staff with links to care homes
• Education Leads connected to care home sector

4. Birmingham and Solihull (Bsol) Integrated Care System (ICS) Strategic Vision for Learning Disabilities and Autism (information for providers supporting citizens in Birmingham and Solihull)

Birmingham and Solihull (Bsol) Integrated Care System (ICS) have agreed to create a consistent vision across health and social care to help us focus collectively on the ways in which partners support people with learning disabilities, autistic people and their families and carers. A draft vision has been developed, working closely with people with lived experience and partners.

Bsol would now like to further engage with people, including professionals, providers, people with lived experience and parents/carers to help finalise our visions which will then help shape respective and specific delivery plans.

For details on all the engagement opportunities, please see the document that has been circulated to providers. If you don't have a copy, please email: marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk

5. REMINDER Updated Level 3 Cold Weather Alert (information for all providers)

The recent Level 3 Met Office Cold Weather Alert has been updated again for the West Midlands. There is now a 90% probability of severe cold weather/icy conditions until 09:00am on Friday 27 January 2023. This weather is likely to increase the health risks to vulnerable patients and disrupt the delivery of services.

Met Office Cold Weather Alert

Please share the attached and following information with your staff, service users, communities and partner networks to help ensure that citizens - particularly those who are most vulnerable ­- are adequately prepared:

West Midlands - Level 3 (Amber) - Risk 90% - Cold and frosty with some freezing fog. Turning milder by day around mid-week, but night frosts continuing.

In addition, please be aware that you can sign up to the Met Office email alert service via the following link:

Met Office email alert service

6. REMINDER Digitising Social Care – ‘face to face’ market engagement event 2 February 2023 (information for all providers)

Are you thinking about transitioning to digital care records? The West Midlands Care Association has match funding available (via Birmingham City Council and NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB) to help you make this important transition. Digitisation of Social Care (DiSC) is a national program to support Adult Social Care Providers make the move from paper to electronic dedicated care planning and a records management system referred to as a Digital Social Care Record (DSCR).

There is also financial support available for Sensor Based Falls Prevention and Detection Technologies (Care Homes only) and for piloting other technology (TEC) solutions (all Care Providers). West Midlands Care Association (Birmingham City Council’s digital program partner) are hosting a market engagement event at Bescot Stadium, Walsall. This will be an opportunity to talk to Digital Social Care providers and find out more information about the funding available.

Click the following link for more information and how to book your FREE place:

Digitising Social Care (DISC) face to face event 2 February 2023