What's New Bulletin 137 - 23 March 2023
This is edition 137 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.
- REMINDER Important update about the tendering of care homes, supported living and home support sensory services for Birmingham City Council (information for all providers)
- Visit our “Good practice resources for care providers” webpages – New Stonewall Housing guidance factsheet: ‘Changing attitudes in Adult Social Care for the older LGBTQ+ Community’ (information for all providers)
- Help shape the Care Quality Commissions (CQC) future assessment reports – Survey deadline 31 March 2023 (information for all providers)
- Care Quality Commission (CQC) Smiling matters - oral health in care homes Progress report 2023 (information for all care homes)
- University of Birmingham Research: Experience of Social Care Assessments by older people who are LGBTQ+ (information for all providers)
- Capacity Tracker Changes, Updates and Provider Training Sessions (information for all providers)
1. REMINDER Important update about the tendering of care homes, supported living and home support sensory services for Birmingham City Council (information for all providers)
The indicative timetables for the assessment and award of each of the above contracts has changed. The Council is now working towards contract award dates of no later than 24 April 2023 although it should be noted that this date is indicative and could be subject to change.
The Fee Structure, in Schedule 14 of the Flexible Contracting Arrangement, sets out details of fees payable from 3 April 2023. If there is a delay in awarding the Flexible Contracting Arrangement, the intention will be to backdate the 2023/2024 fee rates for providers awarded a 2023 Flexible Contracting Arrangement/Framework Agreement as part of the initial opening of the Flexible Contracting Arrangement.
The contract award process will be via a letter emailed to you by no later than 24 April 2023 (noting this may be subject to change). The details of this mailbox will be circulated nearer the time to allow you to identify this important correspondence.
Your application will continue to show the status “Awaiting Approval” or “In-Review” within the CareMatch Portal until contracts are awarded.
The initial tender period for the Flexible Contracting Arrangements for the provision of Care Homes with and without Nursing Services and Care and Support (Supported Living) is temporarily closed pending the outcome of this initial procurement. The Flexible Contracting Arrangement application process is anticipated to reopen 24 April 2023 for the remainder of the contract term. New applications/reapplications can be made at this time. Providers will be notified when the tender reopens via the Tender Opportunities page on Shaping the Market and this weekly ‘What’s New’ provider bulletin, which is also published below;
Tender Opportunities page on Shaping the Market
Care services providers' bulletin (birmingham.gov.uk)
The tender for the Framework Agreement for the Provision of Home Support Sensory Loss is closed and will not re-open.
Please note that Commissioners and members of the Market Intelligence Team will not be able to respond to queries about individual applications whilst the regulated procurement process is ongoing.
2. Visit our “Good practice resources for care providers” webpages – New Stonewall Housing guidance factsheet: ‘Changing attitudes in Adult Social Care for the older LGBTQ+ Community’ (information for all providers)
We make good practice guides and resources available in this section of our STM care provider web pages - see link below:
Good practice resources for care providers | Birmingham City Council
A recent addition is a Stonewall Housing guidance factsheet for Care staff entitled ‘Changing attitudes in Adult Social Care for the older LGBTQ+ Community’.
If you would like to suggest any guides or resources that could usefully be added, please use the ‘We want your feedback’ button on the STM home page below:
Information for care providers | Birmingham City Council
3. Help shape the Care Quality Commissions (CQC) future assessment reports – Survey deadline 31 March 2023 (information for all providers)
Later in 2023 CQC will implement their new regulatory approach.
CQC - revised plan and approach for transformation
The new approach will give the CQC the ability to make judgements about quality more regularly, instead of only after an inspection as they do today. They will use evidence from a variety of sources and look at any number of quality statements to do this.
The CQC will continue to describe the quality of care using 4 ratings: outstanding, good, requires improvement, or inadequate. In forming a view of quality, they use a scoring framework to enable them to make consistent judgements. Their scores will translate into one of the ratings for the key questions (safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led). Scores will also be the basis for their view of quality at an overall service level.
At first, the CQC will only publish the ratings, but they also intend to publish the scores in future.
Using scoring as part of their assessments will:
- help them be clearer and more open about how they have reached a judgement on quality
- show if a service is close to another rating. For example, for a rating of good the score can show if it’s nearing either outstanding or requires improvement
- help them to see if quality is moving up or down within a rating.
To support this new approach the CQC are changing the way they present reports and ratings on their website. They would like your feedback on their proposals for these changes, and they will use this feedback to inform further changes.
Share your feedback by 31 March 2023 through the survey below
Add new idea | Help shape our future assessment reports (citizenlab.co)
You can see an example of how the CQC will change the way their present reports and ratings below;
4. Care Quality Commission (CQC) Smiling matters - oral health in care homes Progress report 2023 (information for all care homes)
The CQC 2019 review of oral health in care homes found steps were often not being taken to ensure that people get the oral health care they need to ensure that they are pain-free and that their dignity is respected. This follow-up review of how providers have responded to its recommendations from 2019 showed that improvements were being made.
The report shows there have been improvements in the understanding of how important oral health is to keep people healthy.
The review found:
- Care homes are much more aware of the NICE oral health guideline. In 2019, only 61% were aware of the guidance. This has now increased to 91%.
- More than double the proportion of care plans fully covered oral health needs, compared to our review of care plans in 2019 (60% in 2022; 27% in 2019), however more work needs to be done to ensure all care plans cover oral health.
- The percentage of care home providers saying that staff always (or mostly always) receive specific training in oral health has doubled from 30% in 2019 to 60% in 2022. This however means 40% of staff may not receive training, which needs to improve.
- Inspectors remain concerned that people living in care homes are missing out on vital care from dental practitioners – both at the right time and in the right place.
- Care home providers also highlighted that not enough dentists were able or willing to visit care homes to treat people who may be less mobile.
Read the new report below to learn more about the findings and recommendations:
Smiling matters: Oral health in care homes - progress report
5. University of Birmingham Research: Experience of Social Care Assessments by older people who are LGBTQ+ (information for all providers)
The University of Birmingham, along with the University of Bristol, University of Manchester, and Opening Doors, are doing a study on older LGBTQ+ adult social care assessments. We are currently looking for people to participate in our project and take part in an interview.
If you are an LGBTQ+ individual over the age or 60, or if you are a carer providing care for an older LGBTQ+ person, we would like to talk to you. The interview will discuss peoples’ experiences of social care assessments and identify how social care can improve supporting LGBTQ+ older people. The topics will include initial contact and perceptions of the service, as well as recommendations for how to support people more effectively.
We are keen to involve as many people as possible and would be happy to talk to you about how you could take part. The interview will take place in a location of your choice. You will also receive a £20 voucher as a token of our appreciation for taking part.
If you are interested in taking part, please register below:
Register for survey about older LGBTQ+ people and social care
6. Capacity Tracker Changes, Updates and Provider Training Sessions (information for all providers)
Updated passwords
Due to the requirements of Cyber Essentials+ we are required to make changes to the criteria of the passwords used to access Capacity Tracker. Therefore, from the date of the next Capacity Tracker upgrade the following criteria will need to be applied to passwords.
- A minimum of 12 characters
- No previous password can be used
- Commonly used passwords or ones included on the National Cyber Security Centre list of breached passwords will not be permitted
The changes will be implemented in a phased approached, region by region, over the next 6-9 month period.
Data collection changes
- Flu questions will be removed from Capacity Tracker when the Flu vaccination data collection is no longer required
- Data for a Covid Booster vaccination will be requested for Care Home Residents
- Users of the Bulk Template update method will see updates to the template to reflect the changes made
ASC Provider Information Provisions
Links to the DHSC ASC Provider Information Provisions Data Collection, Formal Notice and Collection Guidance has been updated and can be found via the following links:
Adult social care provider information provisions: data collection
Adult social care provider information provisions: formal notice
The answers to frequently asked questions have also been updated:
Capacity Tracker - Frequently asked questions
Help and support
Please contact capacitytracker-guidance@dhsc.gov.uk if you need non-technical assistance on how to answer the questions in Capacity Tracker.
Please contact necsu.capacitytracker@nhs.net for Capacity Tracker system support.
Our Contact Centre is open 8am – 5pm Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays - 0191 691 3729.
Provider training sessions are available and are aimed at Adult Social Care CQC regulated Providers. Colleagues of all levels will benefit from attending, no prior experience of using Capacity Tracker is required and the training is suitable as a refresh for existing providers.
By the end of the session, you will know:
- How to get set up on Capacity Tracker
- What Capacity Tracker is and its general functionality
- Tips & tricks to make your service stand out
- Current government policy and guidance, related to Capacity Tracker
- How Capacity Tracker is used to source vacancies
- How Capacity Tracker benefits the health & social care system
Click on the links below to join the meetings