1. UPDATED Yellow Heat-Health Alert has been updated for the West Midlands (information for all providers)

2. Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (BSOL ICB) match funding for providers to transfer to Digital Social Care Records (DSCR) (Information for all Birmingham and Solihull providers)

3. Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System Care Home Lifting Cushion Expansion Project (information for Birmingham Care Homes)

4. Care Quality Commission (CQC) What does good workforce wellbeing look like (information for all providers)

5. People for Public Services, Our Future City Draft Central Plan 20 June 2023 (information for all Birmingham providers)

6. Project ECHO Deaf Awareness session 5 July 2023 (information for all Birmingham and Solihull Care Homes)

7. End of Life and Palliative Care Staff Focus Group on Thursday 13 July 2023 12:00 – 01:00 pm via Microsoft Teams (Birmingham and Solihull Care Homes)

8. REMINDER Help in Brum – Help for vulnerable people in short-term crisis with food and essential items (information for all providers)

9. REMINDER UPDATED GUIDANCE Free personal protective equipment (PPE) scheme (information for all providers)

10. REMINDER How to avoid creating and how to delete duplicate applications on the CareMatch Portal when creating Supported Living 2023 and Care Homes 2023 applications (information for all providers)

1. UPDATED Yellow Heat-Health Alert has been updated for the West Midlands (information for all providers)

The heat-health alert has been updated for the West Midlands. A yellow alert has now been issued and will be in effect between 13/06/2023 at 09:00 and 19/06/2023 at 09:00.

This weather may increase the health risks to vulnerable patients and disrupt the delivery of services. Please share the following information and attached guidance with your staff, service users and partner networks to facilitate adequate preparation.

Further information about this subject has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk

2. Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (BSOL ICB) match funding for providers to transfer to Digital Social Care Records (DSCR) (Information for all Birmingham and Solihull providers)

BSOL ICB and Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB are offering:

• 50% match funding providers to transfer to Digital Social Care Records (DSCR)

• DSCR- Known as electronic care planning, a DSCR enables good quality records that underpin safe, effective, compassionate, and high-quality care. They communicate the right information clearly, to the right people, when they need it. They are an essential part of achieving good outcomes for people in your care which is reflected in the CQC’s including of Digital in their latest strategy.

Hear from Richmond Court Care Home in Dudley about the benefits of moving to DSCR here

Who's eligible?

If you’re a CQC registered care provider and you’ve neither made the move from a paper-based system of keeping your care records and care plans nor taken advantage of available funding launched 1 April 2022, then 50% match funding during financial year 2023/24 is available.

You can learn more the ICB grant funding at the upcoming marketplace event 21 July 2023. You can book your place here;

Digitising Social Care - Events (wmca.care)

For further help and advice check out our dedicated DSPT Support Webpages below or call our helpline on 01384 943000

www.wmca.digital

3. Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System Care Home Lifting Cushion Expansion Project (information for Birmingham Care Homes)

Birmingham and Solihull (BSol) Integrated Care System are just completing the falls prevention lifting cushion pilot. The aim of the pilot was to provide 60 older adult care homes in Birmingham & Solihull with the means and mechanisms to manage falls in a more person-centred way by using post falls risk assessment (istumble) and lifting cushions. Birmingham City University are also conducting a research project alongside this work to evidence the impact and explore barriers to using the lifting device. Lifting cushion devices are a means of manually assisting a person off the floor, this manual handling item therefore is not available through local equipment stores service.

Early preliminary findings are showing such a positive impact, in terms of lifting residents off the floor, freeing up staff time and reduction in non-harm 999 calls for falls. BSol Integrated Care System are pleased to confirm that we have successfully secured further funding to enable an expansion project to provide lifting devices and bespoke falls training to all remaining 120 older adult care homes in Birmingham that did not participate in the pilot.

Learning from the pilot means that the bespoke falls training and delivering of the lifting device will be face to face in each care home, this will enable as many staff to attend as possible. The care home will also be offered a flexible morning, afternoon or early evening 2-hour training slot.

The training has been co-produced by BCHC Care Home Academy and will be delivered by Mangar Health. Training objectives will cover the safe management of falls including istumble app, and the safe method of using the Mangar Elk lifting cushion to lift residents off the floor.

Mangar Health will be contacting each home to arrange the training session, if you would like to register your interest to participate in the first wave or would like further information, then please contact nhsbsolicb.communitytransformation@nhs.net.

Further information about this subject has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk

4. Care Quality Commission (CQC) What does good workforce wellbeing look like (information for all providers)

Workforce wellbeing and enablement is one of the quality statements, in the CQC’s new single assessment framework, sitting under their caring key question, see link below:

Workforce wellbeing and enablement

The CQC want to hear the perspective of providers and professionals working in health and social care, the organisations that represent them; and wider stakeholders on workforce wellbeing.

They want to explore ‘what good workforce wellbeing looks like’ and hear experiences of successes and challenges related to looking after your workforce.

Share your views in the short survey here;

Add new idea | Workforce wellbeing survey (citizenlab.co)

NOTE: The CQC haven't yet published full provider guidance that describes their new regulatory approach. This will be published in advance of the CQC implementing these changes and shared with all providers.

5. People for Public Services, Our Future City Draft Central Plan 20 June 2023 (information for all Birmingham providers)

Birmingham faces a number of existing and emerging challenges that must be addressed, accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic and other factors, the future of the central area has been brought into question. Our Future City is seeking to identify: what needs to be done to stay relevant and thrive; how does it become greener and cleaner; how does it evolve and grow as a destination for living, learning, working, shopping, enterprise, culture and leisure, and how does it remain attractive to inward investment?

These challenges require us to take a major shift in direction. Our Future City Plan (see link below) provides a new vision and strategy for investment that will stimulate green, inclusive growth that meets our diverse needs, and maximises the potential of all Birmingham communities.

Our Future City Plan

For the last 30 years, the regeneration and growth of the city centre has been focussed within the area defined by the Middle Ring Road. As we look forward to the next 20 years, our plan will incorporate the entire Central Birmingham area from city core to inner-city suburbs.

We want to hear from you on how we can move our city forward, how plans can help the wider city when the inner suburbs are developed.

To book a place, please click on the link below. If you are unable to book a place, please do not hesitate to contact us via our email getinvolved@birmingham.gov.uk

here

6. Project ECHO Deaf Awareness session 5 July 2023 (information for all Birmingham and Solihull Care Homes)

Join the Project ECHO team on 5 July 2023 at 02:00pm when Sandra Channings, Teacher/Assessor from Communication Community, will present on Deaf Awareness. Please see the attached flyer for further information.

Sign up now on Eventbrite using this link:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/556463155277

7. End of Life and Palliative Care Staff Focus Group on Thursday 13 July 2023 12:00 – 01:00 pm via Microsoft Teams (Birmingham and Solihull Care Homes)

Birmingham and Solihull ICB are holding an End of Life and Palliative Care Staff Focus Group on Thursday 13 July 12-1pm via Microsoft Teams. This staff focus group has been formed to assess, discuss and encourage sharing good practice and processes. We would welcome staff working in End of Life and Palliative Care across Birmingham and Solihull.

This is an opportunity to discuss issues and support required.

The meeting overview is as follows:

1. Medical Examiner Service Update
2. Culturally Sensitive EoL Toolkit
3. Dementia Strategy
4. Dementia Annual Health Checks
5. Staff Discussions

See the link below to sign up to this event. Please note the Microsoft teams link for this event will be shared closer to the time.

End of Life Staff Focus Group Tickets, Thu 13 Jul 2023 at 12:00 | Eventbrite

It would be appreciated if you could cascade this across your organisations and networks, for further inquiries please contact katie.beddows2@nhs.net

8. REMINDER Help in Brum – Help for vulnerable people in short-term crisis with food and essential items (information for all providers)

Please share the below information with staff and service users as appropriate.

Help in Brum is the council’s support for people in Birmingham who are in need of help due to cost of living crisis. The council has information and support offers around a number of areas with full information on the Council’s website. It can help people who want help accessing grants and debt advice, support getting all the money they are entitled to or simply wanting to know more about the government’s support measures.

Cost of living support | Birmingham City Council

9. REMINDER UPDATED GUIDANCE Free personal protective equipment (PPE) scheme (information for all providers)

This guidance covers the provision of free PPE for all health, social care and public sector workers for coronavirus (COVID-19) infection control, between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2024 or until the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) stocks for COVID-19 supply are depleted (whichever is sooner). The ‘Estimated stock-out dates by PPE category’ section is regularly updated with current estimates, the full details of which can be found below;

Free personal protective equipment (PPE) scheme

10. REMINDER How to avoid creating and how to delete duplicate applications on the CareMatch Portal when creating Supported Living 2023 and Care Homes 2023 applications (information for all providers)

To find an application you have already started, please follow the steps from slides 21-23 in the care home and supported living presentation, which can be download below

Care Home and Supported Living 2023 Contract Briefing

These slides also cover how to delete an application you have started in error and no longer want.

A recording of the presentation is also available below:

Recording of contract briefing