What's New Bulletin 155 - 27 July 2023
This is edition 155 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.
1. REMINDER Cost of Care 2023 exercise launch - Action Required deadline 3 September 2023 (Contracted home support, care home, supported living and extra care providers located in Birmingham and the West Midlands region)
2. New Skills for Care workforce report: care sector recruitment and retention improves (information for all providers)
3. Capacity Tracker – system changes (information for all providers)
4. Capacity Tracker Provider Support re Mandatory Data Collection Access (information for all providers)
5. West Midlands Care Association July 2023 Newsletter (information for all West Midlands providers)
6. Celebrating South Asian Heritage Month (information for all providers)
7. Activities Mini fete for People with LD, Autism or similar needs 29 July 2023 (information for all Birmingham providers)
8. Visual Impaired Picnic in the Park 4 and 18 August 2023 (information for all Birmingham providers)
9. All Age Autism Support Service – Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (information for all Birmingham and Solihull providers)
10. REMINDER Shape the Care Quality Commission’ (CQC) approach to assessing environmental sustainability – feedback by 1 August 2023 (information for all providers)
11. Care Quality Commission (CQC) New regulatory approach and provider portal roll out webinar 2 August 2023 (information for all providers)
1. REMINDER Cost of Care 2023 exercise launch - Action Required deadline 3 September 2023 (Contracted home support, care home, supported living and extra care providers located in Birmingham and the West Midlands region)
On the 18 July 2023 we launched our 2023 cost of care exercise. As in previous years the exercise requires you to submit a range of data in relation to the costs of delivering care and support services. The data we gather helps the Council understand costs across the care market and informs the fees we pay. We will not share your individual data without your permission, but we will aggregate the data received and will publish the outputs of the analysis ensuring anonymity.
Please submit your cost of care templates to costofcare@birmingham.gov.uk in advance of the deadline – 11.59pm Sunday 3 September 2023.
If you need to ask a question, please email costofcare@birmingham.gov.uk
Home Support exercise – all locations holding a 2019 home support framework agreement must complete the exercise, which is a contractual requirement.
You are required to complete 2 cost of care templates – 1) the Home Care Costing Tool Tab I. – Standard (Cost +) only; and 2) the Home Support CoC 2023 Additional data template. Further information about this subject has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
Submission deadline to costofcare@birmingham.gov.uk - 11.59pm Sunday 3 September 2023.
Care homes – all contracted care homes located in Birmingham or in the West Midlands region (Coventry, Dudley, Herefordshire, Sandwell, Shropshire, Solihull, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Telford and Wrekin, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton, Worcestershire) must complete the exercise, which is a contractual requirement.
We are seeking to collect a reduced amount of data compared to previous years and so you are only required to complete 1 template – the Care Home CoC 2023 Additional data template. Further information about this subject has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
Submission deadline to costofcare@birmingham.gov.uk - 11.59pm Sunday 3 September 2023.
Supported Living and Extra Care – all contracted locations in Birmingham or in the West Midlands region (Coventry, Dudley, Herefordshire, Sandwell, Shropshire, Solihull, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Telford and Wrekin, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton, Worcestershire) must complete the exercise, which is a contractual requirement.
We are seeking to collect a reduced amount of data compared to previous years and so are only required to complete 1 template – the Supported Living and Extra Care CoC 2023 Additional data template. Further information about this subject has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
Submission deadline to costofcare@birmingham.gov.uk - 11.59pm Sunday 3 September 2023.
Thank you in advance for your participation and timely submissions.
2. New Skills for Care workforce report: care sector recruitment and retention improves (information for all providers)
New data, released by Skills for Care, shows that between 2022 - 2023, an additional 20,000 new roles were filled in the adult social care workforce.
The research also shows the job vacancy rate decreased to 9.9%, or around 152,000 on any given day, compared with 10.6% (around 164,000) in the previous year.
International recruitment is also on the rise in the care sector, with around 70,000 people recruited from abroad into direct care provision roles. This increased level of recruitment has contributed to the rate of new starters across the sector rising from 32% to 34%.
Read the full report here;
3. Capacity Tracker – system changes (information for all providers)
System Refinements
- Vaccination (Provider Update Page): The red asterisk (*) will soon be removed from 'Number known to have received a full primary course of COVID vaccination' question on the Provider Update page, as Covid vaccination questions are no longer part of the mandated collection.
- Provider Contact Directory: Changes will soon be made to the Contact Directory page.
- Occupancy Report: The 'Last Updated' toggle will soon be re-added to the report when the current date is selected.
- New Icon:The Capacity Tracker will soon display a helpful 'Loading' image when users navigate to pages in the system.
For further details, please click on the link below:
Important Reminders
- Updating Capacity Tracker? We recommend that there is more than 1 user registered at each location who can update Capacity Tracker to cover periods of absence (if you are an approver, you will be able to approve new users immediately)
- Going Abroad? Users are reminded that Capacity Tracker is not accessible outside of the UK
- Need Additional Support? Provider Training Sessions are available - see the link below - and remember to share these with colleagues who are also welcome to join our sessions!
- Need Help? For additional support, please contact our Support Centre, Mon - Fri (excluding Public Holidays) 8am - 5pm by phoning 0191 691 3729 or emailing necsu.capacitytracker@nhs.net
4. Capacity Tracker Provider Support re Mandatory Data Collection Access (information for all providers)
Thank you to all those providers who have submitted information for the ASC Provider collection during the July reporting window, we continue to see positive monthly improvements.
Support remains available to new and existing providers. Details of how to access support ahead of the August reporting window (Tuesday 8 August to Monday 14 August (inclusive)) are set out below:
NECS Capacity Tracker Support Centre: necsu.capacitytracker@nhs.net or by calling the Support Centre (8am-5pm Mon-Fri, excluding public holidays) 0191 691 3729
NHS Business Services Authority (BSA): enforcement@nhsbsa.nhs.uk or by calling 0300 330 2088 (9am - 5pm, Mon - Fri, excluding pubic holidays)
System user guidance is accessible via the Capacity Tracker Resource Centre using the link below:
NECS provider support and awareness sessions in the next 3 weeks are set out below. These sessions are to help guide providers through the information requests, update methods and reports – they are informal events to offer providers the opportunity to raise any questions or queries:
Care Home Provider Wednesday 02 August 2023 13:00
Click here to join the meeting
Care Home Provider Wednesday 09 August 2023 13:00
Click here to join the meeting
Home Care Provider Wednesday 26 July 2023 14:00
Click here to join the meeting
Home Care Provider Wednesday 02 August 2023 13:00
Click here to join the meeting
Home Care Provider Wednesday 09 August 2023 13:00
Dates for all future sessions are available in the Resource Centre on the link below:
A report is also available to all providers, to check your monthly update status, it can be accessed via this link below:
5. West Midlands Care Association July 2023 Newsletter (information for all West Midlands providers)
You can view the latest West Midlands Care Association newsletter below;
West Midlands Care Association Newsletter- 20th July (campaign-view.eu)
6. Celebrating South Asian Heritage Month (information for all providers)
18 July 2023 marked the start of South Asian Heritage Month (SAHM) – four weeks celebrating culture, history and community. It provides an opportunity to publicly appreciate and acknowledge the hard work members of the South Asian population contribute, especially in the care sector.
The Department of Health and Social Care are unbelievably proud of the diverse nature of the adult social care workforce, and how it is representative of modern, multicultural Britain. Those with South Asian heritage are an integral part of the health and social care fabric.
Find out more about SAHM on the link below;
7. Activities Mini fete for People with LD, Autism or similar needs 29 July 2023 (information for all Birmingham providers)
Birmingham Community Catalyst are running a family fun mini fete to share information on activities on offer for people with learning disabilities, autism and similar needs.
Its being held at Stechford Leisure Centre, Station Road, B33 8QN, on Saturday 29 July 2023 between 1-4pm.
Further information about this subject has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
8. Visual Impaired Picnic in the Park 4 and 18 August 2023 (information for all Birmingham providers)
Focus Birmingham are organising two picnic in the park events during August for people with sight loss and impairment, their cares and families. The picnics are in Cannon Hill Park on the 4 August 2023 and Sutton Park on the 18 August 2023.
Further information about this subject has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
9. All Age Autism Support Service – Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (information for all Birmingham and Solihull providers)
The July 2023 update from the All Age Autism Support service has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
The update details the ongoing work to provide community support to autistic people, their families and carers living in Birmingham and Solihull.
This service is funded by the NHS England and managed via the Birmingham and Solihull ICB, managed by Landau.
10. REMINDER Shape the Care Quality Commission’ (CQC) approach to assessing environmental sustainability – feedback by 1 August 2023 (information for all providers)
Later this year the CQC will be implementing a new regulatory approach. Based on a new single assessment framework (see below), the framework includes a quality statement on environmental sustainability.
Through their regulatory approach, CQC inspectors may consider how providers have made efforts to become more environmentally sustainable.
The environmental sustainability quality statement, under well-led, will look at any negative impact of providers activities on the environment, how they are acting to reduce it and supporting people to do the same.
The term ‘carbon footprint’ refers to the total amount of greenhouse gas emitted by an organisation, individual, service or product.
This relates to: Regulation 17: Good Governance
In addition to this, climate change adaptation will be assessed in the quality statement ‘safe environments’ and within ‘Governance, management and sustainability’. Within these quality statements steps taken to adapt to the effects of climate change will be looked at e.g. adverse weather plans.
Share your thoughts with the CQC here;
Add new idea | Environmental sustainability in our new single assessment framework (citizenlab.co)
11. Care Quality Commission (CQC) New regulatory approach and provider portal roll out webinar 2 August 2023 (information for all providers)
In this upcoming webinar the CQC be focusing on their approach for rolling out their new regulatory approach and provider portal to all health and social care providers. They will be letting providers know when to start using their new regulatory approach and the steps they will take to get there.
This one-hour webinar will be an opportunity for providers and professionals who work in health and social care services, organisations who represent them and other stakeholders to hear the latest updates about the new regulatory approach.
The webinar will be led by Chris Day, Director of Engagement, and Amanda Hutchinson, Head of Regulatory Change. It will take place on Wednesday 2 August, 11am – 12pm.
There will be a presentation and time to answer your questions from a live chat.
Click 'reserve a spot' on the link below and fill out the registration form. Registrations will close at 9am on Wednesday 2 August. We will not be able to accept new registrations after this time.