What's New Bulletin 181 - 25 January 2024
This is edition 181 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. Care Quality Commission (CQC) Top tips for a good experience submitting notifications (information for all providers)
2. REMINDER CONSULTATION Care Quality Commission (CQC) guidance on visiting in care homes, hospitals and hospices ion on our guidance on visiting in care homes, hospitals and hospices DEADLINE 20 February 2024 (information for all care homes)
3. REMINDER Hodge Hill Neighbourhood Network Scheme (NNS) Showcase event 30 January 2024 (information for providers in Hodge Hill)
4. REMINDER Carers Education Day: Bladder and Bowel Training for carers 2 February 2024 (information for West Midlands care homes)
5. REMINDER Skills for Care: Midlands activity provision network 15 February 2024 2:00pm - 4:00pm (information for West Midlands care homes)
6. Kent Surrey Sussex Homecare Research Community of Experience - The role of homecare and other services in supporting adults' food and drink care needs 21 February 2024 (information for all home support providers)
7. Birmingham and Solihull Nurses and Clinical Leads Network for Nurses working in Social Care Network 21 March 2024 (information for 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 Please ensure your current insurance documents are uploaded to the CareMatch Portal (information for all Birmingham City Council contracted providers)
1. Care Quality Commission (CQC) Top tips for a good experience submitting notifications (information for all providers)
Providers must notify the CQC about certain changes, events and incidents that affect their service or the people who use it. Giving the CQC the right information first time means providers will need to spend less time responding to CQC requests for further information.
Here are some top tips for getting notifications right: See links below.
- If you have access to the provider portal (link below)(current or new), this is the easiest and quickest way for you to submit a notification.
- If you're using a Word form, always download the latest version from our website rather than using saved versions as we change our forms from time to time.
- Make sure the provider and location IDs and name of provider entered on the form are correct.It is important to remember this will have changed if you have made changes to your legal entity. You will find your provider ID and the location IDs on your latest certificate of registration.
- Make sure all the fields on the notification form are completed.
- Keep up to date with the latest guidance on submitting notifications.
- You should always receive a submission notification and a reference when you have correctly submitted a notification. If you do not receive this CQC may not have received your information.
For the best and fastest way to submit notifications, sign up to the new provider portal as soon as you receive your invite. Read more here;
Notifications: guidance for providers - Care Quality Commission (cqc.org.uk)
2. REMINDER CONSULTATION Care Quality Commission (CQC) guidance on visiting in care homes, hospitals and hospices ion on our guidance on visiting in care homes, hospitals and hospices DEADLINE 20 February 2024 (information for all care homes)
The CQC are consulting on their propsed guidance (see link below) to help providers and other stakeholders understand and meet the new fundamental standard(see link below) on visiting and accompanying in care homes, hospitals, and hospices and their roles and responsibilities under it. The guidance also sets out what people using health and social care services and their families,friends or advocates can expect.
This follows the government’s consultation during summer 2023 which found that most people supported the proposal to introduce a fundamental standard on visiting and being accompanied on
This consultation is limited to the CQC guidance about the new fundamental standard. It does not cover the scope and content of the visiting legislation itself, which was subject to a separate consultation by the government last year.
Given the timescales the government has set out for the regulation to come into force on 6 April 2024, the deadline for responses to the CQC consultation is midday on Tuesday 20 February 2024.
The CQC have published their draft guidance (See link below) on our website and invite members of the public and providers, their representatives, and other stakeholders to give their feedback through the online form (see link below) or easy read version.
consulting on their proposed guidance
published their draft guidance
3. REMINDER Hodge Hill Neighbourhood Network Scheme (NNS) Showcase event 30 January 2024 (information for providers in Hodge Hill)
Following on from the success of last year, Hodge Hill NNS would like to invite you to our annual showcase and networking event, 2024.
This is a unique opportunity for community stakeholders to join together to create new partnerships as well as strengthen and maintain existing ones. Attendees will also have the chance to learn about the positive impact that Hodge Hill NNS has made within the constituency and how we plan to extend and further our support and offer.
Register through Eventbrite for a space:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hodge-hill-nns-celebration-and-networking-event-tickets-777587815087
4. REMINDER Carers Education Day: Bladder and Bowel Training for carers 2 February 2024 (information for West Midlands care homes)
The Association for Continence professionals is providing an education day for care home staff on Bladder and Bowel Care, Infection Prevention, Continence Management, Catheter Care, Continence assessment.
If you would like to attend, please contact. louise.patterson@clinisupplies.co.uk Or westmidlandsaca@gmail.com
5. REMINDER Skills for Care: Midlands activity provision network 15 February 2024 2:00pm - 4:00pm (information for West Midlands care homes)
This meeting will provide a learning space for staff involved in facilitating meaningful and stimulating activities with the people they support. The network will have a particular focus on the following topics:
- Supporting people with limited mobility
- Increasing the use of digital tools
- Developing skills and career progression for activity coordinators
Who should attend?
- Activity coordinators
- Staff involved in leading activities
- Managers seeking to improve activity provision in their service
This meeting will be run on Zoom. Registrations will close 90 minutes before the scheduled start of the event;
6. Kent Surrey Sussex Homecare Research Community of Experience - The role of homecare and other services in supporting adults' food and drink care needs 21 February 2024 (information for all home support providers)
This online lunchtime event is aimed at updating providers on the findings from the above NIHR SSCR funded project (see link below); Wednesday 21 February, 12noon to 1.30pm.
Please sign up to the event using the link below:
Alongside support from healthcare and family or friends, home care services offer an important way of supporting older people to stay well and healthy, helping them to access the food and drink they want, when they want and how they want. This is not only important in reducing risks of malnutrition and dehydration, but also to help people live well at home and improve quality of life. This study was a first step in understanding what is already known about how homecare supports older people with food and drink, and give a clearer idea of what needs to be done in terms of research to build the evidence base, and how adult social care policy and practice can support older adults with food and drink in later life.
There will be brief presentations by the research team at the University of Kent, University of Surrey and Brighton and Sussex Medical School, as well as an opportunity for Q&A and discussion of the findings/recommendations.
For further information about this event and the research, please contact my colleague Dr Lavinia Bertini on l.bertini@bsms.ac.uk.
7. Birmingham and Solihull Nurses and Clinical Leads Network for Nurses working in Social Care Network 21 March 2024 (information for Birmingham and Solihull care homes)
Birmingham and Solihull Nurses and Clinical Leads Network for Nurses working in Social Care would like to invite registered nurses to the next virtual network meeting for Thursday 21 March 2024 14.00pm to 16.30pm.
The meeting agenda will include relevant clinical nursing issues;
- Update on Dementia and End of Life
- Stop and Watch
- How to set up organisational learning meetings
- Update from the Social Care Advisory Board
There will be an update from BSOL Integrated Care Board, Skills for Care and West Midlands Care Association on support/resources for nurses.
To find out more about the meeting, and to book your place, follow this link:
Nurses and Clinical Leads Network (wmca.care)
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 using the link below. 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 Please ensure your current insurance documents are uploaded to the CareMatch Portal (information for all Birmingham City Council contracted providers)
It is an important part of your contractual obligations to Birmingham City Council, and a legal requirement, to ensure you have valid insurance at all times. It is important that when you renew your insurance documents you remember to upload a copy to the CareMatch Portal following the instructions in Section 8.8 of the Care Match Portal User Guide;
If you are experiencing technical issues uploading the documents, please contact market.intelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
Reminder alerts were added to the CareMatch Portal in December 2020 to inform you when your insurance documents were coming up to their expiry date and when they had expired to assist you to remain compliant with your contractual obligations around insurance. For further information about this CareMatch Portal functionality and how to ensure you are receiving these alerts, please review the following previous provider bulletin items on this topic;
No evidence of current insurance cover on the CareMatch Portal at the levels mentioned below will be treated as a breach of contract until evidence of cover is provided
The levels and types of insurance required by the Framework Agreement for the Provision of Home Support for Children and Young People with Disabilities and Home Support for Adults and the Flexible Contracting Arrangements for the Provision of Care Homes With and Without Nursing Services and Care and Support (Supported Living) are as follows;
- Employers Liability (including volunteers) Insurance - to be as a minimum in accordance with statutory legislation (currently £5m)
- Public Liability Insurance (including loss or damage to service user’s personal effects) - Minimum £10m
- For nursing homes only: Professional Indemnity / Treatment Cover / Negligence which must be a minimum of £5m
Providers are finding the cost of insurance has risen as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and as such it is important you allow enough time for finding an alternative insurance provider, if needed, before your current insurance expires. Please contact your Care Association to see what support and advice they can offer. It is important that you inform you area commissioners if you are having difficulty arranging future cover before the expiry of your current insurance.