1. REMINDER PLEASE READ Upcoming Home Support Tender - Home Support and Quick Discharge Service Recommissioning Update – planned tender start date w/c 08 April 2024, recorded briefing session now available (information for existing and potential home support providers)

2. Care Homes Market Intelligence Questionnaire (MIQ) – April 2024 – DEADLINE 19 April 2024 (information for all Birmingham and contracted care homes)

3. Changes to Area Commissioning Teams from 8 April 2024 (information for all contracted providers)

4. UPDATED GUIDANCE Care Quality Commission (CQC): Visiting in care homes, hospitals and hospices (information for all care homes)

5. WM Social Care – International Recruitment E-bulletin (information for all care providers)

6. Can you offer a placement opportunity to a student nurse (information for Birmingham and Solihull nursing homes)

7. MHRA Device Safety Information: Counterfeits and unbranded copies of LifeVac anti-choking devices may fail to work correctly or worsen choking incidents if used, DSI/2024/003 (information for all care homes)

8. REMINDER New Free Kit to avoid unnecessary hospital admission and improve quality of care for your residents (Birmingham and Solihull care homes)

9. REMINDER Support available for URGENT CARE NEEDS of Care Home residents (information for all Birmingham and Solihull care homes)

10. Care Quality Commission (CQC) X Healthwatch England Share For Better Care campaign (information for all providers)

11. Care Quality Commission (CQC) new animation on Digital Social Care Records (information for all providers)

12. Capacity Tracker Team message about CareFind (information for all providers)

13. REMINDER Support to Care Homes Training for April 2024 (information for all Birmingham and Solihull care homes)

14. REMINDER Care Quality Commission (CQC) attendance at the Care Show London 24-25 April 2024 (information for all providers)

1. REMINDER PLEASE READ Upcoming Home Support Tender - Home Support and Quick Discharge Service Recommissioning Update – planned tender start date w/c 08 April 2024, recorded briefing session now available (information for existing and potential home support providers)

The Council’s Cabinet approved the Commissioning Strategy 2024 for Home Support, Adults and Children. A copy of the final Commissioning Strategy and the full report can be found here:

Decision Details: Regulated Adult Social Care Commissioning Strategy – Home Support and Quick Discharge Services (cmis.uk.com)

The current 2019 Home Support Framework Agreement and the 2019 Quick Discharge and Quick Intervention Service contracts are therefore due to end no later than 7 October 2024.

We are therefore writing to all existing providers (and any potential providers who receive this Bulletin) to update on the anticipated tender timescales. At present, the tender is likely to launch week commencing 8 April 2024. Should there be any changes to this timescale, further communication will be issued to assist providers. However, providers should be aware that the legal tender notices will be published via the following links:

Home | FinditinBirmingham

Contracts Finder - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

A recorded briefing session on How to apply for a 2024 Home Support or Quick Discharge Service contract through the CareMatch Portal is now available here;

https://youtu.be/j5UA3ScRdmA

Please note any transcripts or subtitles have been produced automatically and there may be some transcription errors. Please refer to the text on the slides as the primary source of information.

An accessible version of the slides in the recording is available here;

Tender opportunities | Tender opportunities | Birmingham City Council

Please note the CareMatch Portal User Guide has recently been refreshed and further details added around the application and correspondence sections. Please ensure you are using the latest version of the user guide by accessing here;

CareMatch Portal | Birmingham City Council

Please ensure you regularly check the Bulletin and tender notices in order to ensure you are aware of any updates or important information.

2. Care Homes Market Intelligence Questionnaire (MIQ) – April 2024 – DEADLINE 19 April 2024 (information for all Birmingham and contracted care homes)

Please find the link to the April 2024 quarterly MIQ here:

Care Home MIQ – April 2024

The deadline for completion is Friday 19 April 2024

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

Completion of the questionnaire is part of the terms of our current contracts for contracted providers, but we ask all Birmingham providers to take part in the process to help us meet our responsibilities to all Birmingham citizens.

Many thanks to staff at the care homes who completed the previous questionnaires. If this did not include your care home, please ensure that you complete the April and subsequent editions.

The purpose of the questionnaire is to collect information to assist our market shaping and development role, the production of our Market Position Statements, fulfil our Care Act duties around ensuring a quality and sustainable market, to help us direct resources, identify areas of risk, and monitor progress towards our strategic aims. It has been co-produced with health colleagues to reduce duplication in data collection, and has been streamlined so that we are only collecting information that is not available to us from elsewhere e.g. the Capacity Tracker.

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

3. Changes to Area Commissioning Teams from 8 April 2024 (information for all contracted providers)

From 8 April 2024 we are making changes to the Area Commissioning Teams. The role of the Area Commissioning teams essentially remains the same in terms of day to day supplier relationship management and quality monitoring. A new city wide team has been introduced to support with time critical/emergency provider situations that may arise. A full and comprehensive handover is taking place between your old and new area commissioners to ensure continuity. To ease the transition please contact your new commissioner from next week as shown on the table below;

	Name	Email
Area 1	Brigid Doherty Sue Hampshire	Brigid.A.Doherty@birmingham.gov.uk Susan.Hampshire@birmingham.gov.uk
Area 2	Anthony Philips Thair Rashid	Anthony.Phillips@birmingham.gov.uk Thair.Rashid@birmingham.gov.uk
Area 3	Ravinder Sandhu Anthea Marriott	Ravinder.K.Sandhu@birmingham.gov.uk Anthea.A.Marriott@birmingham.gov.uk
Area 4	Helen Thomas Val Ambrose	Helen.S.Thomas@birmingham.gov.uk Valerie.Ambrose@birmingham.gov.uk
Area 5	Tahbeer Perez Sharbina Mohammed	Tahbeer.Pervez@birmingham.gov.uk Sharbina.Mohammed@birmingham.gov.uk
Citywide	Ealine Miller Jackie Walters	Elaine.C.Miller@birmingham.gov.uk Jacqueline.Walters@birmingham.gov.uk

The information on the following web page will shortly be updated to reflect these changes;

Area Commissioning Teams – Contact and Care Provider Forum information | Who to contact in the commissioning team | Birmingham City Council

4. UPDATED GUIDANCE Care Quality Commission (CQC): Visiting in care homes, hospitals and hospices (information for all care homes)

Following consultation earlier this year, the CQC have now published final guidnace (see link below) to help providers understand and meet the new fundamental standard on visiting and accompanying in care homes, hospitals, and hospices.

published final guidance

The guidance also sets out what people using health and social care services and their families, friends or advocates can expect. The consultation was limited to the CQC’s guidance about the new fundamental standard. It did not cover the scope and content of the visiting legislation itself, which was subject to the government’s own consultation last year.

The CQC have used the feedback they received to improve our guidance. For example, they have added further clarity to help providers understand what they must do to make sure they respect the right of each person to receive visits and to be accompanied.

5. WM Social Care – International Recruitment E-bulletin (information for all care providers)

The February/March International Recruitment E-Bulletin is now available to read. In this issue, the team provide a brief overview of some of the immediate support available for CQC Registered providers. There is some information about some of the small grant projects and the team shine a spotlight on Coventry and Warwickshire Local Authorities, who have joined forces to provide support for displaced international recruits and refugee employment into adult social care. This issue also includes information about the free legal webinars. The next webinar is taking place on the 11 April 2024, at 10:00 am, and will focus on Managing and Retaining Overseas Staff.

You can read more here:

https://irwestmids.co.uk/news/

6. Can you offer a placement opportunity to a student nurse (information for Birmingham and Solihull nursing homes)

Students are the future of our profession and it is our priority to ensure that they are supported to complete their studies (NMC 2021). At Birmingham and Solihull Training Hub, we are tasked with identifying practical placement opportunities for students across five universities. We strive to identify social care to our future nurses to allow them to opportunity to choose this route as a first choice career path. We are sometimes met with stereotypical questions, which indicate a misunderstanding of what social care is all about. We need your support to address these issues and reinforce this career pathway, by asking you to provide students with the opportunity to see what a rewarding and progressive sector social care is.

In return for hosting a student nurse on a full time 6-week placement, your organisation will attract a payment of tariff totalling £812.25. Birmingham and Solihull Training Hub will support you along the process and with the completion on an educational audit and SSSA (Standards for Student Supervision and Assessment) Training, all free of charge.

Please get in touch today to start that process and help promote this rewarding but often misunderstood branch of healthcare; bsoltraininghub.nurses@nhs.net

7. MHRA Device Safety Information: Counterfeits and unbranded copies of LifeVac anti-choking devices may fail to work correctly or worsen choking incidents if used, DSI/2024/003 (information for all care homes)

Anti-choking devices are intended to alleviate choking incidents after Basic Life Support protocols have been attempted and failed. There are numerous counterfeit and unbranded anti-choking devices being sold in the UK online which do not have a valid UKCA or CE mark and may pose a significant risk of worsening choking if used. These devices should not be used in the event of a choking emergency and should be disposed of once identified as counterfeit or non-compliant.

The Device Safety Information at the link below contains further information and actions for health and care providers.

https://www.gov.uk/drug-device-alerts/counterfeits-and-unbranded-copies-of-lifevac-anti-choking-devices-may-fail-to-work-correctly-or-worsen-choking-incidents-if-used-dsi-slash-2024-slash-003

8. REMINDER New Free Kit to avoid unnecessary hospital admission and improve quality of care for your residents (Birmingham and Solihull care homes)

Part of Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care System’s (BSoL ICB) role is to support care homes to deliver high quality care to care home residents living across Birmingham and Solihull. With this in mind BSoL ICB will be introducing Docobo, a remote monitoring health and care kit that will support care home residents to avoid an unnecessary hospital visit and be cared for in the safety and comfort of their own surroundings. This new digitally led piece of equipment will be rolled out FREE to care homes across Birmingham and Solihull in the next twelve months.

Remote monitoring is already being used by our local hospitals to keep people out of hospitals. Docobo enables care home staff to input vital signs and symptoms of a resident, who is feeling unwell, into a digital tablet (hand held device). This triggers an alert to an urgent clinical response team who will call you/ the care home to triage and agree next steps to see if your resident needs can be met quickly and easily by community-led services. These services include a 0-2 hour urgent community response service, admission onto a virtual ward and a remote monitoring option as well as treatment for long term conditions include diabetes and COPD.

For more information on Urgent Community Services visit;

Urgent Community Response service :: Birmingham and Solihull ICS (birminghamsolihullics.org.uk)

For more information on virtual wards and remote monitoring visit;

Virtual wards :: Birmingham and Solihull ICS (birminghamsolihullics.org.uk)

For more information on Docobo visit;

Remote Patient Monitoring | The Latest Healthcare Technology | Docobo

This new approach will support you and your resident to avoid a long wait for an ambulance and a further wait at A&E. This can be a traumatic experience for a resident before they even get to see a consultant at the hospital.

Indu Ravindranath (Indu.ravindranath@nhs.net) or a member of her team will shortly be calling care homes to arrange a visit to share more information with you. If you would like to become one of the accelerator sites across Birmingham and Solihull please email bchc.monitorcarehome@nhs.net

9. REMINDER Support available for URGENT CARE NEEDS of Care Home residents (information for all Birmingham and Solihull care homes)

Care Homes in Birmingham and Solihull are advised to contact UCR (Urgent Community Response Team) in the first instance for receiving urgent care who can provide a rapid response service within two hours of your call. This referral service offers an alternative to calling an ambulance and helps to avoid unnecessary hospital admission or readmission. This service has highly skilled and dedicated clinicians who can deliver a rapid response to the urgent care needs of your patient/s or refer to the ambulance service should the patient need emergency hospital care. Please refer the Exclusion and inclusion criteria, Video, and attachment.

For further information, watch this video on UCR services here:

https://vimeo.com/857526902/322f665305?share=copy

Please call:

• Birmingham UCR team on 0300 555 1919, Option 2
• Solihull UCR team 0121 424 5666

10. Care Quality Commission (CQC) X Healthwatch England Share For Better Care campaign (information for all providers)

People are more likely to feedback about commercial services and products than their experiences of health and social care, according to new research commissioned with Healthwatch England.

The CQC have launched their Share For Better Care campaign which aims to encourage everyone to give feedback on their experience of care using the link below, focusing on people more likely to experience poorer care and inequalities who are less likely to give their feedback.

give feedback on their experiences of care

Through our public awareness campaign we aim to show the public how feedback is used by CQC and Healthwatch England to make improvements to the health and social care system.

Together, we can improve health and adult social care. Knowing about your experiences of care helps us make a real difference. Join the conversation on X using #ShareForBetterCare

Help support our campaign using the materials in the link below:

stakeholder toolkit here.

Get involved and share your story

11. Care Quality Commission (CQC) new animation on Digital Social Care Records (information for all providers)

Care providers can find out about the benefits from digitally adding notes, uploading photos, coordinating personalised activities and cutting the time that teams spend writing up handover notes. This video is the latest in a series from Digitising Social Care and is available here;

Animated Explainers - YouTube

12. Capacity Tracker Team message about CareFind (information for all providers)

CareFind is a new product developed by NECS and built with the support of DHSC and NHSE. It is a free website for members of the public to search for Care Home services and room availability. Care Home providers can find further guidance and Training information,

click here

If you have any question, please get in touch with the CareFind Support Team necsu.capacitytracker@nhs.net or you can call at 0191 691 3729.

13. REMINDER Support to Care Homes Training for April 2024 (information for all Birmingham and Solihull care homes)

Details of the Support to Care Homes Team virtual training for the month of April 2024 for all Care Home staff across Birmingham and Solihull Care homes has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk

There are valuable informative training sessions this month on;

• Management of Deterioration
• Infection prevention
• Pressure Ulcer prevention
• Falls
• Dementia awareness

The training will be hosted by the Solihull Support to Care homes Team and is open to all Care Home staff across Birmingham and Solihull care homes and joining details can be accessed via the BSol Healthzone Care Home App.

Please see the previous bulletin item 3 here for further information about the App;

What's New Bulletin 184 - 15 February 2024 - Care services providers' bulletin (birmingham.gov.uk)

14. REMINDER Care Quality Commission (CQC) attendance at the Care Show London 24-25 April 2024 (information for all providers)

The CQC will be hosting the “Meet the Inspector” hub at the Care Show London on 24-25 April 2024. Attendees can book a meeting with the inspectors, discuss their concerns, and receive advice on how to improve their CQC ratings. The conference programme includes the latest sector updates and best practices to help you improve your care service, with a focus on understanding what the upcoming election means for social care and providing insights into hiring and retaining staff. Attendees will be able to attend CPD-accredited sessions delivered by over 100 speakers, meet more than 150 suppliers, and network with colleagues. Complimentary passes are available for care and healthcare professionals, those working for a social care provider, allied healthcare, NHS, and public sector professionals.

Book a space here;

Care Show London - The event that celebrates the whole care sector