1. SURVEY Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Updates - Care Home and Home Care Providers – feedback opportunity DEADLINE 5 February 2025 (Information for all Providers)

2. REMINDER SURVEY Healthwatch Birmingham - Help to Improve Home Care Services in Birmingham DEADLINE 31 January 2025 (Information for all Home Support Providers in Birmingham)

3. Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Updates - International Recruitment – Provider Support (Information for all Providers)

4. West Midlands Care Association (WMCA) - International Recruitment: Displaced Worker Support Email Address (Information for all West Midlands Care Providers)

5. REMINDER: UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reporting tool and response process for Acute Respiratory Infections in adult social care (Information for all West Midlands Providers)

6. AMENDED GUIDANCE - Birmingham Community Healthcare (BCHC) NHS Foundation Trust - Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) - Carbapenemase-producing enterobacterales (CPE) Guidance (Information for all Care Homes)

7. West Midlands Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) - Cyber Game (Information for all West Midlands Care Providers)

8. REMINDER Capacity Tracker Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) - Provider Training Dates February and March 2025: Using Capacity Tracker (Information for all Providers)

9. REMINDER Birmingham and Solihull (BSOL) – Skills for Care Updates and Training February and March 2025 (Information for all Birmingham and Solihull Providers)

10. West Midlands Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) - Cyber Simulation webinars in the West Midlands February 2025 (Information for all West Midlands Care Providers)

11. REMINDER Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust - Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) – Updates and Training January to March 2025 (Information for Care Homes and IPC Care Home Champions)

12. Birmingham and Solihull (BSOL) Nurses and Clinical Leads Network for Nurses working in Social Care Virtual Network Meeting 20 March 2025 (Information for Care Homes with Nursing in Birmingham and Solihull)

1. SURVEY Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Updates - Care Home and Home Care Providers – feedback opportunity DEADLINE 5 February 2025 (Information for all Providers)

As part of the Better Security, Better Care programme, DHSC, via the Digital Care Hub, are keen to hear from Adult Social Care providers on the use of Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) practices and policies in the Adult Social Care sector.

A short 10-minute anonymous survey is available via the following link:

Understanding Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies and usage in adult social care

If you experience issues accessing the survey, please copy and paste the link into your browser.

The survey is open until 5 February 2025 for staff to complete, if they have devices provided to them by their employer or if they use their own device to access work information.

For support with the Capacity Tracker, please see details below:

• For system support and guidance - please contact NECS Capacity Tracker Support Centre - 0191 691 3729 or necsu.capacitytracker@nhs.net (We are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm, excluding public holidays)
• Changing registration, closing, change of ownership – please contact the CQC - T: 03000 616161, E: enquiries@cqc.org.uk, CQC Provider Portal (They are open Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 5.30pm, excluding public holidays)

If you receive an enforcement notice – please contact the NHS Business Services Authority Enforcement Team (NHSBSA) – T: 0300 330 2088, E: enforcement@nhsbsa.nhs.uk (They are open Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 4.30pm

2. REMINDER SURVEY Healthwatch Birmingham - Help to Improve Home Care Services in Birmingham DEADLINE 31 January 2025 (Information for all Home Support Providers in Birmingham)

Healthwatch Birmingham is seeking to understand what life is like for people who rely on domiciliary services in Birmingham. Therefore, they want to hear from citizens about their experience of the care and support they receive via a questionnaire. This questionnaire should be completed by service users and/or their family member/carer. Please support your service users to be able to complete the questionnaire by the closing date of 31 January 2025.

If you have any questions, please ring 0800 652 5278/0121 636 0990 and ask for Chipiliro Kalebe-Nyamongo or Ghazanfar Khan or email us on chipilirok@healthwatchbirmingham.co.uk or ghazanfark@healthwatchbirmingham.co.uk

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

3. Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Updates - International Recruitment – Provider Support (Information for all Providers)

Following the webinars hosted by DHSC and Home Office in August and September 2024, the webinar slides, and a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document are now available on the Capacity Tracker, this compliments the supporting information for ASC providers who are recruiting from abroad or considering international recruitment.

Click here to view.

4. West Midlands Care Association (WMCA) - International Recruitment: Displaced Worker Support Email Address (Information for all West Midlands Care Providers)

Are you a care provider who is looking to employ overseas workers? Are you a care provider with a valid sponsorship license who is looking to recruit from overseas? There may be people already here looking for alternative employment.

The West Midlands International Recruitment Partnership are working with displaced individuals who are looking for work. If you are interested in potentially employing any of these individuals, then please register your details with them via the West Midlands Care Association

Please click on the link below to sign up

here

You may opt out of this service at any time, by clicking the unsubscribe link in your registration email

5. REMINDER: UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reporting tool and response process for Acute Respiratory Infections in adult social care (Information for all West Midlands Providers)

An online Outbreak Risk Assessment Tool for Care Settings (Care OBRA Tool) is available should you need to contact UKHSA WM HPT (West Midlands Health Protection Team).

Use this service to report:

• a new outbreak of an acute respiratory infection (ARI) - 2 or more people in your setting with symptom onset within 5 days of each other
• a single confirmed case of flu in your setting

ARIs include COVID-19, flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), or unknown respiratory infection including chest infections.

This web-based tool enables care settings to report ARI outbreaks directly to UKHSA via the following web-link without the need to call or email the UKHSA HPT. You will automatically receive guidance on immediate actions required to reduce the spread of infection at your care home.

Care Outbreak Risk Assessment (Care OBRA) Tool

If you are not able to complete the form, please dial 03442253560 and press option 2.

6. AMENDED GUIDANCE - Birmingham Community Healthcare (BCHC) NHS Foundation Trust - Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) - Carbapenemase-producing enterobacterales (CPE) Guidance (Information for all Care Homes)

Carbapenemase-producing enterobacterales (CPE) are bacteria that are resistant to the carbapenem class of antibiotics, which are often considered the antibiotic of last resort for such infections. This resistance inevitably leads to an increase in difficult-to-treat infections.

Most of the time CPE are harmless with no signs or symptoms, this is called ‘colonisation’. Residents colonised with CPE do not usually pose a risk to healthy people but may be a risk to those who are vulnerable such as the immunocompromised individuals or those with other risk factors such as chronic wounds, invasive devices/complex care needs.

However, if CPE bacteria get into other parts of the body e.g. the urine, a wound or the blood, they can cause an infection and will need treatment. These infections can spread rapidly; therefore, infection prevention and control precautions must be prioritised, however residents should not be refused admission or readmission on the grounds that they are colonised or infected with CPE.

To support the care settings to manage residents with CPE amended guidance has been produced, in line with the framework of actions to contain CPE. Further information about this subject has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk

Actions to contain carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales

7. West Midlands Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) - Cyber Game (Information for all West Midlands Care Providers)

You are invited to join the Digital Care Hub’s launch of their new cyber game tailored to the care sector. This online interactive game will walk a user through a simulation of a cyber-attack in a care setting.

The user has choices to make as more information about the situation is revealed to them. Please use the link below to book a place.

LAUNCH EVENT: Cyber Incident Simulation Game for adult social care - Digital Care Hub

8. REMINDER Capacity Tracker Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) - Provider Training Dates February and March 2025: Using Capacity Tracker (Information for all Providers)

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

This includes future dates for provider training in using the Capacity Tracker. The sessions are aimed at Adult Social Care CQC regulated Providers.

For support with the Capacity Tracker, please see details below:

• For system support and guidance - please contact NECS Capacity Tracker Support Centre - 0191 691 3729 or necsu.capacitytracker@nhs.net (We are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm, excluding public holidays)
• Changing registration, closing, change of ownership – please contact the CQC - T: 03000 616161, E: enquiries@cqc.org.uk, CQC Provider Portal (They are open Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 5.30pm, excluding public holidays)

If you receive an enforcement notice – please contact the NHS Business Services Authority Enforcement Team (NHSBSA) – T: 0300 330 2088, E: enforcement@nhsbsa.nhs.uk (They are open Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 4.30pm

9. REMINDER Birmingham and Solihull (BSOL) – Skills for Care Updates and Training February and March 2025 (Information for all Birmingham and Solihull Providers)

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

This includes some updates on forthcoming training and development opportunities for frontline care staff.

10. West Midlands Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) - Cyber Simulation webinars in the West Midlands February 2025 (Information for all West Midlands Care Providers)

Would you know how to respond to a cyber-attack?Join Digital Care Hub and the West Midlands Cyber Resilience Centre for these new interactive webinars launching in February, where they will simulate a hacker targeting a care provider with a cyber-attack. Participants will collectively step into the decision-maker's shoes using Zoom polls, choosing how to respond at every turn. Each choice will shape the outcome, revealing the real-life consequences of your actions.

The West Midlands Cyber Resilience Centre to talk about the common cyber issues found in the West Midlands and more.

Cyber simulation: Phishing Attack in the West Midlands – 13 February 2025 | 2:30pm-3:30pm

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1205435151989?aff=oddtdtcreator

Cyber simulation: Ransomware Attack in the West Midlands – 26 February 2025 | 3pm-4pm

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1205416897389?aff=oddtdtcreator

11. REMINDER Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust - Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) – Updates and Training January to March 2025 (Information for Care Homes and IPC Care Home Champions)

Please find a list of IPC Care Homes reminders and notifications below:

The next month’s virtual training sessions on Respiratory Infections will take place on Friday, 14 February, 2.00pm – 2.30pm

Click here to join

please add this to your diaries as appropriate.

The date for the next IPC Champions Forum is Friday, 21 March 2025, 11.00am – 12.30pm

Click here to join

please add this to your diaries as appropriate.

For further information, please contact bchc.ipcdata1@nhs.net

12. Birmingham and Solihull (BSOL) Nurses and Clinical Leads Network for Nurses working in Social Care Virtual Network Meeting 20 March 2025 (Information for Care Homes with Nursing in Birmingham and Solihull)

Birmingham and Solihull Nurses and Clinical Leads Network for Nurses working in Social Care would like to invite home managers and registered nurses to the next virtual network meeting for Thursday 20 March 2025.

The meeting agenda will include relevant clinical nursing issues such as:

• Resident Ambassadors at Blackmoor Nursing Home - Arron Breen - Home Manager
• Podiatry In BSOL Nursing Homes - Amanda Askew Podiatry Service Clinical Lead at BCHCT
• Safe Systems of Work – Brigid Doherty Senior Commissioning Officer - Birmingham City Council
• Choking Prevention in Care Homes- Sandra Robinson - Director & Independent Speech & Language Therapist, Speech Therapy Works Ltd

There will be an update from BSOL Integrated Care Board, Skills for Care and West Midlands Care Association on support/resources for nurses.

The link to book a place is below.

Nurses and Clinical Leads Network (wmca.care)

Please use networks@wmca.care for further information.