1. REMINDER Department of Health and Social Care: Building Winter Resilience in Local Systems (Information for all Providers)

2. REMINDER Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) The Winter 25/26 Flu Campaign (Information for all Providers)

3. REMINDER Birmingham City Council - Business Continuity Arrangements (Information for all Care Providers)

4. Healthwatch Birmingham and Solihull (Information for all Birmingham and Solihull Providers)

5. Tissue Viability NHS Birmingham Community Healthcare Newsletter (Information for Residential and Nursing Homes)

6. REMINDER NHS Birmingham and Solihull (BSOL) - Newly Relaunched NHS Knowledge and Library Hub (Information for Birmingham and Solihull Nurses)

7. REMINDER Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) - Access to the Care Home App (Information for Birmingham, Solihull and Black Country Care Homes)

8. REMINDER NHS Birmingham and Solihull (BSOL) Training Hub December 2025 (Information for Birmingham and Solihull Care Providers)

9. The Queen's Institute of Community Nursing QICN Adult Social Care Nursing Network Event 2 December 2025 (Information for Birmingham and Solihull Nurses)

10. REMINDER Birmingham Community Healthcare (BCHC) NHS Foundation Trust - Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) – IPC Champions Forum – 11 December 2025 (Information for all Birmingham Care Home Providers)

1. REMINDER Department of Health and Social Care: Building Winter Resilience in Local Systems (Information for all Providers)

The winter letter from Stephen Kinnock, Minister of State for Care, can be found here;

Winter letter 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK

It focuses on building winter resilience in local systems and sets out the priorities for adult social care this winter.

2. REMINDER Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) The Winter 25/26 Flu Campaign (Information for all Providers)

Flu season has started earlier than usual. It’s important that all Adult Social Care staff get vaccinated as soon as possible.

Please read the following letter for key information on the vaccine, who’s eligible, and how to book. Please ensure this is disseminated to all your staff and colleagues;

2025.11.17 Flu Uptake Letter.pdf

3. REMINDER Birmingham City Council - Business Continuity Arrangements (Information for all Care Providers)

Local authorities have specific duties in relation to business continuity management (BCM). This BCM duty applies to all services that the local authority carries out (including services that are provided by a third party). This means that the local authority needs to ensure all services have appropriate business continuity arrangements in place and will be seeking assurances that this is the case. The requirement for Business Continuity Plans is written into the Councils’ care contracts and plans must be reviewed by care providers annually or after any event that questions or challenges the continuity of their service. Any incident, whether large or small, accident or deliberate, can cause major disruption to your business. Examples of disruptions that can occur during winter pressures include; flooding, heavy snow, disruption to energy supplies and transport, staff shortages or pandemics.

The following links outline key business continuity arrangements that need to be in place and example templates, which can be tweaked to suit the needs of the service being delivered;

Business continuity | Is your business ready? | Birmingham City Council

Business continuity plan for care providers | Birmingham City Council

International Recruitment is a key concern when looking at Business Continuity Management. WM-ADASS and West Midlands Employers have launched a guide, published by Lester Aldridge Solicitors, which is available on the West Midlands Social Care International Recruitment Hub.

This guide includes:

• An overview of your obligations under UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) regulations.
• Guidance on meeting Right to Work requirements and preparing for UKVI compliance audits.

You can download a copy of the guide here:

http://irwestmids.co.uk/compliance-guide/

Birmingham City Council has Displaced Worker Support arrangements in place and details can be found here:

Displaced worker support | Birmingham City Council

Should contracted Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered care providers holding Skilled Worker Visa Sponsorship Licences want to be added (or removed) from the Recruitment Opportunities section (this section lists care providers who have indicated to Birmingham City Council that they will consider employing displaced workers if they have employment vacancies) please email Market Intelligence at marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk

4. Healthwatch Birmingham and Solihull (Information for all Birmingham and Solihull Providers)

Healthwatch Birmingham & Solihull is here to make sure patients’ voices are heard by the services they use. By supporting citizens to share their feedback, using Healthwatch’s online feedback centre or the details on the attached poster, you can help Healthwatch ensure services listen, respond, and improve care for everyone.

The online feedback centre is available here;

Share Your Views - Healthwatch Birmingham & Solihull

5. Tissue Viability NHS Birmingham Community Healthcare Newsletter (Information for Residential and Nursing Homes)

Please see below links to the Tissue Viability Equipment Referral Form and Tissue Viability Service Website.

tissue-viability-equipment-referral-form.docx

Tissue Viability Service | Website

6. REMINDER NHS Birmingham and Solihull (BSOL) - Newly Relaunched NHS Knowledge and Library Hub (Information for Birmingham and Solihull Nurses)

The NHS Knowledge and Library Hub is a search tool to connect NHS staff to knowledge and evidence resources in one place. It includes online journals, e-books and databases, clinical decision support resources including NICE Guidelines and BMJ Best Practice, and one-click links to full-text.

The BSOL Library Hub has recently been relaunched with a new user interface - Search the Hub more effectively: video guides from NHS England. These are useful whether you are just trying to find a specific journal article or e-book, or if you want to search across resources. You can find journal articles, e-books, clinical decision support tools and clinical guidelines all in one place.

For further help and to sign up for a UHB OpenAthens account, please contact Phil O’Reilly, BSol Knowledge & Library Specialist at philip.oreilly1@nhs.net

7. REMINDER Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) - Access to the Care Home App (Information for Birmingham, Solihull and Black Country Care Homes)

Care home staff can now access the NHS ICB Black Country care home app. This replaces the BSOL care home app. Further information about this subject has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk. Please note FREED stands for Frailty, Recognition, End of Life & Escalation of deterioration and includes a range of tools to assist staff with these issues.

8. REMINDER NHS Birmingham and Solihull (BSOL) Training Hub December 2025 (Information for Birmingham and Solihull Care Providers)

The Birmingham and Solihull Training Hub Website is for those working in a primary or social care role in the Solihull / Birmingham area. The information is for students looking for support with career development or a visitor wanting to find out more.

Please use this link for training, further information and booking:

Social Care – BSol Training hub

All training events are listed in the calendar section. You can also contact the training hub by email bsol.traininghub@nhs.net.

The next sessions are:

2 December 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

3 December 2025 Person Centred Care - 10:00 am - 12:00 pm

3 December 2025 Constipation - 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

3 December 2025 Social Care and Independent Sector Faculty 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm

4 December 2025 Mental Health Awareness - 10:00 am - 12:00 pm

4 December 2025 Birmingham Registered Managers Network meeting - 10:00 am - 2:00 pm

4 December 2025 Continuing Health Care (CHC) Checklist Training (December 2025) 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

8 December 2025 Midlands Skills for Care team is pleased to invite you to a webinar with NHSBSA, focusing on LDSS claims 1:00 pm - 1:45 pm

8 December 2025 Webinar 4 – More Than Skin Deep: Mastering Regimens to Prevent MASD and IAD 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

9. The Queen's Institute of Community Nursing QICN Adult Social Care Nursing Network Event 2 December 2025 (Information for Birmingham and Solihull Nurses)

The Queen's Institute of Community Nursing QICN is inviting nurses working in Adult Social Care in the UK to their upcoming networking event to discuss ‘Research in Adult Social Care’.

Tuesday, 2 December 2:00pm – 4:00pm - Online

⇨ Find out more

10. REMINDER Birmingham Community Healthcare (BCHC) NHS Foundation Trust - Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) – IPC Champions Forum – 11 December 2025 (Information for all Birmingham Care Home Providers)

IPC would like to invite all IPC Care Home Champions to join them for their next IPC Champions Forum for your quarterly catchup.

Thursday, 11 December 2025 10:30am – 11:45am Please click here to join this meeting

If you have any comments/queries, require infection control advice, outbreak support, training, etc please contact the team via bchc.ipcdata1@nhs.net or 0121 466 6550

IPC wish to thank you all for your continued engagement and support.