1. Covid Vaccination in Care Homes Webinar Tuesday 12 January 11-12pm (Information for Birmingham and Solihull Care Homes)
2. Discharge of people who have had a positive COVID-19 test result and are within 90 days from their initial illness onset or test result to care home setting (Information for all Care Homes)
3. Reminder that payment of Round 2 ICF monies is dependent on completion of the NECSU Capacity Tracker  (Information for all Supported Living, Extra Care Sheltered Housing and Home Support Providers in Birmingham)
4. Reminders of key messages to help prevent the spread of COVID in care homes (Information for all Birmingham Care Homes)

1. Covid Vaccination in Care Homes Webinar Tuesday 12 January 11-12pm  (Information for Birmingham and Solihull Care Homes)

Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group have arranged a Covid Vaccination in Care Homes Webinar on Tuesday 12 January 11-12am via Microsoft Teams.

Join the Covid Vaccination in Care Homes webinar

The agenda for the webinar is;

Agenda

1. Progress so far
2. Learning from experiences
3. Top tips for care homes
4. Questions (please submit questions in advance to nhsbsolccg.covidvac@nhs.net )

2. Discharge of people who have had a positive COVID-19 test result and are within 90 days from their initial illness onset or test result to care home setting (Information for all Care Homes)

Clarification from NHS England has been circulated to care providers related to Department of Health and Social Care guidance on designated isolation facilities, published on 17 December, in relation to arrangements for persons who have tested positive for COVID-19 for 14 days or longer.

Guidance on designated isolation facilities

3. Reminder that payment of Round 2 ICF monies is dependent on completion of the NECSU Capacity Tracker (Information for all Supported Living, Extra Care Sheltered Housing and Home Support Providers in Birmingham)

From 30 November 2020, domiciliary care services, extra care housing schemes, and supported living schemes are required to report their COVID-19 information through NESCU National Capacity Tracker. The allocation of the second round of the ICF monies will be dependent on two consecutive weeks of the NECSU tracker being completed.

The following support is available regarding accessing and updating the Tracker;

• Support Centre number; 0191 691 3729
• Online learning materials, including guidance and videos from the Help menu of the Capacity Tracker
• Weekly NECSU Capacity Tracker Q and A sessions. These sessions are available to care homes, supported living, extra care sheltered housing and home support providers.

4. Reminder of key messages to help prevent the spread of COVID in care homes (Information for all Birmingham care homes)

1. The importance of reviewing dependency tools/staffing levels when there are outbreaks or residents are unwell or isolating to ensure risks are considered
2. The importance of cohorting staff to service users groups/unit/floors

It is particularly important to review night shift arrangements where staffing levels are lower and also medication rounds where staff may be covering multiple floors or units. Both of these areas have been identified as the cause of recent outbreaks in the city.

3. The introduction of the new testing regime including the use of LFD in Tier 4 and in the case of an outbreak

New guidance has been published which sets out revised testing arrangements in care homes and additional testing whilst we are in Tier 4. The full guidance is available here, but in summary, the new requirements are as follows:

• Staff – weekly PCR test and 2 x weekly LFD (one of which to occur the same day as the PCR for quality assurance purposes)
• Residents – monthly PCR test
• Tier 4 – once a positive case found with LFD or PCR in the home in staff or resident – 7 days of daily LFD testing for staff in addition to regular testing above, plus confirmatory PCR test for any additional positives from LFD
• All tiers – where there is a suspected or confirmed outbreak – PCR testing for residents and staff on day 1 and once more between days 4 – 7 of the outbreak

  Page 5 of the guidance sets this out in a helpful visual summary. Details of where to get support with testing is set out on page 33 of the guidance.

  A £149m fund was announced last week to support testing in care homes and we are expecting details of this soon.

4. The importance of returning information requested by the Birmingham Community Health Care Covid Testing Team within 24 hours to allow Pillar one testing to take place timely

The Birmingham Community Health Care Covid Testing Team act on behalf of Birmingham City Council and Public Health England to undertake swabbing in care homes via the Pillar 1 testing route. Once a care home has been identified as needing Pillar 1 testing, the team will make contact via phone to arrange a visit to carry out the swabbing and to discuss the logistics of the visit. On this call a request for demographic information will be made, which will be followed up via email from the generic inbox covid-19.swabbing@bhamcommunity.nhs.uk with a template to complete requesting the name, date of birth and postcode for each individual. We ask that the completed information be sent back as soon as possible to prevent any delays in coordinating the visit which cannot be conducted until all the information requested has been received.