1. Action required - Infection Control Fund round 2 – Monthly spend reporting (Information for Birmingham Care Homes)
2. Action required - Infection Control Fund round 2 – Monthly spend reporting (Information for CQC Registered Community Care Locations in Birmingham)
3. Infection Control Fund Grants – Reminder of measures for which funding can be used for (Information for all Birmingham CQC locations – Care Home and Community Care
4. Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Priority Group 2 - Frontline Social Care Workers (Information for Birmingham homes support, supported living and Extra Care Sheltered Housing providers)
5. Covid-19 Vaccine roll in care homes (Information for Birmingham care homes)
6. Care Home visiting during the National Lockdown (Information for all Birmingham Care Homes)
7. Extension of free PPE supplies through the national portal (Information for all care providers)
8. Lateral Flow Testing mass sites (Information for Birmingham Home Support, Supported Living and Extra Care Sheltered Housing providers)
9. NECUS Nation Capacity Tracker (Information for all Care Homes)

1.Action required - Infection Control Fund round 2 – Monthly spend reporting (Information for Birmingham Care Homes)

Following the distribution of the Infection Control Fund 2 Grant allocations in November, all care home location recipients are required to complete and submit the form in the link below detailing actual and forecast spend of the Grant between 1 October and 31 December 2020.

Care Home Infection Control Fund 2 Grant spending questionnaire

A separate form must be completed for each Registered Care Home Location. The deadline for submission of the form is 25 January 2021

2.Action required - Infection Control Fund round 2 – Monthly spend reporting (Information for CQC Registered Community Care Locations in Birmingham)

Following the distribution of the Infection Control Fund 2 Grant allocations in December, all CQC Registered Community Care Location recipients are required to complete and submit the form in the link below detailing actual and forecast spend of the Grant between 1 October and 31 December 2020.

Community Care Infection Control Fund 2 Grant spending questionnaire

A separate form must be completed for each Registered Care Home Location. The deadline for submission of the form is 25 January 2021

3.Infection Control Fund Grants – Reminder of measures for which funding can be used for (Information for all Birmingham CQC locations – Care Home and Community Care)

We have distributed Infection Control Fund round 2 grants to all eligible and conditions compliant care homes and CQC registered community care locations. As the COVID19 infection rate continues to rise in Birmingham the impact on care providers and their staff teams is increasing. We are aware of a number of situations within some care homes and home support agencies where there are significant numbers of employees sick or isolating and alternative sources of staff are having to be used. The Commissioning Team are supporting these care providers through the current outbreak management processes and will continue to do so. It has become clear through some of our conversations with Registered Managers that not all were aware of the Infection Control Fund or what it could be used for. The full list of measures which the funding can be spent on is set out in the previously distributed grant agreement, however, here is useful a reminder of some of the key measures you can use the Infection Control Fund grant money for in order to mitigate some of the financial impact on your organisations:

1. Ensuring that staff who are isolating in line with government guidance receive their normal wages.
2. Limiting all staff movement between settings.
3. Limiting or cohorting staff to individual groups of residents or floors/wings, including segregation of COVID-19 positive residents. Or steps to limit the number of different people from a homecare agency visiting a particular person.
4. Ensuring that staff who need to attend work for the purposes of being tested for COVID-19 or vaccinated are paid their usual wages to do so.

4.Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Priority Group 2 - Frontline Social Care Workers (Information for Birmingham homes support, supported living and Extra Care Sheltered Housing providers)

The Covid19 immunisation programme will shortly be extended to Priority Group 2, which includes frontline social care workers. We will communicate information relating to eligible staff and how to book a vaccination shortly.  

5.Covid-19 Vaccine roll in care homes (Information for Birmingham care homes)

As you may have seen, there is now new guidance regarding COVID-19 vaccinations in care homes where there is an outbreak. This can be found below:

Guidance for COVID-19 vaccination in care homes that have cases and outbreaks

Locally, a risk assessment document has been produced to support this

Care home vaccine risk assessment

Below are slides from the Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group care homes webinar held on 12 January 2021.

Care homes vaccination webinar slides

Providers are reminded of the importance of ensuring they update the vaccination questions within the NECSU National Capacity Tracker.

The Primary Care Network to which your home is aligned will be in touch to arrange vaccination with you directly.

For a reminder of actions in preparation for your care home being vaccinated and access to useful resources and national guidance please view information previously circulated to the care home market the weekly bulletin issued 31 December 2021 available below

Bulletin 22 to 31 December 2020

6.Care Home visiting during the National Lockdown (Information for all Birmingham Care Homes)

During the current National lockdown in England, visits to care homes can continue to take place so long as arrangements including outdoor visiting, substantial screens, visiting pods, or visits behind windows are in place.

Close-contact indoor visits are not currently allowed and there should be no visits in the event of an outbreak, except in exceptional circumstances, such as end of life care, which should always be supported.

The Council is reviewing its Position Statement in light of the new guidance.

Read the updated Government guidance here;

Visting arrangements in care homes

Arrangements for visiting out of the care home

7.Extension of free PPE supplies through the national portal (Information for all care providers)

The Department of Health and Social Care have extended the provision of free PPE to social care providers until the end of June 2021.

Please see the following guidance for updated order limits for domiciliary care providers and residential care homes to include FFP masks and gowns. For domiciliary care providers and residential care homes, these items are available to providers that carry out aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs);

PPE portal: how to order COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE)

8.Lateral Flow Testing mass sites (Information for Birmingham Home Support, Supported Living and Extra Care Sheltered Housing providers)

The Lateral Flow Tests are not being issued yet to non care homes, but if staff have symptoms, they can book a test as a priority worker or if they don’t have symptoms, they can go to a mass LFD site if they wish;

Priority worker process for those with symptoms

To book a LFD test if you don't have symptoms

The above information is for testing in addition to the regular staff and resident testing that is required;

COVID-19 testing for extra care and supported living settings

COVID-19 testing for homecare workers

9.NECUS National Capacity Tracker (Information for all Care Homes)

Since Christmas, it has been noted that the frequency of updates being made by providers regarding vacancies and business continuity has plummeted across Regions. It is acknowledged that there was a brief grace period which was nationally granted where the requirement for updates was reduced, but this was to help with workload of staff over the Christmas and New Year period. It is still a requirement for vacancy and business continuity information on a DAILY basis.

There has been an increase in data entry errors in relation to work force absences due to recent changes in the questions that are asked. We would like to draw your attention to the new video guidance for providers on how to update the business continuity information on the Capacity Tracker. It aims to cover the main issues that providers have been raising and issues that are caused by data entry errors.  The video can be found under help/what’s new section of the site and is called “Business Continuity Video – Support for Providers.”