1. REMINDER CareMatch Portal new functionality regarding expired insurance documents (Information for all users of CareMatch Portal)
2. Learning disabilities – get registered! (Information for all care providers)
3. REMINDER Covid Vaccine – Materials to Support Staff Discussions (Information for all care providers)
4. REMINDER Covid Vaccine – Financial Support – (Information for Birmingham care providers and contracted providers outside of Birmingham delivering care to Birmingham residents)
5. Infection Control Fund 2 – monthly spend reporting (Information for all Birmingham Care Homes)
6. Infection Control Fund 2 – monthly spend reporting (Information for all care providers with CQC Registered Community Care Locations in Birmingham)
7. Rapid Testing Fund – monthly spend reporting (Information for all Care Homes in Birmingham)
8. Contact tracing – message from the Health Protection Response Team (Test and Trace) in Birmingham City (Information for all care providers operating in Birmingham)
9. Clean Air is coming to a place near you! (Information for all care providers operating in Birmingham)
10. New guidance – restricting workforce movement between care homes and other care settings (Information for all care homes)
11. Updated guidance - COVID-19: supporting adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults (Information for all care providers working in this field)
12. EU Settlement Scheme and adults using social care (Information for all care providers)

1.REMINDER CareMatch Portal new functionality regarding expired insurance documents (Information for all users of CareMatch Portal)

Changes were made to the CareMatch Portal in early December 2020 to make efficiencies in the process for ensuring we have up to date insurance information from providers, as required within the Home Support Framework Contracts and the Open Contracting arrangements for Care Homes and Supported Living.

Please note that the CareMatch Portal user guide has been updated to provide instruction on selecting the correct Document Type and entering the policy expiry date when uploading new insurance documents to ensure the alert process described below will be triggered (section 8.8)

The revised User Guide can be downloaded here:

CareMatch Portal User Guide

What this means for you:

• If the current insurance documents we hold for you in the CareMatch Portal are in date, then when they are due to expire you will receive email alerts from the CareMatch Portal reminding you one month, one week and the day they have expired asking you to upload your new documents. The Market Intelligence Team will be notified when new documents have been uploaded so they can be reviewed. Your Area Commissioners will be informed if new documents have not been uploaded by the expiry date.
• You can visit your Documents table to check if we have the most recent insurance documents for your organisation (see section 8.8 of the User Guide for where to find your Documents table). If we don’t, you can upload your new documents by following the instructions in section 8.8 of the User Guide. When these documents are next due for renewal, you will receive the reminder emails from the CareMatch Portal as described above.

These reminder emails will be sent to all users assigned to your provider. Please ensure users email alerts are switched on to receive these (see section 4.5 of the User Guide for how you can check and change user settings). They will also appear as messages in the Messages table on your dashboard (please see section 4.2 in the User Guide for where you can find your Messages table), so please look out for these if you choose to keep your email alerts off.

2.Learning disabilities – get registered! (Information for all care providers)

People who are on a GP register for learning disabilities will now be prioritised for a coronavirus vaccination in England, following updated advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

Mencap have published a really helpful guide about how to get on the Learning Disability Register and the benefits of doing this which includes priority Covid vaccination but also an annual health check:

Mencap guide to the Learning Disability Register

3.REMINDER Covid Vaccine – Materials to Support Staff Discussions (Information for all care providers)

Vaccination appointments are still available for frontline workers via the National booking site

National vaccination booking link

We ask that you continue to have conversations with staff that have reservation about having the vaccination and have collated a number of useful materials that have been published to assist with providing accurate information to your staff regarding the Covid vaccine. You can find these materials in item 6 of Bulletin 30 issued on 25 February 2021:

Care Provider Bulletin 30

4.REMINDER Covid Vaccine – Financial Support – (Information for Birmingham care providers and contracted providers outside of Birmingham delivering care to Birmingham residents)

We are aware that for some social care staff, there is a barrier to taking up the Covid vaccine as they are unable to do so in work time and are therefore not being paid for their time. To ensure our invaluable workforce have the maximum opportunity to take up this essential vaccine to protect; themselves; their families; their services users; and our community, we are pleased to confirm we will provide financial support to cover these costs as follows:

• Wherever possible we would of course encourage you to release staff for this essential activity during their working day, however we do recognise the operational challenges this can pose.
• Secondly you should then draw upon your Infection Control Funds to support staff in this way.
• However, should you have exhausted these options, but find that paying staff for their time to attend vaccination remains the only barrier to uptake, the Council will consider this as a reasonable additional Covid-related cost under our existing Covid funding scheme.
• The details about how to claim can be found using the link below. You will need to clearly set out in your claim (through your covering email accompanying your claim form), the number of staff you have paid, how many hours you have paid them for collectively and the total amount of your claim for this reason.
• You will not be able to retrospectively claim for these costs, however you will be able to claim for any such costs from 16 February 2021.

Birmingham COVID-19 additional costs claims

5.Infection Control Fund 2 – monthly spend reporting (Information for all Birmingham Care Homes)

Further to the allocation of the Infection Control Fund 2 grants, all Birmingham located care homes in receipt of the funding must complete the online form detailing the measures on which the funding has been spent. We remind you that completion of the form is a condition of the grant funding and that failure to do so will result in the Council seeking return of any funds distributed. The deadline for completion of the form is 24 March 2020. Please click on the button below:

Care Homes monthly spending report

6.Infection Control Fund 2 – monthly spend reporting (Information for all care providers with CQC Registered Community Care Locations in Birmingham)

Further to the allocation of the Infection Control Fund 2 grants, all Birmingham located CQC registered community care providers in receipt of the funding must complete the online form detailing the measures on which the funding has been spent. We remind you that completion of the form is a condition of the grant funding and that failure to do so will result in the Council seeking return of any funds distributed. The deadline for completion of the form is 24 March 2020. Please click on the link below.

Community care providers spending report

7.Rapid Testing Fund – monthly spend reporting (Information for all Care Homes in Birmingham)

Further to the allocation of the Rapid Testing Fund grants, all Birmingham located care homes in receipt of the funding must complete the online form detailing the measures on which the funding has been spent. We remind you that completion of the form is a condition of the grant funding and that failure to do so will result in the Council seeking return of any funds distributed. The deadline for completion of the form is 24 March 2020. Please click on the link below.

Rapid Testing Fund spending report

8.Contact tracing – message from the Health Protection Response Team (Test and Trace) in Birmingham City (Information for all care providers operating in Birmingham)

The Health Protection Response Team (Test and Trace) in Birmingham City Council have produced the following updated guidance to help you assess and mitigate the risk and impacts the Covid-19 infection can have on your setting. This includes the vital role of carrying out case contact tracing within your setting:

1. Arrange daily staff testing at start of each shift using LFD for 7 days when a resident or staff member has a positive PCR or LFD. This needs to continue until you have 5 clear days with no further positive cases.
2. Complete the attached checklist and return it to contacttracing@birmingham.gov.uk Ensuring you identify staff and residents, including external visitors such as GPs, chiropodists etc. who may have been in close contact with the new case during the 2 days before and 10 days after onset of symptoms (or date of test if case is asymptomatic). Please see tables below for details of who should be considered a contact.
3. Please consider not only care activities but also exposures which may have occurred in other areas of the setting such as resident lounges/communal areas, staff break rooms and offices within the care home, as well as car shares and shared accommodation with other care home staff.
4. Ensure that identified staff contacts self-isolate for 10 days and resident contacts self-isolate for 14 days from the date of last contact with a confirmed case.
5. Please continue to ensure that your staff have access to and are wearing the appropriate PPE for all care activities. Please also ensure that staff are aware of and following the advice on social distancing at all times, in both resident and staff areas.
6. You will also need to take the actions above for any additional cases within the home, updating the checklist with new cases and forwarding to contacttracing@birmingham.gov.uk Please also ensure you update the National Capacity Tracker with the latest number of Covid positive staff and residents.

The tables below summarise the definitions of contacts and the actions needed for both case and contacts. Further information can be found in the updated national guidance documents:

Admission and care or residents in a care home during COVID-19

COVID-19 management of staff and exposed patients or residents in health and social care settings

CONTACTS

Contacts are defined as someone being exposed to a person testing positive to COVID-19 while they were infectious (starting 2 calendar days before symptoms first appeared, or in the event the case is asymptomatic, the date of the test (not the date of the result) as per the tables below).

The employer/ care setting manager is required to carry out contact tracing within the setting, as it is their duty to ensure the health and safety of all their employees and service users. (Please note that the NHS Test and Trace contact tracing is reliant on the declaration provided by the employee who tested positive and may not be complete).

All identified contacts must be informed by the employer/ setting manager that they are required to self-isolate for a period of 10 full days from the day of their last close contact with the employee or service user who tested positive.

Residents with confirmed COVI-19 - actions for case and contacts

	Resident case with confirmed COVID-19	Resident contacts	Staff contacts WITHOUT PPE	Staff Contacts WITH PPE
Definition	Confirmed cases are defined as those that have received a positive test result for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).	1. Direct contact: face to face contact with resident case for any length of time, within 1m, including being coughed on, a face to face conversation, unprotected physical contact (skin to skin).   2. Proximity contact resident has been within 1m for 1 minute or longer with a resident case OR within 2m for 15 minutes or more. 3. Resident contact resident lives in the same unit / floor as the resident case and share the same communal areas e.g. equivalent to a household setting.	1. Direct contact: face to face contact with resident case for any length of time, within 1m, including being coughed on, a face to face conversation, unprotected physical contact (skin to skin).   2. Proximity contact staff member has been within 1m for 1 minute or longer with a resident case OR within 2m for 15 minutes or more 3. Cleaning exposure staff that have cleaned a personal or communal area of the home where the resident case has been located	Any contact with resident case where the staff member was wearing PPE with no breaches.
Actions	Isolate for full 14 days.	Isolate for full 14 days.	Isolate for full 10 days.	No isolation required, but remain vigilant for any symptoms and continue daily testing regime. Continue wearing appropriate PPE.

Staff with confirmed COVID-19 - actions for case and contacts

	Staff case with confirmed COVID-19	Resident contacts WITHOUT PPE	Staff contacts WITHOUT PPE	Staff and Residents contacts WITH PPE
Definition	Confirmed cases are defined as those that have received a positive test result for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).	1. Direct contact: Face to face contact with staff case for any length of time, within 1m, including being coughed on, a face to face conversation, unprotected physical contact (skin to skin).   2. Proximity contact resident has been within 1m for 1 minute or longer with a resident case OR 2 metres for 15 minutes or more	1. Direct contact: Face to face contact with staff case for any length of time, within 1m, including being coughed on, a face to face conversation, unprotected physical contact (skin to skin).   2. Proximity contact staff member has been within 1m for 1 minute or longer with a staff case OR 2m for 15 minutes or more	Any contact with the staff case where either the staff case or contact were wearing PPE with no breaches.
Actions	Isolate for 10 days.	Isolate for 14 days.	Isolate for 10 days	No isolation required, but remain vigilant for any symptoms and continue daily testing regime. Continue wearing appropriate PPE.

Breaches of PPE

In assessing whether a health or social care worker has had a breach of PPE, a risk assessment should be undertaken in conjunction with local infection prevention and control (IPC) policy. The following factors should be taken into consideration - the severity of symptoms the resident has, the length of exposure, the proximity of the resident, the activities that took place when the worker was in proximity (such as aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs), monitoring, personal care) and whether the health or social care worker had their eyes, nose or mouth exposed. If the risk assessment concludes there has been a significant breach or close contact without PPE, the worker should remain off work for 10 days.  Examples that are unlikely to be considered breaches include if a health or social care worker was not wearing gloves for a short period of time or their gloves tore, and they washed their hands immediately, or if their apron tore while caring for a resident, and this was replaced promptly.

9.Clean Air is coming to a place near you! (Information for all care providers operating in Birmingham)

The Clean Air Zone in Birmingham is due to go live on 1 June 2021. The Clean Air Zone is not a congestion charge; it is only the most high-polluting vehicles that will charged to come into the zone. Charges are £8 per day for cars/ LGVs and £50 per day for coaches and HGVs . 

You can go online and enter your registration number to check if you will be charged. Euro 4 Petrol (most vehicles from 2006 onwards), Euro 6 Diesel (most vehicles from September 2015 onwards), Euro 6 Gas, fully electric or hydrogen fuel cell, hybrid electric (petrol/ diesel engine must meet the relevant criteria) are all compliant.

Check if you will be charged

The Clean Air Zone is everywhere within the A4540 Middleway (but not the Middleway itself) and the charging period is midnight to midnight with no limit on entry/exit within the area.  The charge must be paid six days prior to the visit, the day of the visit or six days after. Failure to do so will result in a Fixed Penalty Notice being issued.

Temporary exemptions are available for residents, workers (who earn less than £30k and work at least 18 hours a week in the zone) and certain commercial vehicles.  Financial incentives are available for certain key workers and eligible commercial vehicles – to find out more there are a series of free webinars for members of the public which include “I live in the Clean Air Zone”, “I work in the Clean Air Zone” and “Clean Air Zone overview” where you can find out more.

Apply for temporary exemptions

Apply for financial incentives

Clean Air Zone webinars

Please ensure this message is shared with your staff and that you discuss this with all employees who use a car to get to work or to carry out their job role.

10.New guidance - Restricting workforce movement between care homes and other care settings (Information for all care homes)

New guidance published for care home providers on limiting staff movement between settings in all but exceptional circumstances to help reduce the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection.
You can read the full guidance below

Guidance on restricting workforce movement between care homes and other care settings

11. Updated guidance - COVID-19: supporting adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults (Information for all care providers working in this field)

The guidance for care staff who are supporting adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has been updated under ‘Social distancing’ to include that the government has published the ‘COVID-19 Response – Spring 2021’ setting out the roadmap out of the current lockdown for England, and that from 8 March some of the rules on what you can and cannot do will be changing.
Read the full guidance below

COVID-19: supporting adults with learning disabilities and autistic adults

12. EU Settlement Scheme and adults using social care (Information for all care providers)

This Care Provider Alliance (CPA) and Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) have published a resource which provides information and guidance about the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) and its implications for adults who use social care services, whether it be in their own home, residential setting, and/or access care support on a regular or infrequent basis. If you are responsible for providing care services, are a carer in any capacity, or know of an individual or family who may need to apply, this guidance will help you to:

• identify those who need to make an application and
• provide practical support to apply to the scheme.

You can read the resource on the CPA website 

There is also a helpful resource below for care providers as employers of staff

EU settlement scheme - guidance for adult social care providers