COVID-19 What's New Bulletin 34 - 25 March 2021
This is the thirty fourth weekly provider bulletin, containing information on guidance, procedures and new initiatives. Very urgent or high priority communications may still be issued on an ad hoc basis, but we will try to keep these to a minimum.
- COVID 19 Vaccinations (information for all care providers operating in Birmingham)
- Closure of Care Homes COVID 19 contract (Information for all care homes)
- Infection Prevention: Protecting yourself and people living with dementia Webinar, Monday 29 March, 2-3:30pm (Information for all care providers)
- COVID-19 vaccines and fertility (information for all care providers)
- COVID-19 – Guidance on discharging COVID-19 patients from hospital to home settings (Information for all care providers)
- Updated guidance on COVID-19 testing and PPE supplies (Information for all care providers)
- Capacity Tracker changes (Information for all care providers)
1.COVID 19 Vaccinations (information for all care providers operating in Birmingham)
Covid 19 vaccinations are still available for frontline workers. More details here:
Information about COVID 19 vaccinations for social care staff
Please continue to have conversations with staff who have reservations about having the vaccination. Materials to support those conversations were included in Bulletin 33 which you can view online: Bulletin 33
2.Closure of Care Homes COVID 19 contract (Information for all care homes)
This temporary contract, introduced to assist providers during the pandemic, comes to an end on 31 March 2021. No new applications will be accepted and existing contract holders have been advised or the action they need to take
3.Infection Prevention: Protecting yourself and people living with dementia Webinar, Monday 29 March, 2-3:30pm (Information for all care providers)
Registration is open for the latest in a series of infection prevention and control webinars, this time focusing on working with people living with dementia.
Hosted by the Department for Health and Social Care and the Better Care Fund team, it is aimed at staff working in care homes and the community, as well as local authority and health colleagues.
Participating: Professor Deborah Sturdy, Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care and Mark Harvey, Joint Chief Social Worker for Adults, Professor Alistair Burns, NHS England, Tracy Paine, Deputy Chief Executive, Belong Ltd and Dr Sarah Russell, Dementia UK.
Book your place on the webinar
4.COVID-19 vaccines and fertility (information for all care providers)
One of the most frequently asked questions from care workers is whether the vaccine affects fertility. There is no evidence of this. The British Fertility Society has produced a resource to provide helpful information to share with your colleagues for their peace of mind.
COVID 19 vaccines and fertility
Meanwhile, further reassurance is provided in a joint statement from the Royal Colleges of Midwives, Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Below are videos from NHS GP Dr Charles Esene and Public Health England's Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam and a communications toolkit
COVID-19 Vaccine Programme Communications Toolkit to Support Vaccine Uptake in Adult Social Care.
5.COVID-19 – Guidance on discharging COVID-19 patients from hospital to home settings (Information for all care providers)
Revised advice on appropriate infection prevention and control (IPC) precautions for stepdown in hospital or discharge to home or residential settings.
6.Updated guidance on COVID-19 testing and PPE supplies (Information for all care providers)
Please read the updated guidance below:
How to access test kits and step-by-step guides on how to use PCR and rapid lateral flow test kits for regular and outbreak testing of residents and staff.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing in adult care homes
Outlines the COVID-19 testing available for testing staff, residents and visitors for all adult social care settings.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for adult social care settings
Eligible health and social care providers can order PPE through the portal to meet the increased need that has arisen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Updated information on visor order limits
PPE portal: how to order COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE)
7.Capacity Tracker changes (Information for all care providers)
Below is an update on recent developments/updates on the Capacity Tracker
Capturing second dose of COVID vaccination: this information will be captured in the Capacity Tracker from mid-April 2021. We recognize that delays increase the risk of local data collections that increases the burden on providers updating multiple local systems and this has been considered carefully by the DHSC and the priority was approved by the Secretary of State following a briefing.
Enhanced Provider Access: Work has commenced that will give enhanced access to the reports that are available within the Capacity Tracker. This will give providers the visibility of their organisation’s information compared with consolidated information of comparable organizations. This is intended to share information collected from providers during the pandemic in a useful way that can support organizations understand both their information in a wider context as well as support benchmarking. More details, including provider briefings and guidance will follow over the next few weeks.
Workforce Absence within Business Continuity for Care Homes and Hospices: the collection of absence data for workforce contained within the daily business continuity has been slightly modified at the request of System Champions. The subtle change is to reflect that those staff ‘not on shift’ should no longer be recorded in the non-covid absence field. This should now only capture those members of staff that should be at work but are unable to due to non-related COVID absences such as non-covid sickness, maternity leave or furlough. Providers should no longer record staff not on shift within this part of their daily business continuity return.
Updating the Capacity Tracker
With a further £341m to support social care providers with infection control and testing measures, it is vital that you continue to update the capacity tracker at least weekly. This is likely to be a requirement for this additional funding.