COVID-19 What's New Bulletin 42 - 20 May 2021
This is the forty second 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 RELATED INFORMATION
- Infection Control and Testing Fund – Assurance Statement return deadline 21 May 2021 (information for Care Homes and Community Care providers with CQC locations in Birmingham)
- Infection Control and Testing Fund – List of allocations including Infection Control element and Testing element split (information for Care Homes and Community Care providers with CQC locations in Birmingham)
- UPDATED GUIDANCE Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for adult social care settings (information for all care providers)
- NEW GUIDANCE; Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for homecare workers (information for Home Support providers)
- UPDATED GUIDANCE Arrangements for visiting out of the care home (Information for all care homes)
- UPDATED GUIDANCE COVID-19: how to work safely in care homes (information for all care homes)
- UPDATED GUIDANCE PPE portal: how to order COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) (information for all home support providers)
- Health and Social Care Vaccination Update from NHS England - Key messages for staff (Information for all care providers)
- Letter from Michelle Dyson, Director General for Adult Social Care DHSC: COVID-19: Deaths of employees and volunteers in the adult social care sector (information for all care providers)
- Capacity Tracker update (Information for all care providers)
IN OTHER NEWS
- New Virtual Concert for Care Homes - 'ESO String Quartet' (information for all Care Homes)
COVID RELATED INFORMATION
1.Infection Control and Testing Fund – Assurance Statement return deadline 21 May 2021 (information for Care Homes and Community Care providers with CQC locations in Birmingham)
Further to the bulletin on 6 May 2021 when we communicated the distribution of Infection Control and Testing Fund payments, Grant Letters and Assurance Statements, you are reminded that the deadline for return of Assurance Statements is 21 May 2021. Please complete the relevant Assurance Statement, which has been emailed to all care providers, and return to marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk. If you don't have a copy of the Assurance Statement, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk and we will send you one.
2.Infection Control and Testing Fund – List of allocations including Infection Control element and Testing element split (information for Care Homes and Community Care providers with CQC locations in Birmingham)
In response to requests for a further information about the Infection Control and Testing Fund allocations we have updated the allocation lists to include details of the grant split between the Infection Control and Testing elements and sent these to all care providers. We hope you will find the information useful in determining use of the grant and also to aid accurate spend reporting – details of reporting arrangements will be announced in future bulletins. If you don't have a copy of the allocations list, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
3.UPDATED GUIDANCE Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for adult social care settings (information for all care providers)
This guidance outlines the COVID-19 testing available for testing staff, residents and visitors for all adult social care settings. The following changes have been made;
- Updated ‘COVID-19 testing available for adult social care in England: a summary’ to reflect a reduction in the time required to determine the end of an outbreak in care homes (14 days after the last resident or staff had a positive test), that extra care and supported living testing now includes visitors.
- Renamed ‘Step-by-step guide for ASC staff to self-test using rapid lateral flow tests’ to ‘Self-test for adult social care services: detailed rapid lateral flow test guide’ and ‘Rapid lateral flow testing in ASC settings: an overview’ to ‘Self-test for ASC services: summary rapid LFT guide’.
The full guidance can be found below:
Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for adult social care settings
4.NEW GUIDANCE; Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for homecare workers (information for Home Support providers)
This guidance sets out how homecare agencies in England can order regular tests for their homecare (domiciliary care) staff. This information has been removed from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for homecare workers, which sets out how homecare (domiciliary care) workers in England can collect, complete and register test kits for coronavirus (COVID-19), and put into its own guidance.
You can review the full guidance here;
Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for homecare workers: information for agencies
5.UPDATED GUIDANCE Arrangements for visiting out of the care home (Information for all care homes)
This guidance sets out how care homes can support residents on visits outside of the care home. From 17 May 2021, care home residents may leave their care home to spend time outdoors (avoiding crowded spaces) and take part in outdoor exercise not involving close contact with others. Residents will also be able to go to medical appointments (excluding overnight stays in hospital), a workplace, educational setting, and day centres without having to self-isolate on their return.
The following changes have been made: Updated ‘Visits out of care homes’, removed ‘Visits out of care homes: supplementary guidance’ and added a new document ‘Visits out of care homes: summary of guidance’.
The full guidance can be reviewed below:
Arrangements for visiting out of the care homes
The Council is reviewing its Position Statement in light of the new guidance.
6.UPDATED GUIDANCE COVID-19: how to work safely in care homes (information for all care homes)
This guidance is for those working in care homes providing information on how to work safely during this period of sustained transmission of COVID-19. It has been updated to clarify when to change face masks, difference between source control and PPE and updated section on waste including PPE.
The full guidance can be found below:
COVID-19: how to work safely in care homes
7.UPDATED GUIDANCE PPE portal: how to order COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) (information for all home support providers)
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.
Information has been added on small hand hygiene order limits for domiciliary providers.
The full guidance can be found below:
PPE portal: how to order COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE)
8.Health and Social Care Vaccination Update from NHS England - Key messages for staff (Information for all care providers)
The National Booking System is allowing Health and Social Care Workers to self certify as eligible for a COVID vaccine again after a short time of this function being unavailable. The link to book is:
All those 38 or over as of 13 May 2021 are eligible due to their age cohort. Those 37 and under will need to self certify as a Health and Social Care Worker to be eligible. Those 40 or over have 3 options of vaccine AstraZeneca, Pfizer or Moderna, those under 40 in line with JCVI guidance will only be show locations that are offering a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
In Birmingham and Solihull the Mass Vaccination Centre offering Pfizer is Millennium Point and all first dose appointments at that location from Monday 17 of May will be given the Pfizer vaccine. The National Booking System will also now allow pregnant women in an eligible cohort to book appointments at a site that offers the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine following a series of screening questions.
The current guidance can be found below:
Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination information for public health professionals
If Health and Social Care Workers working in Birmingham and Solihull are having difficulties being able to book using the National Booking System and queries are not resolved by calling 119 then please email the BSOL COVID Vaccination Bookings Team BSOLCovidVaccinationBookings@uhb.nhs.uk
9.Letter from Michelle Dyson, Director General for Adult Social Care DHSC: COVID-19: Deaths of employees and volunteers in the adult social care sector (information for all care providers)
Michelle Dyson, Director General for Adult Social Care, Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has written to all local authorities and social care providers encouraging employers to tell DHSC about the deaths of all workers in the adult social care sector, regardless of role or employer, including volunteers.
Letter from Michelle Dyson about COVID-19 deaths amongst all workers in the adult social care sector
DHSC is committed to doing all it can to ensure that employers, families, and the people who they cared for are given the support they need. Completing this information ensures their response remains as effective as possible.
DHSC appreciate that this is another reporting requirement at an incredibly difficult moment for providers and have designed this process to be as light-touch as possible. If you have any queries regarding this process, please send them to ASCcovidinform@dhsc.gov.uk.
10.Capacity Tracker update (Information for all care providers)
REMINDER Dose 2 Covid-19 vaccinations
Care Homes and Home Care providers are now able to input their Dose 2 Covid-19 Vaccination information within Capacity Tracker. There is only one new additional question which builds upon the Covid vaccination first dose question you are currently completing.
- For care home providers this asks how many residents and how many staff (by role type) are known to have received the second dose of the vaccine.
- For home care providers this asks how many staff are known to have received the second dose of the vaccine.
New data validations have been added to improve robustness of all the vaccination data. The following support is available when answering these questions;
- Please contact Capacitytracker-guidance@dhsc.gov.uk if you need additional guidance on how to enter your vaccination data into Capacity Tracker.
- Guidance can be found in the Resource Centre/What’s New section, once you have logged in to the Tracker
Capacity Tracker
For further assistance with Capacity Tracker we have a Support Team available to take your call on 0191 691 3729 or alternatively you can email necsu.capacitytracker@nhs.net
New enhanced provider access
The newly-enhanced provider access to the Capacity Tracker is now live. This allows analysis and benchmarking to be undertaken between an individual provider setting and different geographical locations, or were there are several settings within a single organisation these can be compared with each other.
Over April drop-in MS Teams Video Sessions were held covering the New Provider Comparative Analysis functionality. You can access and download slides presented during these sessions from within the Capacity Tracker Resource Centre
Help and Guidance to support providers' understanding of the above changes can be found in the 'What's New' section of the tracker
Two new short videos are now available that provide an overview of this new enhanced provider access. You can access the videos in the Resource Centre
IN OTHER NEWS…………
11.New Virtual Concert for Care Homes - 'ESO String Quartet' (information for all Care Homes)
The English Symphony Orchestra are delighted to let you know that they now have another video to share with you! This 30-minute concert features their String Quartet playing a lively mixture of music which they hope will include a favourite tune for everyone. The ESO have also included a list of the music played which you may wish to download. Find the concert below:
There are 24 videos available for you to enjoy in total from the new ‘Video Filter’ feature. To help you find the video you want, we've updated our video page and you can now filter videos by ensemble, or choose to view videos of individual pieces or complete concerts. You'll also easily see the performers involved, and the duration of each video. Their video library is a private resource which has been created specifically for use in care homes. It contains a number of videos by various ensembles which the ESO hope you will enjoy. You can find some Tips & Suggestions to help you get the best out of watching our videos below: