What's New Bulletin 49 - 8 July 2021
This is the forty ninth 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
- Letter from the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (information for all care providers
- NEW GUIDANCE Adult social care extension to Infection Control and Testing Fund 2021 (information for all care providers)
- FINAL REMINDER – ACTION REQUIRED BY FRIDAY 16 JULY – Adult Social Care Infection Control and Testing Fund (ICTF) Spend Reporting required (information for all care providers with a CQC registered location in Birmingham)
- UPDATED GUIDANCE Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for adult social care settings (information for all care providers)
- UPDATED GUIDANCE Bulk upload of test results in non care home settings (information for all home support, extra care and supported living providers)
- UPDATED GUIDANCE COVID-19: how to work safely in domiciliary care in England (information for all home support, extra care and supported living providers)
IN OTHER NEWS
- ACTION REQUIRED BY FRIDAY 9 JULY - Ensure your current insurance documents are uploaded to the CareMatch Portal (information for all Birmingham contracted providers)
- Statement from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Chief Inspectors on developing their new monitoring approach (information for all care providers)
- Care Quality Commission (CQC) – “Developing an assessment framework for our future direction” (information for all care providers)
- Care Quality Commission (CQC) Dementia Care and Nursing Home Expo 15 and 16 September (information for all care providers)
- EU Settlement Scheme: Information for employers and carers – late applications (information for all care providers
COVID 19 RELATED INFORMATION
1.Letter from the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care - all providers (information for all care providers)
A letter from the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, to all social care colleagues, has been circulated to all care providers. If you haven't received a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
2.NEW GUIDANCE Adult social care extension to Infection Control and Testing Fund 2021 (information for all care providers)
This guidance sets out the measures that the extension to the Infection Control and Testing Fund supports, including distribution of funds, conditions and reporting requirements. The fund has been extended until 30 September 2021.
You can read the full guidance below:
Adult social care extension to Infection Control and Testing Fund 2021
A letter from the Department of Health and Social Care, reminding providers that access to the fund is conditional on the timely completion of the Capacity Tracker, has been circulated to all care providers. If you haven't received a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
3.FINAL REMINDER – ACTION REQUIRED BY FRIDAY 16 JULY – Adult Social Care Infection Control and Testing Fund (ICTF) Spend Reporting required (information for all care providers with a CQC registered location in Birmingham)
Following the distribution of the Infection Control and Testing Fund grants to Care Homes and CQC registered Community Care providers, you are now required to report how the funding has been spent between 1 April and 30 June 2021, and to declare any unspent grant money which will need to be returned to the Council. The reporting requirement is a condition of the grant allocation and the data will be used to enable the Council to report spending to the Department of Health and Social Care. Failure to complete the spend return will mean that the whole of the grant allocation must be returned to the Council. The grant allocation lists confirming the amount of funding allocated to each registered Location have been circulated to care providers. If you don't have copies, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
Please complete the relevant online form as soon as possible and by no later than 16 July 2021. A separate form is required for each CQC registered location.
ICTF spending report for Community Care Locations
ICTF spending report for Care Home Locations
The forms now include the facility to print a PDF copy for your own records.
4.UPDATED GUIDANCE Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for adult social care settings (information for all providers)
This guidance outlines the COVID-19 testing available for testing staff, residents and visitors for all adult social care settings. The following section has been updated, ‘COVID-19 testing available for adult social care in England: a summary’, to reflect that policy for responding to the Delta variant (first identified in India) in care homes has now changed. As has been the case for the Alpha variant (first identified in Kent) cases since May 2021, for outbreaks involving the Delta variant, end of outbreak testing can now be undertaken 14 days (previously 28) after the most recent positive case. All positive cases should be treated as the Delta variant, unless proven otherwise.
You can read the full guidance below:
Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for adult social care settings
The following guidance has also been updated to reflect this change;
Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing in adult care homes
5.UPDATED GUIDANCE Bulk upload of test results in non care home settings (information for all home support, extra care and supported living providers)
The following guidance on regular testing has been updated to reflect changes that coronavirus test results can now be uploaded in bulk;
Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing service for extra care and supported living settings
Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for homecare workers: information for agencies
6.UPDATED GUIDANCE COVID-19: how to work safely in domiciliary care in England (information for all home support, extra care and supported living providers)
This guidance is a resource for those working in domiciliary care providing information on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). A new section has been added on use of PPE for live-in care workers.
You can read the full guidance below
COVID-19: how to work safely in domiciliary care in England
IN OTHER NEWS………
7.ACTION REQUIRED BY FRIDAY 9 JULY - Ensure your current insurance documents are uploaded to the CareMatch Portal (information for all Birmingham contracted providers)
It is an important part of your contractual obligations to Birmingham City Council, and a legal requirement, to ensure you have valid insurance at all times. The levels and types of insurance required by the Framework Agreement for the Provision of Home Support for Children and Young People with Disabilities and Home Support for Adults and the Flexible Contracting Arrangements for the Provision of Care Homes With and Without Nursing Services and Care and Support (Supported Living) are as follows;
- Employers Liability (including volunteers) Insurance - to be as a minimum in accordance with statutory legislation (currently £5m)
- Public Liability Insurance (including loss or damage to service user’s personal effects) - Minimum £10m
- For nursing homes only: Professional Indemnity / Treatment Cover, which must be a minimum of £5m and Negligence which must also be a minimum of £5m
Birmingham City Council requires £10m Public Liability Insurance for the following reasons;
- This was the outcome of a review of risk around all services either contracted out or provided to the Council taking into account recent judgements around risk and benchmarking the levels of cover we require against those set by other public authorities.
- The limit of £5m has been unchanged for many years. The £10m takes into account the size of awards given by the courts, general claims inflation from the period when the £5m limit was set and the effect of the Lord Chancellor’s decision in 2017 to significantly reduce the discount rate to be applied to awards for personal injury.
Action needed;
- Every provider must check their current insurance documents are for the correct level of cover and have been uploaded to the CareMatch Portal by 9 July 2021 - Commissioners will be following up this request by phone next week
- There is a step by step guide on how to upload your insurance documents to the CareMatch Portal in the User Guide Section 8.8 which you can download below
CareMatch Portal User Guide - Section 8.8 explains the document upload process
If you are experiencing technical issues uploading the documents, please contact market.intelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
No evidence of current insurance cover at the before mentioned levels will be treated as a breach of contract until evidence of cover is provided.
Further information
Providers are finding the cost of insurance has risen as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and as such it is important that enough time is allocated for finding an alternative insurance provider, if needed, before your current insurance expires. Contact your Care Association to see what support and advice they can offer.
As mentioned in previous bulletin items, functionality was added to the CareMatch Portal in December 2020 to enable efficiencies in the collection of up to date insurance documentation. Reminder alerts were added to the system to inform you when your insurance documents were coming up to their expiry date and when they had expired to assist you to remain compliant with your contractual obligations around insurance.
For further information on the CareMatch Portal functionality around insurance documentation and how to ensure you are receiving these alerts, please review the previous provider bulletin items on this topic, which can be found below
8.Statement from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Chief Inspectors on developing their new monitoring approach (information for all care providers)
The CQC have published information on changes they are making to how they regulate. In adult social care services these changes will be rolled out from July.
Read the full statement below:
Statement from CQC Chief Inspectors on developing their monitoring approach
9.Care Quality Commission (CQC) – “Developing an assessment framework for our future direction” (information for all care providers)
The CQC have launched their strategy which outlines how they plan to change and transform to deliver more effective regulation. To ensure that the delivery of this strategy is effective they want to develop how they will implement it in partnership with you.
A new strategy for the changing world of health and social care - CQC's strategy from 2021
You can take part through their digital participation platform by logging in or signing up below
CQC's Digital Participation Platform
There you'll find a document which explores;
- “Why we need to change our current assessment frameworks”
- “What we want our updated assessment framework to achieve”
- “Our early thoughts - bringing the key questions to life with ‘Making It Real’
Think Local, Act Personal 'Making in Real' webpages
There is also a podcast and video available
CQC Podcast - Implementing our new policy - assessment frameworks
Video- Developing an assessment framework for our future direction
10.Care Quality Commission (CQC) Dementia Care and Nursing Home Expo 15 and 16 September (information for all care providers)
On the 15 and 16 September the CQC will be exhibiting at the Dementia, Care & Nursing Home Expo and Home Care Expo at the NEC Birmingham.
Dementia, Care & Nursing Home Expo
They will be running a two-day inspector hub from their exhibition stand to answer all your registration and inspection questions. You'll be able to book a free appointment and chat to a member of the inspection team at a time that suits you.
Kate Terroni, Chief Inspector of Adult Social care will be holding a keynote at the event where she'll discuss our new strategy and how we're changing.
Register for a free appointment with a CQC inspector at the Care Home Expo
11.EU Settlement Scheme: Information for employers and carers – late applications (information for all care providers)
The deadline for the Home Office EU Settlement Scheme was 30 June 2021. Applicants who missed the deadline can still make a late application if they have reasonable grounds for doing so. There are helpful resources on the Care Provider Alliance website
Care Provider Alliance website
EU, EEA & Swiss citizens and their family members, need to apply even if they’ve lived in the UK for many years, or are married to a British citizen. Holders of permanent residence documents and Biometric Residence Cards (BRCs) also need to apply. British citizens do not need to apply, and Irish citizens don’t have to but can if they want to.
Family, friends, employers and carers can help someone to apply, and support is available through the Home Office on 0300 123 7379. Home Office-funded organisations nationally can also help support applicants, and you can find support in your area on the GOV.UK website