COVID RELATED INFORMATION

1. PLEASE READ - COVID vaccination - updated important information and resources for care home staff (information for Birmingham and Solihull care homes)
2. Message from the Department of Health and Social Care - Book your COVID-19 booster jab and get behind our winter vaccination campaign (information for all providers)
3. ACTION REQUIRED - Business Continuity planning for Care Home providers (information for Birmingham Providers)
4. ACTION REQUIRED - Infection Control and Testing Fund Extension (July to September 2021) – final spend return required (information for all Birmingham providers)
5. UPDATED GUIDANCE Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for adult social care settings (information for all providers)
6. Message from the Department of Health and Social Care - Important information about PCR test kit expiry dates (information for all providers)
7. REMINDER - Mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for frontline care and health staff consultation – deadline for responses 22 October 2021 (Information for all home support, supported living, extra care sheltered housing providers)
8. Capacity Tracker – guidance on recording vaccination information (Information for all providers)

IN OTHER NEWS

9. Open Book 2021 exercise (information for all Birmingham City Council contracted providers)
10. Message from the Department of Health and Social Care: Insurance advice for care providers (information for all providers)
11. Care Home IT infrastructure and connectivity questionnaire – deadline 12 October (Information for Birmingham and Solihull care homes)

COVID 19 RELATED INFORMATION

1.PLEASE READ - COVID vaccination - updated important information and resources for care home staff (information for Birmingham and Solihull care homes)

Thank you for your support and efforts to date in supporting staff to have their COVID-19 vaccinations.

The focus on this week’s communication is to encourage and support as many staff as possible to have their second vaccination, in order to meet the deadline of 11 November, to be double vaccinated.

Please find updated communications materials below, to support your conversations with your staff:

• Poster: Updated poster (four) to display in prominent staff areas. This has also been sent to you by post. Please ensure they are displayed in appropriate areas.  
• Video: An updated short video below with the same messages as the poster, can be used on social media or any other suitable online channels you have.
  Remember, remember, 11 November
• Medical exemption: Temporary medical exemptions have now been announced which will apply until 12 weeks after the COVID Pass system goes live. Staff will be able to self-certify for a range of conditions, which are included in the Temporary medical exemptions for COVID-19 vaccination of people working or deployed in care homes guidance  Please do make sure you review this with relevant staff.
  Temporary medical exemptions for COVID-19 vaccination of people working or deployed in care homes guidance
• Pregnancy: For more support and information regarding pregnancy related issues and concerns, including monthly ‘Ask the midwife’ online sessions, please visit the web page below:
  Ask the midwife
• Further resources: There are a range of resources and FAQs available on the Birmingham and Solihull vaccination website:
  What you need to know – Birmingham & Solihull NHS COVID-19 Vaccination Service
• Where to go for a vaccination: Please inform staff that it is quick and easy to have a vaccination, with many sites now available across Birmingham and Solihull, with no appointment needed. For the latest information, see below:
  Walk-ins – Birmingham & Solihull NHS COVID-19 Vaccination Service

Please let us know if you require anything further to help encourage your staff to have their vaccinations.

2.Message from the Department of Health and Social Care - Book your COVID-19 booster jab and get behind our winter vaccination campaign (information for all providers)

Millions of eligible people, including frontline care staff, are now being offered a COVID-19 booster vaccine following advice from the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The National Booking Service is now open for frontline care colleagues to book their COVID-19 booster vaccines, providing it has been six months since they received their second dose.They can book their booster appointment through the National Booking Service online by ringing 119, or by visiting their nearest walk-in centre.

Book COVID-19 booster

Natasha Edwards, Registered Manager at Evergreen Care Home, explains why she and her colleagues are fully behind the booster and winter flu jab. Read her blog by clicking the link below

Winter vaccinations offer twice the peace of mind

You can download promotional materials from Public Health England below:

Winter vaccination promotional material

3.ACTION REQUIRED - Business Continuity planning for Care Home providers (information for Birmingham Providers)

Given the changes in legislation to ‘The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021’ regarding staff employed in care homes needing to have had both Covid Vaccinations by 11 November, Birmingham City Council are keen that every care home has a robust business continuity plan in place to address potential staffing shortages and to mitigate associated risks to residents and staff. 

All Birmingham care homes are this week being contacted by a Commissioner requesting business continuity plans be submitted for review within 5 working days. During October the plans will be reviewed by Commissioners who will work with you to ensure plans are robust and to identify any support that the Council or partners may be able to offer.

If you haven’t currently developed a business continuity plan in relation to Covid vaccination this needs to be developed as a matter of urgency and sent to your Area Commissioner.  Even if you don’t hold a contract with the Council, it is essential that we receive this information from all Birmingham care homes to allow us to support you to reduce potential risks to residents.

Your business continuity plan should identify the issues, risks, gaps and your mitigation and solutions. Business continuity plans should be updated and reviewed regularly. A list of prompts that may prove helpful in identifying risks associated to staffing, a business continuity template, and the slides from the Council’s Corporate Resilience Team’s business continuity briefing sessions last week, have been circulated to care providers. If you haven't got copies, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk

4.ACTION REQUIRED - Infection Control and Testing Fund Extension (July to September 2021) – final spend return required (information for all Birmingham providers)

Further to the allocation of the Infection Control and Testing Fund Extension grants you are now required to declare how the grant funding has been spent. Please complete and submit the relevant online spend return form for each Birmingham based CQC registered location using the links below by 17 October 2021.

Care Homes spending return

Community Care spending return

Details of the allocations have been circulated to care providers. If you don't have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk

5.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. It has been updated to reflect changes to policy when there is one case of COVID-19 in a care home, rapid lateral flow testing frequency, changes to policy when there are 2 or more cases of COVID-19 in a care home and changes to ending outbreak restrictions, when they can lifted and ongoing testing after this period.

The full guidance can be found below:

Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing for adult social care settings

6.Message from the Department of Health and Social Care - Important information about PCR test kit expiry dates (information for all providers)

NHSE lab teams have identified a significant number of PCR tests being returned for analysis beyond their expiry dates. Whilst this does not pose any risk to individuals tested, care colleagues must make sure all tests returned to labs are in date. Any expired tests will be classed as void. To make sure you are using valid tests and minimise the chance of further void results, it is important to always note the expiry date and use tests in the order they were received. Dispose of any expired tests and those within one week of expiry.

Guidance on identifying expiry dates can be found below:

Identifying expiry date on packaging label

7.REMINDER - Mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for frontline care and health staff consultation – deadline for responses 22 October 2021 (Information for all home support, supported living, extra care sheltered housing providers)

The Government is seeking views on plans for staff in health and care settings in England to be required to have COVID-19 and flu vaccines to protect vulnerable people. A six-week consultation has launched looking at whether requirements should apply for health and care workers (not just those working in care homes), those in contact with patients, and people receiving care

Consultation on mandatory vaccination for frontline health and care staff

It would mean only those who are fully vaccinated, unless medically exempt, could be deployed to deliver health and care services. The consultation will also seek views on whether flu vaccines should be a requirement for health and care workers.

Read the full consultation document and find out how to take part below:

Making vaccination a condition of deployment in the health and wider social care sector

8.Capacity Tracker – guidance on recording vaccination information (Information for all providers)

Please ensure you are regularly updating the vaccination questions in the Capacity Tracker as this data is used by Adult Social Care Staff and Health colleagues to target resources and assess risk.

Please ensure you are aware of the following when updating the Capacity Tracker;

• Please ensure information about Dose 1 and Dose 2 Covid vaccinations are not being entered into the Flu vaccines & Covid-19 Boosters questions in the Business Continuity pages by mistake. 
• There is only the ability to input information for the first two doses of the Covid-19 Vaccination onto the Capacity Tracker.  Anyone who may be immune-suppressed will be able to receive a third dose (this is different to the Booster). There is no space on the Capacity Tracker to add a third dose, due to the small number of people anticipated to be vaccinated three times.  The Booster question should not include the third dose.  People who receive three doses will also be offered a booster and only then should the information be inputted into the Booster question. 
• A red warning pop-up box will now appear when providers have not entered any numbers in booster or flu vaccination fields. Providers will be asked to confirm this is correct by ticking a checkbox prior to saving the information.

Following a request from DHSC, work is currently underway for the Capacity Tracker to capture Care Home staff COVID exemption self-certification information. From the evening of 7 October 2021 Care Homes will be asked to update their Covid vaccination information within Capacity Tracker and record the numbers of staff who have a medical exemption certificate and also those staff that have received a Covid vaccination abroad e.g. Janssen vaccination.

Guidance on updating flu vaccinations, Covid vaccinations and boosters is available in the What's New section of the Resource Centre, once you have logged in to the Capacity Tracker

Capacity Tracker

You can also contact the Capacity Tracker Support Team on 0191 691 3729 or email necsu.capacitytracker@nhs.net

IN OTHER NEWS……………….

9.Open Book 2021 exercise (information for all Birmingham City Council contracted providers)

Further to previous bulletins, we want to take this opportunity to remind you of the Open Book 2021 cost gathering and analysis exercise for Care Homes and CQC Registered Home Support and Supported Living Locations. Details and instructions, as well as the care cost templates, have been circulated to care providers. If you don't have copies, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk

Care homes and CQC Registered Home Support and Supported Living Locations contracted to Birmingham City Council are reminded that the exercise is a contractual requirement.

Completed forms should be submitted to OpenBook2021@birmingham.gov.uk by 3 October 2021.

If you do not think you will be able to meet the 3 October 2021 deadline please email OpenBook2021@birmingham.gov.uk immediately to inform us and let us know the reason why.

In addition to the instructions and in-form guidance you can email us at OpenBook2021@birmingham.gov.uk with any questions or clarifications, and we will do our best to support you.

Thank you in advance for your participation.

10.Message from the Department of Health and Social Care: Insurance advice for care providers (information for all providers)

COVID-19 has posed unprecedented challenges for the adult social care sector. Making sure the right insurance is in place for care providers has been one of them. With this in mind, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the British Insurers Brokers’ Association (BIBA) have jointly published guidance setting out practical steps providers can take to access the appropriate insurance cover. If your insurance is due for renewal in the next few months, do take a look.

Care Sector and Covid-19 - Accessing Public Liability and Employers’ Liability Insurance

11.Care Home IT infrastructure and connectivity questionnaire – deadline 12 October (Information for Birmingham and Solihull care homes)

We appreciate it is a busy time, but we are keen to look at ways that we, as health and social care partners, can support you with improving your care home’s connectivity. We are asking each care home in Birmingham to complete the below survey, which should take no more than 20 minutes. This will help us to understand how digitally connected the care home is and allow us to develop a programme of support from the NHS and local authorities that will help improve connectivity in the future. This will help all of us to take advantage of new technology and different ways of working and ensure we are prepared for these as they are developed and implemented.

This information is being collected on behalf of the NHS, Birmingham City Council and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and will be shared with partners for the purpose of providing you with digital support now and in future.

The deadline for the survey is 12 October. The link to complete the survey is below:

Care Homes Connectivity Survey

Many thanks in advance for your time.