Care Matters Weekly: Friday 26 February 2021

This is the Care Matters Weekly update for Friday 26 February 2021, including information on:

• COVID-19 vaccine resources in foreign languages
• COVID-19 vaccine FAQs
• Supporting providers to recruit the best staff
• Keeping staff safe: Risk assessment template
• People with Learning Disabilities eligible for vaccination in Priority Group 6
• Training for carers of people with learning disabilities, on the identification of deterioration
• National testing programme Care Home staff user research recruitment
• Did you get Sutton Care Bulletin #2?
• Join the campaign to Keep Sutton Safe!
• Tell us what you think about the Sutton Care Hub
• Weekly Q&A with Care Homes
• Reminder: EU Settlement Scheme deadline fast approaching
• Weekly Information Sharing FAQS, updates from the CCG

There are updated testing Action Cards for Care Homes, Homecare and Outbreak Management available on the Sutton Care Hub.

Please share this information with your staff.

COVID-19 vaccine resources in foreign languages 

NHS staff have recorded messages in some of the most commonly spoken languages – apart from English – in the capital to help ensure messages about the importance of getting a COVID-19 vaccine reach all Londoners.

If one of the featured languages is spoken by your staff, please consider sharing the videos (which are available to easily download) to encourage uptake of the vaccine. For ease, you could consider downloading and sharing via Whatsapp Web, which is a free version of the app on your desktop.

For more information, visit the news section of the Sutton Care Hub.

COVID-19 vaccine FAQs

As the vaccine continues to be rolled out across the Borough of Sutton, we know many of you are keen to be vaccinated, but that many of you also have questions about the vaccine. 

We have pulled together answers to the questions we hear most often. We will add to this as we hear from you. 

Please take the time to read the FAQs.

The COVID-19 vaccine pack for London Care Homes has also been updated.

Supporting providers to recruit the best staff

We want to support you to recruit the best staff for all positions from management, to clinical staff, to carers, to administrative support. Therefore, we are currently working on a new section of the Sutton Care Hub focussed on recruitment.

The new recruitment section of the site will list available jobs in the Care Sector from all providers across Sutton. Each care provider will have their own individual log in to post job vacancies. Candidates will be able to register and upload their CVs, or follow a link through to the provider’s website to apply for vacant posts. We want to make it easier for candidates to see all the opportunities which are available to them in Sutton, by putting them in one place. This will support our providers to get the right person for every role they have available. We will be working with you over the coming months to design the recruitment section of the site, including how it will link in to your existing websites / recruitment portals.

Keeping staff safe: Risk assessment template 

Following the weekly Q&A with Care Homes on Wednesday 24 February, St Jude’s kindly offered to share their risk assessment template with other homes to ensure all measures are being taken to keep each other safe. 

People with Learning Disabilities eligible for vaccine in Priority Group 6 

The advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) remains that adults with severe and profound learning disabilities, and those with learning disabilities in long-stay nursing and residential care settings, should be offered the vaccine in priority group 6 (people with Down’s syndrome are included in group 4).

More information is available on the Sutton Care Hub.

Training for carers of people with learning disabilities

NHS England and NHS Improvement Learning Disability and Autism Programme is inviting family carers of people over the age of 16 to take part in a free training workshop to help them spot signs of deterioration and know what to do to get help. Please share with relevant staff.

The 90 minute sessions will run every working day from 23 February to 31 March 2021. Further information and details of how to book can be found on the online booking page: Identifying early signs of worsening health in a person with a learning disability (england.nhs.uk)

National testing programme Care Home staff user research recruitment

NHS Digital and the Department for Health and Social (DHSC) care want to interview care home staff to understand more about care home staff testing with the new rapid lateral flow tests (LFD). They’d like to hear about your experience of testing and hear your feedback on some proposed ideas for how staff testing could work in the future. The interviews are 45 minutes and gift vouchers are available for your time.

Sign up by completing their survey.

Did you get Sutton Care Bulletin #2? 

The second edition of the Sutton Care Bulletin was published earlier this month, so please make sure you have subscribed to receive future editions.

The Sutton Care Bulletin features a round up of good news stories and successes from across Sutton’s care sector, as well as useful information, guidance and resources.

An archive of previous editions can be found on the Sutton Care Hub.

Join the campaign to Keep Sutton Safe!

If you have had your jab and would like to help, please send a short video (or a selfie!) saying who you are, what you do and why you had the vaccine to [email protected] and give your written consent for us to use it on the Sutton Care Hub and Sutton Council’s social media channels.

Staff at Gracewell of Sutton care home and colleagues in home care have had theirs and kindly shared photos and videos of themselves to help spread the word.

We are pleased to see the number of social care workers stepping up to get their COVID-19 vaccine to help Keep Sutton Safe.

Find out more about getting involved on the Sutton Care Hub news section.

Tell us what you think about the Sutton Care Hub 

As we move onto phases two and three of the website, we would like to get your feedback to ensure we are developing the Sutton Care Hub in a way which is most useful for you.

Please complete this short survey to let us know your thoughts.

Weekly Q&A with Care Homes

We are holding a weekly Q&A session for all Care Home Providers, every Wednesday 11am – 12pm, via Google meet. The session will give you an opportunity to ask questions and discuss situations arising due to COVID-19. The session is optional, and you can drop in and out of the session as you are available.

If you have any questions you would like to share in advance of the session please send to [email protected] and mark FOR Q&A LOG. Questions may be asked during the session which have not been submitted in advance, however please note we may need to come back to you with an answer at a later date.

Reminder: EU Settlement Scheme deadline fast approaching 

If you are an EU citizen, you need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme if you want to continue to live, work and study in the UK after 30 June 2021.

The EU Settlement Scheme allows you to continue to live, work and study here in the UK. It means you will continue to be eligible for:

• public services, such as healthcare and schools
• public funds and pensions
• British citizenship, if you want to apply and meet the requirements

The deadline for applications is 30 June 2021. There’s more information available on the Sutton Care Hub.

Weekly Information Sharing FAQs, update from the CCG

We have daily Q&A sessions 3-4pm and 7-8pm where staff can come and raise questions on the COVID-19 vaccine. Clinicians will be available to help answer questions during those times. These sessions will be running at weekends too and can be accessed 

• via this link: Click here to join the meeting 
• or by dialling +44 20 3880 0300 or 0800 026 6146 (Freephone) and using the Phone Conference ID 354 457 979# 

You can access the previous webinars to watch on the COVID-19 Vaccine at the link below:

COVID-19 Q&A with Dr Agnelo Fernandes and COVID-19 experience shared by Erik Cortez

COVID-19 Vaccine Q&A with Dr Agnelo Fernandes, Dr Aditi Shah and COVID-19 experience shared by Vanessa Vyapooree

COVID-19 Vaccine Q&As with a Focus on Allergies and Health Conditions with Dr Paul Riley and Dr Vasa Gnanapragasam

Young Fit and Healthy, Why do I need the COVID-19 Vaccine? With Dr Paul Riley, Gassan Yacob and COVID-19 experience shared by Erik Cortez