Care Matters Weekly: Friday 12 March 2021

This is the Care Matters Weekly update for Friday 12 March 2021, including information on:

• Second vaccine dose information for care staff
• Visiting Care Homes – one page summary of guidance
• Visits out of Care Homes – updated guidance
• Staff visits to Care Homes – updated guidance
• Capacity Tracker webinar every week
• Weekly webinar to support Care Homes
• COVID-19 vaccine resources in community languages
• COVID-19 vaccine FAQs
• Keeping staff safe: Risk assessment template
• Subscribe to the Sutton Care Bulletin!
• Live event – Bringing Sutton safely out of lockdown
• Tell us what you think of the Sutton Care Hub
• Reminder: EU Settlement Scheme deadline is approaching!
• Q&A with Care Homes
• Weekly Information Sharing FAQs, update 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.

Second vaccine dose information for care staff 

To ensure that the vaccination programme is able to match availability of vaccine to the required vaccinations per site, it is essential that Health and Care workers return to the place where they received their first vaccine for the second dose.

Please do not accept a second dose vaccine at a different site. This will lead to a wastage of vaccine in hospital hubs and potentially a vaccine shortage in primary care.

For more information on this, please visit the Sutton Care Hub for a recent news update on the subject.

Visiting Care Homes – one page summary

The Government has issued updated guidance on visiting care homes. Please see the PDF below for the latest, as well as a link to download it for easy sharing with staff.

There is also updated guidance regarding residents on the Shielded Patient List.

[PDF embed and download]

Visits out of Care Homes – updated guidance 

The Government has issued updated guidance on visits out of care homes. 

Staff visits to Care Homes – updated guidance

The Government has issued updated guidance on rapid testing for staff visiting Care Homes.

Capacity Tracker webinar every week

Capacity Tracker Webinars for Care Homes are taking place at 2:00pm every Friday.

Click here to join the meeting on your computer or mobile app 

Or call in (audio only) on +44 20 3794 0272

Phone Conference ID: 311 948 485#

Weekly webinar to support Care Homes

SW London CCG has organised a supportive webinar for Care Homes with COVID-19 outbreaks each Thursday between 1.00-1.40pm, which you should have all now been invited to.

Debbie Calver, Infection Prevention and Control Nurse Specialist will be available to answer any questions you may have.

The session is a safe place where you can drop in to discuss challenges you may be facing.

You do not need to stay for the whole session and you do not need to introduce yourself but we do ask if you can write your name in the chat box so that we can measure attendance.

COVID-19 vaccine resources in community 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.

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. 

Subscribe to the Sutton Care Bulletin! 

The second edition of the Sutton Care Bulletin was published last 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.

Live event – Bringing Sutton safely out of lockdown

15 March 6pm-7pm

Please join to hear from the Leader of Sutton Council Cllr Dombey, the Borough Commander Chief Superintendent David Stringer, and the Director of Public Health Dr Imran Choudhury about how the Council, Sutton Police, local businesses and partners are working together to ensure that the borough can move safely and confidently out of lockdown.  

You can submit your questions in advance or ask questions during the event. 

Places are limited, so book your space now. 

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.

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.

Q&A with Care Homes

We are moving the Q&A sessions for all Care Homes to fortnightly to match the demand for sessions. Please see the Sutton Care Hub events calendar for which weeks the session is on. 

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.

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