Care Matters Weekly: Friday 30 April 2021

This is the Care Matters Weekly update for Friday 30 April 2021, including information on:

• Updated guidance
• NEW Care Home COVID-19 testing results form
• Webinar: Polish language vaccine hesitancy Q&A session – Thurs 6 May
• New provider access to Capacity Tracker data and reports
• Rapid testing available for all adult day care centres
• Could your team benefit from a supported internship?
• Using the Sutton Care Hub Job Portal
• Latest COVID-19 vaccine information: National Booking system, fertility and pregnancy
• Consultation launched on staff COVID-19 vaccines in care homes with older adult residents
• Upcoming training opportunities
• Care Certificate assessor e-learning course now available
• Fire Safety webinar: Keeping the Borough’s population safe
• Proud to Care London rewards scheme daily drop in sessions
• Capacity Tracker webinar every week
• Weekly webinar to support Care Homes
• Subscribe to the Sutton Care Bulletin!
• 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

Please share this information with your staff.

Updated guidance 

The government has updated guidance for a number of areas. Please make sure you are aware of the latest advice on:

• Visiting arrangements in care homes
• PPE Portal
• COVID-19: Looking after people who lack mental capacity

NEW Care Home COVID-19 testing results form 

All Sutton Care Homes must submit the results of their regular whole home testing to the Local Authority using the COVID-19 testing results form. Regular testing will help you to continue to protect your home from COVID-19.

Proactive liaison with the Local Authority will enable us to provide you with timely advice on any infections or issues you are experiencing.  

Webinar: Polish language vaccine hesitancy Q&A session – Thurs 6 May

We are holding a COVID-19 Vaccine Q&A session with a Clinician and Polish Translator on Thursday 6 May 13.00-14.00 for Care Home staff, residents and their families in South West London and would like to extend the invite to Dom Care Staff who would like the opportunity to ask questions on the COVID-19 Vaccines.

This webinar will have a limited capacity, those who would like to attend can register by emailing [email protected] and you will be sent a ‘Teams’ diary invitation.

Those attending will be welcome to ask questions in the chat, in person but are also welcome to email Jiggy questions in advance if they would like to remain anonymous.

New provider access to Capacity Tracker data and reports

From 13 April, Capacity Tracker data will be made available to all provider groups, giving reports at organisation level and National level.  We are also introducing a new report; Comparative Analysis, which will allow users to view their location data against a local or regional geographical data set.

If you are a registered manager you will be able to access the invites for six scheduled webinars, during April, by logging in to the Sutton Care Hub. These will provide the opportunity of a walk-through of the new functionality and will aid understanding of the benefits that this new access will bring providers as well as the opportunity to ask questions about the changes

Rapid testing available for all adult day care centres

After the completion of a successful pilot study, the Department of Health & Social Care have announced that NHS Test and Trace is making regular lateral flow testing available to all staff and service users in adult day care centres in England, to be conducted alongside the existing weekly staff PCR testing.

Find out more detail about the news on the Sutton Care Hub.

Could your team benefit from a supported internship?

Sutton Council are working on the development of two supported internships within the borough for September 2021. 

Aimed at young people aged 16 to 25 with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), the programmes provide students who have special educational needs or disabilities the real life experience needed to move on to paid employment. Interns will work for one year, completing up to three placements, and will be supported throughout by Orchard Hill College or Mencap. 

Find out more about the plans on the Sutton Care Hub.

Using the Sutton Care Hub Job Portal

To support Sutton’s care providers to recruit the best staff for all positions from management, to clinical staff, carers and administrative support, we have created the Sutton Care Hub Job Portal.

This new section of the website will allow providers to list available jobs in one central location, which potential employees can then publicly access allowing them to submit their applications, streamlining the recruitment processes across the care sector in Sutton. 

More information about the new section, including login details, has been emailed to providers. 

Latest COVID-19 vaccine information: National Booking System, fertility and pregnancy 

Access to the National Booking Service (or by calling 119) has been reinstated to health and social care workers wanting to self-refer for their COVID-19 vaccine.

The JCVI has advised that pregnant women should be offered the COVID-19 vaccine at the same time as the rest of the population, based on their age and clinical risk group.

The NHS have also updated their COVID-19 FAQs around fertility and pregnancy.

Opening times for local walk-in COVID-19 vaccination sites will be published shortly.

Consultation launched on staff COVID-19 vaccines in care homes with older adult residents

Staff in care homes with older adult residents in England may be required to have a COVID-19 vaccine to protect residents from the virus.

Making vaccines a condition of deployment would help to further protect older people living in care homes, who are among the most vulnerable to COVID-19, with some providers already implementing similar policies.

Experts on the social care working group of SAGE advise 80% of staff and 90% of residents need to be vaccinated to provide a minimum level of protection against outbreaks of COVID-19. Only 53% of older adult homes in England are currently meeting this threshold.

A 5-week consultation is looking at requiring care home providers, caring for older adults, to deploy only those workers who have received their COVID-19 vaccination to further protect residents who are among the most vulnerable to COVID-19, and staff.

Upcoming training opportunities 

National Diabetes Care Home Training Programme

Sanofi Cares has 100 fully funded places available for diabetes training each month. We recommend that at least two members of staff per care home complete the training and up to maximum of four.

Once staff are registered, they will be sent log-in details and have up to three months to access the platform and complete the training.

There are a number of free training courses coming up for nurses and senior carers to be aware of. All taking place at Sutton Civic Offices.

The training will be: Cardio-Respiratory Exam Masterclass (nurses only) and Phlebotomy and Injection Technique Workshop (nurses and senior carers).

You can find out more information on the Sutton Care Hub. Please contact the Care Home Support Team to book places: [email protected]

Care Certificate assessor e-learning course now available

Created in partnership with Health Education England, this course has been designed to support existing Care Certificate assessors to refresh their skills, and those new to assessing to increase their knowledge. 

The course includes two 25-minute sessions:

• Assessment principles
• Assessing the Care Certificate in the workplace.

Although the course is free to access, employers can claim back £100 from Skills for Care’s Workforce Development Fund to cover the time employees spend completing it. To find out more about claiming funding please contact David Vincent who runs the SW London Workforce Development Fund partnership: [email protected]

Information about accessing the course can be found here

Fire Safety webinar: Keeping the Borough’s Population Safe

To commemorate International Firefighters Day (4 May 2021), the London Fire Brigade in conjunction with the Sutton Safeguarding Adults Board (SSAB) are hosting a webinar 10am-12pm.

The event will cover:

• Learning from Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs)
• When and how to refer a vulnerable adult for a Home Fire Safety Visit
• Hoarding, Checklists and what to consider
• Community Engagement Panel
• Guidance on assessing fire risk for vulnerable people
• Partnership and collaborative working to increase referrals and decrease risk

Please book your place on this training event to receive the Zoom meeting information.

Proud to Care London rewards scheme daily drop in sessions

London ADASS’ provider reference group members are running daily drop in sessions (Monday – Sunday from 12:00 – 12:30) to support all ASC staff to access the Proud to Care London rewards scheme. 

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.

Subscribe to the Sutton Care Bulletin! 

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. Please make sure you have subscribed to receive future editions.

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

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.

Q&A with Care Homes

The Q&A sessions for all Care Homes now take place monthly, to match the demand for sessions. We will also host a quarterly forum with providers. Invites will be sent to all managers. 

Please see the Sutton Care Hub events calendar for which dates the sessions are on. They Q&As will be on the third Wednesday of each month.

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

Below are this weeks FAQs, the one to one Vaccination Hesitancy Pack for Care Home Managers to discuss with staff, Updated IPC guidance and the delivery plan presentation for enhanced health in care homes shared this week.

The Department of Health and Social Care are seeking views on making vaccination a condition of deployment in care homes, you can access the public survey to submit your thoughts at the link below:

https://consultations.dhsc.gov.uk/making-vaccination-a-condition-of-deployment-in-older-adult-care-homes further information about this can be accessed at  https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/making-vaccination-a-condition-of-deployment-in-older-adult-care-homes

Following the easing of some restrictions on 12 April, as part of government’s planned roadmap out of the current lockdown, The Department of Health and Social Care have updated their Mental Capacity Act and deprivation of liberty safeguards during the pandemic guidance and additional guidance in relation to advice for professionals visiting care homes and hospitals to say that visits by professionals can occur when needed and that they should be supported wherever it is possible to do so safely. This guidance is now in line with wider guidance on care home visiting and guidance on testing for professionals visiting care homes, which were both updated on the 22 April, reminding people that they should work closely with care homes to decide if visiting is appropriate, that they should be tested on the door of the first care home they visit that day, and that testing is only one part of the approach to reduce risk.

We are holding a COVID-19 Vaccine Q&A session with Clinician and Polish Translator on Thursday ⁶ May 13.00-14.00 for Care Home staff, residents and their families in South West London who would like the opportunity to ask questions on the COVID-19 Vaccine

This webinar will have a limited capacity, those who would like to attend can register by emailing [email protected] for a ‘Teams’ diary invitation

Those attending will be welcome to ask questions in the chat, in person, but are also welcome to email questions in advance if they would like to remain anonymous.

Please forward to those who would like to attend this session.

Any questions around COVID-19 Vaccines please do not hesitate to contact: Care [email protected]

Please access our website available at https://www.swlondon.nhs.uk/ourwork/ehch/

Please click link below to access the next Information Sharing Webinar for Care Homes on Tuesday 4 May 2021 at 11am until 12 noon.

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