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Care Matters Weekly: Friday 12 November 2021
COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of deployment for all frontline health and social care staff (VCOD), National Safeguarding Week events and resources, funding for new recruitment campaign and more. Please share.
Published on 12/11/2021 in Adult services | Care Matters Weekly | Children's services | Covid-19 | News | Weekly Information Sharing FAQs | Workforce
COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of deployment for frontline health and social care staff (VCOD), National Safeguarding Week events and resources, funding for new recruitment campaign and more. Please share.
- Updated guidance
- COVID-19
- Information sharing
- Webinars and Training
- Sutton Care Hub
COVID-19
COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of deployment for frontline health and social care workers (VCOD)
As you will be well aware, the deadline for unvaccinated staff came into effect from 11 November.
Health and social care providers in England will be required to make sure workers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, unless they are exempt, under plans announced on 9 November by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP.
The regulations will apply to health and social care workers who have direct, face-to-face contact with people while providing care, such as doctors, nurses, dentists and domiciliary care workers. They will also apply to ancillary staff such as porters or receptionists who may have social contact with patients but are not directly involved in their care.
The requirements will come into force in the spring, subject to the passage of the regulations through Parliament. There will be a 12-week grace period between the regulations being made and coming into force to allow those who have not yet been vaccinated to have both doses. Enforcement would begin from 1 April 2022, subject to parliamentary approval.
This will allow time for health and social care providers to prepare and encourage workers uptake before the measures are introduced.
The measure is an extension to previously announced regulations making COVID-19 vaccination a condition of deployment for staff working in CQC-registered care homes in England, which came into force on 11 November. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has produced a toolkit to support communications with care homes which includes posters, social media graphics and Q&As.
Download the full government Q&A for stakeholders:
Read the full government announcement
NHS Capacity Tracker – please submit your data
In order to respond in the best way possible during the pandemic and to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the people being cared for in care homes, your staff and your ability to deliver services, the collection of data is imperative to ensure resources are targeted most effectively where they are needed.
The information submitted on the Capacity Tracker is critical in helping health and social care professionals collectively understand the impact of COVID-19 and be able to support providers to keep the people they care for and staff safe.
Watch two Capacity Tracker webinars to help you learn more.
Log in to the NHS Capacity Tracker and submit your data.
Working safely during COVID-19
The government has updated guidance on reducing the risk of COVID-19 spreading in the workplace to include additional information on ventilation in offices, restaurants, shops, hotels and at events or attractions.
The guidance provides information on how different workplaces can maintain an adequate supply of fresh air. In poorly ventilated spaces, residual virus can remain in the air after an infected person has left and increase the risk of COVID-19 spreading.
The guidance also includes information on managing risk, self-isolation, reducing contact for workers and equality in these workplaces.
Adult social care recruitment: funding for new Sutton campaign
The government’s ‘Made with Care’ adult social care recruitment campaign is starting again, with a new TV advertising campaign which you may have seen on the TV.
Sutton Council has just been awarded just under £500,000 from the government’s Recruitment and Retention Fund, part of their COVID-19 Response: Autumn and Winter Plan 2021, to help us support our care providers to recruit more staff.
We are currently in the the early stages of planning a new recruitment campaign for the adult social care sector in Sutton, to start early in the New Year – more details will be available in due course about when the campaign will start and how you can be involved.
In the meantime, please use the Job Portal to advertise your vacancies. We will be using the portal to signpost people to vacancies in your homes when the recruitment campaign starts, so populating the site with new jobs now will help as we start to promote it. Thank you.
Information sharing
National Safeguarding Adults Week 15 – 21 November: online events
Safeguarding Adults Week 2021 takes place 15 – 21 November and is an opportunity to raise awareness of important safeguarding issues. The aim is to highlight safeguarding key issues, facilitate conversations and to raise awareness of safeguarding best practice. So we can all be better together.
The Sutton Safeguarding Adults Board is holding two events on Tuesday 16 November for Sutton residents to find out how they can keep themselves, their families and the wider community safer.
Keeping the Community Safe
12pm – 1pm
ZOOM Link: https://bit.ly/3voNEFU
Meeting ID: 841 4075 1860
Passcode: 936377
Financial abuse – staying safe online
6pm – 7pm
ZOOM Link: https://bit.ly/3vxFV8D
Meeting ID: 874 3348 7670
Passcode: 875970
National Safeguarding Adults Week 15 – 21 November: resources and webinars
Don’t forget that the Ann Craft Trust has lots of resources including posters on a range of topics to do with adult safeguarding, such as creating safer cultures and online grooming. You can also register for webinars that they are hosting the week:
- Tuesday 16 November: Online Grooming and Sexual Abuse: A Personal Account
- Thursday 18 November: Grooming and Exploitation: Opening Eyes and Minds Conference
- Friday 19 November: The Power of Language in Safeguarding Practice
- 16, 19 and 23 November: Safeguarding Adults at Risk Training for Managers and Designated Safeguarding Leads
Access the posters, or register for a webinar.
Liberty protection safeguards
Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS), which will replace Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), are due to come into force in 2022.
The Liberty Protection Safeguards will provide protection for people aged 16 and above who are or who need to be deprived of their liberty in order to enable their care or treatment and lack the mental capacity to consent to their arrangements.
People who might have a Liberty Protection Safeguards authorisation include those with dementia, autism and learning disabilities who lack the relevant capacity.
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has produced a short video to encourage the sector to consider how LPS can promote practice which aligns with human rights and the core principles and duties of the Care Act 2014.
You can also access a series of LPS factsheets on GOV.UK
Watch SCIE’s LPS video on YouTube
Weekly Information Sharing FAQs
Dear Colleagues,
Webinars for Care Homes
Thank you for joining the Webinar for Care Homes this week – we hope that these continue to support you during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to remain diligent in following guidance, using PPE and supporting staff and residents to be vaccinated.
Our next webinar on Tuesday 16 November will include an update on our digital projects, IPC and on the COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters.
______________________________________________________________
Webinars and training
National Safeguarding Fire Safety: 18 November
As part of National Safeguarding Adults Awareness week, Martin Corbett, Sutton Borough Fire Commander, has organised a training event for practitioners and care homes.
The event takes place on Thursday 18 November, 10am – 11.30am.
The aims of the session are:
- To share the findings of the SSAB Fire review task and finish group
- To officially launch the Fire Safety Audit Tool
- To explore the Safeguarding principles in the context of fire risks
- To examine best practice and consider what more we can do to ensure that residents are safeguarded against fire related incidents, serious injuries and deaths
Find out more and book your place.
IPC core skills training: 19 November
Core skills training covering topics such as flu, Norovirus, bacteraemia’s, sepsis, chain of infection, universal precautions, management of common infections and more. If you would like to attend, please email [email protected]
IPC sessions for Community Social Care staff
Infection Prevention and Control education sessions for all levels of Community Social Care staff take place online every Monday between 2pm and 3pm.
The next sessions are:
- 15 November: Session 2 Bacterial diarrhoea (incl Clostridium difficile and food associated gastrointestinal infections)
- 22 November: Session 3 Urinary Tract Infections (UTI’s) and urinary catheter care & management
- 29 November: Session 4 Respiratory viruses and Outbreak Management
Register at Eventbrite to attend.
General IPC training sessions for all Community and Social Care staff
Join senior IPC nurses to learn more about general infection prevention and control training including: MRSA, Tuberculosis, diarrhoea, rashes, wound care, specimen taking, head lice, scabies, respiratory infections, including COVID-19, staff health and more.
Sessions run online every Thursday between 2pm to 4.30pm. Register at Eventbrite to attend.
Weekly Information Sharing FAQs webinar
The COVID-19 pandemic remains an extremely challenging situation globally and we recognise that this is the case for staff working in Care Homes of all types. We are continuing the weekly Infection Prevention and Control and Information Sharing webinar Tuesday mornings at 11:00am.
+44 20 3880 0300 United Kingdom, London (Toll)
Conference ID: 855 305 74#
Local numbers | Reset PIN | Learn more about Teams | Meeting options.
Weekly Capacity Tracker webinar
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#
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.
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An archive of previous editions can be found on the Sutton Care Hub.
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