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Care Matters Weekly: Friday 18 February 2022
Met Office Issues Red and Amber Warning, Adult Social Care - funding available for start-ups and microenterprises, Long Covid and More. Please share.
Met Office Issues Red and Amber Warning, Adult Social Care – funding available for start-ups and microenterprises, Long Covid and More. Please share.
- Met Office issues red and amber warning for Friday 18 February
- Adult social care – funding available for start-ups and microenterprises
- Long Covid – one more reason to get vaccinated
- Guidance changes – Help from London Borough of Sutton Public Health team
- Make sure you get your COVID-19 booster
- Book a roving vaccination team
- Taxi service to vaccination appointments
- Replacement PPE Portal – migration invitation to new system
- Care home residents remain eligible for COVID oximetry at home and COVID virtual ward
- Webinars and Training
- Sutton Care Hub Job Portal
Met Office issues Red and Amber warning for Friday 18 February
The Met Office has upgraded their weather warning to Red for London and the south east from 10am to 3pm. An Amber warning will remain in place either side of this, from 5am to 10am and 3pm to 9pm today.
Staff are advised to consider their travel arrangements and check TfL/Network Rail updates before travelling, and where possible staff should consider whether working from home would be more appropriate to avoid the disruption.
Read more about who to contact in an emergency, and how to stay safe
Adult social care – funding available for start-ups and microenterprises
We are looking to commission start-ups, microenterprises, small family businesses and individuals who are interested in becoming microenterprises and local entreprepreneurs with funds of between £5,000 and £20,000 to deliver an ‘innovative idea’ that supports local recruitment and retention of care workers and personal assistants in Sutton.
These funds have come from our workforce recruitment and retention funds from the central government.
Expressions of interest should be submitted by 25 February. Find out more and register
Long Covid – one more reason to get vaccinated
People who get the Covid jab are less likely to develop long-Covid if they catch the virus.
A press release by the UK Health Security Agency shows that people who have had one or more doses of a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine are less likely to develop long COVID than those who remain unvaccinated: The effectiveness of vaccination against long COVID A rapid evidence briefing
Guidance changes? Help from London Borough of Sutton Public Health team
There have been a number of changes in guidance over the recent weeks. If you need any help or advice on the changes please contact the London Borough of Sutton Public health team. Drop them an email [email protected]
Make sure you get your COVID-19 booster
It is still vitally important that you get your COVID-19 booster jab to make sure you continue to be protected, and that you help protect your families, your colleagues and those that you care for.
Please make sure that when you receive your booster you Update the Capacity Tracker
Book a roving vaccination team
The SW London CCG roving teams will provide COVID-19 booster vaccinations and flu vaccinations to all eligible staff and residents. Please note that you will be asked for numbers for staff and/or residents if you want a roving team to visit (question 6 if you tick yes).
Remember: If you have staff that are not working on the day the team attends your site, you can use your ICF and Vaccine Funding to pay them. ALL care home managers are encouraged to complete the form to book the team.
Taxi service to vaccination appointments
To support access to vaccines, free taxis are available for care home staff to attend a vaccination centre. To book a taxi, email [email protected]
Replacement PPE Portal – migration invitation to new system
A replacement PPE (personal protective equipment) Portal has been introduced to better serve eligible providers in accessing COVID-19 related PPE stock. All users will be receiving an invite over the next few months to migrate to the new system. You should have received email communications confirming timings for your migration.
Until you receive your invitation to migrate you can continue using the current platform to order your COVID-19 PPE.
If you have questions regarding the migration to the new portal, please contact the customer services team on 0800 876 6802. They are available 7am to 7pm, seven days a week.
Meanwhile, a list of local contacts for providers who are not on the PPE portal has been updated. Providers can access PPE through their local authority or local resilience forum.
Care home residents remain eligible for COVID oximetry at home and COVID virtual ward
NHS England recommends care homes have one oximeter for every ten residents with a minimum of two oximeters per care home.
Requests for oximeters from the national supply should be placed via NHS @home: Pulse oximeter request form
COVID-19 Update
Updated guidance – COVID-19 vaccinations received overseas
If you have received a COVID vaccination overseas, download this short guide to how your vaccination needs to comply with UK guidance.
Download the guide below
Updated Guidance – Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Testing in Adult Care Homes
Updated guidance (16/02/22) has been published for testing in adult care homes. Change made:
- Added: step-by-step guide to COVID-19 self-testing: SureScreen 25 pack nose-only test
Testing for professionals visiting care homes – read the full guidance
Routine testing changes
Routine testing for care home staff has now changed from 16 February. You should test all asymptomatic staff daily using a rapid lateral flow test (LFT) before their shift begins on the days they are working.
Due to this change we have updated the LBS Google submission form – please use this new link – https://forms.gle/X5JqvyZjMMRMoYNAA
Managers will need to report results;
- If you have positive staff results, (you are not required to submit negative results.
- Residents reporting remains the same, results reported monthly (every 28 days)
- Outbreak testing, should be reported on day 1, day 4-7 and 14 days after the last known positive result (both residents/ and staff)
Please see care home testing guidance for regular and outbreak testing of staff and residents. Updated 17 February 2022
Updated Guidance – Supported Living Service During Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Updated guidance (16/02/22) has been published for providers of supported living services. Change made:
- Updated guidance to reflect the latest self-isolation advice for residents, removed lines on vaccination as a condition of deployment
Updated Guidance – Designated settings for people discharged to a care home
Updated guidance has been published about discharged to TADD settings. Change made:
- Updated ‘Discharge into care homes: designated settings’ to remove lines from section 8 on ‘Information for designated setting providers on staff vaccination’
- Removed the ‘clarification note’ which simplified aspects of the existing national guidance on designated settings
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Webinars and training
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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