Care Provider Newsletter

October 2023

Adult Social Care

Activity / Wellbeing Co-ordinator Meetings

The Activity / Wellbeing Co-ordinator meetings are now starting to become established and hopefully staff are finding these helpful. The next meeting is taking place on Thursday 2 November 2023 from 10am – 12pm at Cleeve Court, Bath, BA2 1RS. Hilary Cox from B&NES Library will be in attendance at the next meeting and will be talking about the community resources the library has to offer for dementia residents. The group will also be bringing along resources and knowledge that they have regarding animals in the care homes/pet therapy etc and any ideas for fundraising. If time allows the group will also be discussing case studies. 
 
Please can you ensure that you try where possible to release your member of staff and if you or your activities staff would like to be added to the mailing list please email des.baugh@nhs.net.

CQC – Fire Service

Fire Service crews are fully trained in operationally managing PV systems. Care homes should ensure that information relating to PV System (Photovoltaic, or “solar panel”) isolation points, is held, and included within the information (usually in the form of a “grab bag” in homes) provided to response crews / Officer in Charge on arrival at an incident. All (care home) staff should be familiar with the information/contents so when operational crews ask for it, staff are confident and know it’s there. Additionally, the premises fire risk assessment (and action plan) should identify the system and any associated maintenance, or related issues.

DoLs

The DoLS team have just produced a new leaflet which is intended to explain the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards to family and friends. This should be given to them at the same time you inform them that you have made a DoLS referral. Hopefully, you will also find the information in the leaflet helpful when explaining the reason for needing to make the DoLS referral. The team have only recently introduced this leaflet and will be following up distribution plans by sending an email to all care homes in due course.

Download the DoLS info leaflet (e-version)

Stay Smiling Mouth Matters Care

As you know, good oral health is an essential to a person’s general health and wellbeing. Evidence shows that poor oral health in care homes impacts an individual’s ability to eat, smile and be pain free, and therefore their quality of life.
 
Stay Smiling has been codeveloped by King’s College London in partnership with the NHSE London Dental Ageing Network, Alliance for a Cavity Free Future (ACFF), the Whittington Community Dental Services and care home teams in North Central London. Working to meet the needs expressed by the care staff involved, the programme is based around a series of videos demonstrating mouth care on care home residents.
 
It is free, accessible, takes approximately 30 minutes and care staff will receive a certificate upon completion. There is also a coproduced oral health toolkit that care homes can use to assist in oral care assessment and planning for their residents. The full eLearning programme is available at www.acffglobal.org. Once you sign up as a free member, the Stay Smiling programme can be found in the members section.

MCA – Mental Capacity Act

It recently came to light that a care home had sent an email to residents’ families/friends asking for the “named next of kins” to complete and sign a consent form for the resident to be given their Covid Booster and Flu vaccinations. A reminder was issued to that particular care home that family and friends cannot legally give their consent to such treat on behalf of their relative/friend, unless they have an LPA for Health and Welfare and wanted to extend this reminder to all care homes within B&NES.
 
Under the Mental Capacity Act if it is suspected someone lacks the capacity to consent to any such procedure a Mental Capacity Assessment must be carried out and recorded. This can be by the carer who wants the decision to be made, or the GP. If the person is deemed to lack capacity for this specific decision, the GP should be involved in making a best interests decision on the person’s behalf, which also needs recording.
 
Family and friends should be consulted (if relevant) in order to make this decision. Reasonable efforts should also be made to involve the person themselves in this decision making, taking into account past expressed wishes and current concerns in weighing up pros and cons of the action required.
 
There will usually be no need to involve an IMCA in such decisions – only if the person is strongly objecting to a procedure which is deemed in their best interests and would need restraint or general anaesthetic, for example. Such “Serious Medical Treatment” decisions can warrant the involvement of an IMCA if the person has no family to consult.
 
View the NHS page regarding decision making under the Mental Capacity Act.

Dementia Education

For those who have not taken up the offer, the Care Home Liaison Team can provide free of charge education sessions which combine Person Centred Dementia Care, Dementia Awareness and Behaviours that Challenge in Dementia.  Sessions will take approximately 1 hour and will get your staff up to date with the current good practice for residents with dementia. To book a date please contact des.baugh@nhs.net or call 01225 396518.

Care OBRA Launch

• a single case or an outbreak
• a residential/nursing care home or another type of ASC setting
• a low-risk, medium risk, or high priority outbreak according to the combination of red and amber flags

• An “ACKNOWLEDGEMENT email” with a Care OBRA reference number and a copy of your data
• An “ADVICE email” providing immediate information/advice on how to manage the situation reported

Digital Care records

Good quality records underpin safe, effective, compassionate, high quality care. They communicate the right information clearly, to the right people, when they need it. They are an essential part of achieving good outcomes for people who use services. A good digital records system has more benefits than a paper-bases record system. 
 
Bath and North East Somerset Swindon and Wiltshire Together along with Wiltshire Care Partnership are offering funding for Digital Care Records. The offer is for £140.00 per bed/service user up to a maximum of £14,000 per CQC location ID. For small (less than 10 service users) locations we make special arrangements and look at each of these on a case by case basis. You must be CQC registered and transferring from paper to digital, not from one system to another. You must also choose one of the solutions from the assured solution list: Assured Solution List - Digital Social Care
 
Having a digital system that records training for staff and publishes rosters does not count as a Digital social care record, so locations that already use that type of software would still qualify for grant funding to implement a DSCR.
 
If you are interested and want to know more please contact Paul by emailing paul.dlh@wiltshirecarepartnership.org.uk

Care in a Digital Age

Wiltshire Care Partnership and BSW Care Skills Partnership are holding a digital event on Thursday 16 November 2023. The event is being held at Alexandra House, Whittingham Drive, Wroughton, SN4 0QJ from 9.30am to 4.00pm. 
 
They will be exploring new technologies and systems, and importantly, how we do this safely and cost effectively within different settings. A number of influential speakers will be joining on the day, Emma Harris, Assistant Director of Digital Social Care NHSX will Chair the event, Mark Sutton Chief Digital and Data Officer from CQC will be making the keynote speech and Michelle Corrigan, Programme Director BSBC will be speaking after lunch.
 
Workshops will run throughout the day including CQC, RWK Goodman and Skills for Care. More information about workshops and booking will follow after ticket confirmation.
 
A number of exciting and innovative exhibitors from the Social Care sector has been secured, Digital care records, new devices and learning and development, which will give us all food for thought. Due to the limited spaces, tickets are restricted to 2 per care location and 4 per organisation. If you wish to attend please book spaces using Eventbrite.

Adult Safeguarding Portal

The first meeting of the Adult Safeguarding Portal Working Group took place on 28 September 2023. Following the meeting the first draft of the Safeguarding Portal Referral has been developed and a demonstration of the portal was given to members. Please find attached both the technical notes of the demonstration along with the draft referral. If you have any comments please refer these to James_Sawford@bathnes.gov.uk by 20 October 2023.

Safeguarding Portal Technical Notes

Safeguarding Portal Referral DRAFT

DHSC – Flu and Covid Vaccine

In August, NHS England announced that it is bringing forward the rollout of this year’s Autumn/Winter Flu and Covid-19 vaccination delivery programme to begin on 11 September 2023. Vaccination teams will now begin contacting providers to arrange visits and have been asked to ensure that all residents in care homes are vaccinated by 22 October 2023. It’s vitally important that care home staff should now commence the consenting process for residents if not already done so. Staff are encouraged to book their vaccinations as early as possible via the Local Booking Services from 11 September, and the National Booking Service from 18 September. Appointments can also be booked online on the NHS App, or by phoning 119. 
 
There is a range of materials which can be used to help promote vaccinations for staff including Q&A leaflets, posters and stickers. Digital versions can be downloaded at the Campaign Resource Centre.

Capacity Tracker

Understanding the uptake of both COVID-19 and flu vaccination remains vital to the successful delivery of the campaign, as well as our knowledge of attitudes towards vaccination. The Capacity Tracker (CT) remains an essential tool in this regard. It is especially useful for managers to update the CT immediately following a vaccination team visit. Vaccination data fields are now available in the Capacity Tracker and are also part of the mandated sections for the monthly ASC submission for DHSC.

Covid-19 guidance change – Admissions

Please find below a summary of the updated guidance for COVID-19 admissions for adult social care. The guidance change takes place from 27^th September 2023.

Admissions

• Updated the hospital admission section to clarify that evidence of the lateral flow device (LFD) test result should be communicated by hospitals to care homes
  • whether this is positive or negative.

• A negative test result is not a requirement for admission as people who test positive for COVID-19 can be admitted if the care home is satisfied they can be cared for safely and follow guidance for residents who test positive.

The full guidance change is available online.

KPI Data Submission Dates

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are targets that help you measure progress against your most strategic objectives. We collate these on a quarterly basis and as a requirement of the contract the performance of the Services shall be monitored by the Council in accordance with the Contract, Risk Management and Quality Monitoring of Care Homes Policy, the terms of this Individual Service Agreement, the Services Specification, the Key Performance Indicators, and the respective ISA Forms for Service Users placed at the Home.
 
Please note the Quarter 1 submission date has already passed and anyone who has not submitted their KPI’s for this quarter please do so by close of play Friday 13 October 2023. 
 

Wellbeing Resources

• BSW Wellbeing Matters Service

• Live Well B&NES

• Samaritans

• Hospice UK bereavement and trauma line

• Our Frontline

• Bath and North East Somerset Community Wellbeing Hub