Join our regular networks and share your concerns, find support and discuss the latest news.
We wish you A Very Happy Christmas to you and your fabulous team.
And best wishes for a healthy and safe New Year.
There will be no newsletter next week, but we've said that before haven't we?
Here's hoping...
Yesterday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak set out new measures to help support businesses in the wake of rising coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and concern over the Omicron variant. 
These measures included reinstating the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) Rebate Scheme and announcing funding grants for some businesses. 
Citation has helpfully summarised all you need to know about the announcement in this important article. Click here.
On 17 December 2021, the DHSC introduced temporary changes to the self-certification on sickness process for employees. Employees can normally self-certify sickness absence for the first seven days. Temporarily, employees can self-certify for 28 days, to enable GPs to focus on the COVID-19 booster programme. If an employee goes off sick on or after 10 December 2021, up to and including 26 January 2022, you cannot ask them for proof of sickness until they have been off for 28 days or more. The self-certification period will revert to seven days for absences beginning on or after 27 January 2022. More information about how the 'fit note' works is available from this link: The fit note: guidance for patients and employees.
We're well aware that some services are facing significant absence due to the testing equivalent of the ping-demic - having to self-isolate when healthy. The extended self-certification will not help with these absences.
Page 4 of the daily Omicron overview shows how quickly Omicron has overtaken Delta.
Workforce Recruitment & Retention Fund Round 2 – Key points
On 16 December, the guidance on the £300 million Workforce Recruitment and Retention fund (WRRF) was published. This aims to provide urgent support for care providers to alleviate workforce pressures. The conditions of the grant state that the money must be spent by 31 March 2022, and the grant is to be paid in 2 instalments, the first in January and the second in February. The grant allocations can be found here.
The main purpose of the WRRF, Round 2, is to support local authorities to urgently address adult social care workforce capacity pressures in their geographical area through recruitment and retention activity this winter. It builds on the first round of this funding, but has a key difference: it can be used to support payments to boost the hours provided by the existing workforce – including childcare costs and overtime payments.

The guidance says:
  • unlike round 1 of [WRRF], the second round of the fund can be used for bringing forward planned uplifts relating to pay in advance of the new financial year. However, it should be noted that the fund is time-limited between 10 December 2021 and 31 March 2022 and any ongoing burden would be incurred at risk.

Round 2 guidance also points specifically to the issue of workforce capacity issues & hospital discharge delays:
  • Noting the link between adult social care workforce capacity and hospital discharge, local authorities should engage with CCGs and NHS trusts to work collaboratively to address workforce pressures which in some areas are delaying people from returning to their home from hospital.

As with Round 1 of the WRRF, the money should be used to support the full range of social care providers, regardless of whether the local authority already commissions care from them and LAs are encouraged to passport the money directly and speedily to social care providers. This guidance for round two says:
  • ‘To ensure maximum productivity of any payments to providers, local authorities should be mindful of ensuring money is available to support the sector quickly. Therefore, if a local authority chooses to make payments to providers, they should endeavour to passport funds as early as possible to ensure that providers have time to use the resources to maximum effect.’
  • ‘If a local authority chooses to make payments to providers financed by this grant, it must ensure those providers will use the funding within the grant period to support new expenditure that retains existing workforce capacity or delivers additional staff capacity, and which has not already been funded by the Infection Control Fund or other sources of public funding. In addition, care providers should keep sufficient records to be able to demonstrate what specific staffing capacity was secured using this funding. Further information can be found in the 'Financial management and the risk of fraud' section of this guidance.’

Another condition of passported funding is to complete the Capacity Tracker at least once a week:
  • ‘If passporting funds, the local authority should work constructively and collaboratively with providers receiving those funds to ensure that it imposes conditions on the provider requiring that they commit to completing the capacity tracker at least once per week until the conclusion of the fund.’

There are reporting requirements for LAs on Round 2 of the WR&RF (Jan 2022 & April 2022) and of course, this, in turn, means that LAS who do passport the funds directly to care providers will need to put in place due diligence reporting requirements from those care providers.
A heartfelt plea then on top of contractual requirements - please, please, please update workforce data (absences and vacancies) regularly and accurately on the Capacity Tracker. 
The data is being given to Ministers etc on a daily basis and we need to make sure that it shows the unvarnished truth of how you are coping and what the challenges are.
For example, booster rates are currently showing lower than hoped-for.
We think this is a recording lag. Can you make sure it's up to date?
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a booster jab for my safetee.
Slightly confusing as this only applies if you use walk-in centres, but here is a priority letter for adult social care staff enabling you to politely jump the queue.
Find your local walk-in centre here - there are a number of locations across the Thames Valley and just outside.
It's likely that booster jabs may well be included as mandatory in updated VCOD regulations in the New Year. They might even say 'the relevant course of vaccination for covid-19 must be kept up to date'.
CQC - Supporting visiting over the festive season
CQC has shared a message on visiting to help people understand the approach they’ve been taking on visiting during the pandemic and how they will continue to support providers to follow the most up-to-date Government guidance. They have also been collecting feedback on visiting and following up with providers where concerns have been raised. This will continue to be their approach using risk-based targeted or focused inspections and utilising their ongoing monitoring approach.
Throughout their communications on visiting the CQC have been clear that blanket approaches are unacceptable, this has not changed and where they are made aware of blanket bans, they will investigate and take regulatory action if required.
Through their inspection and monitoring activity, the CQC will be looking for you to demonstrate how you’re following the latest visiting guidance, with risk assessments to support your approach. It is also important that you share clear, transparent and regular communications with families and residents about visiting. They have expanded their Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) inspections to gather information on visiting practices, and they will be increasing the number of IPC inspections in the coming months.
CQC know that the majority of providers are making every effort to follow the latest guidance, but if something changes and you’re unable to do this, please talk to your inspector, or contact their National Customer Service Centre so that they can ensure your query is picked up by an inspector.
We know that DHSC guidance is struggling to keep up with changes to guidance.
We anticipate that several pieces of guidance may be updated in the coming days including testing guidance for most social care settings to reflect the increase in LFD testing, and updates to the admissions to care home guidance and designated settings guidance. We will circulate updates as we spot them. There may be other last-minute updates to other guidance and we will keep you informed.
This is the latest we've spotted...
Changes to the Self-Isolation Guidance for Health and Social Care Staff
The self-isolation rules for staff who work in health and social care settings changed. From today (Wednesday 22 December), there are changes to the start of the isolation period if a staff member receives a positive PCR test result. The isolation period includes the day symptoms started or the day their PCR test was taken if they do not have symptoms, and the next 10 full days.

Staff may also be able to end their isolation period before the 10 full days is over if they take an LFD test on day 6 and day 7 (24 hours apart) and receive a negative result on both days. If a staff member has a negative LFD result on days 6 and 7, they can go back to work from day 8, but they will have to keep testing using an LFD test on days 8, 9 and 10, making sure they test at the beginning of each shift.

The guidance continues to say that if the staff member works with people who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 (as determined by the organisation) a risk assessment needs to be done and consideration given to redeployment for the remainder of the 10 day isolation period if deemed necessary.
The changes to the start of the isolation period and the length of the isolation period can be found in Section 2.2 of the guidance.

Another change is in Section 2.3 of the guidance. If a staff member receives a positive lateral flow test, they should follow the processes listed in Section 2.2 - self-isolate, get a PCR as soon as possible and follow the guidance relating to the outcome of their PCR test in Section 2.2. 
Changes to the Self-Isolation Guidance for Households
There have also been changes to the self-isolation rules for households who have been infected with COVID-19 in England. If an individual has negative lateral flow test results on day six and day seven, they may be able to end their self-isolation period after seven days instead of 10. If both test results are negative, and they do not have a high temperature, they are able to end their self-isolation after the second negative test result. Please note this is different to the requirements for health and social care staff who will still have to do LFD tests on days 8,9 and 10 to ensure they are still negative.

Please note that the general guidance for households says that those who leave self-isolation on or after day 7 are strongly advised to limit close contact with other people in crowded or poorly ventilated spaces, work from home and minimise contact with anyone who is at higher risk of severe illness if infected with COVID-19. Remember there is separate guidance for health and care staff, see above.

There is no change to the guidance for unvaccinated contacts of positive COVID-19 cases, who are still required to self-isolate for 10 full days after their date of exposure to the virus.
Unpaid Carers
The guidance for those who provide unpaid care to family and friends has been updated to reflect the new guidance on daily testing for contacts of positive cases, a new section on face coverings and updated information on COVID-19 booster eligibility.
Transparent Face Masks
DHSC has been working on a coordinated range of initiatives to enable the creation and availability of safe and effective transparent face masks to health and social care since September 2020. DHSC has announced two products that are made by UK manufacturers which meet the technical specification set out by the Transparent Face Mask Steering Group. These are just a couple out of many products currently passing through technical assurance.
DHSC confirms that the technical assurance has now successfully been completed on the Alpha-Solway and Contechs transparent face masks which means that they are both compliant with the technical specification and can be bought and used in health and care settings, subject to local risk assessments. The DHSC are about to start widely piloting transparent face masks across a variety of settings in the UK to further explore usability. This will provide further evidence on user acceptability and suitability of this new and innovative product type within relevant settings.
New PPE Platform Testing Opportunity (to replace current Clipper portal)
DHSC will be testing a new platform from January 2022 that will replace the current PPE Portal. They hope to build a representative group across all sectors, experience levels and user needs. They are particularly interested in hearing from users with accessibility requirements, such as individuals with disabilities or those who are less familiar with online platforms.
Involvement in testing the new platform should take no more than one hour a week. This includes using the new platform and feeding back your experiences. There will be a team on hand throughout the entire process to support you in using the new system. If you are involved in the user testing, you will also have to complete some short surveys sharing your experiences of the current Portal, as well as the new Portal and you, will also be invited to focus groups, where you can share more detailed feedback about your experiences on the Portal.
Should you wish to register your interest, please fill out this short form: https://dhexchange.kahootz.com/PPE_Portal/viewQuestionnaire?qid=7654339
Invitations to join the new Portal, and the user research, will commence in early January 2022. If selected for the user research, you will be onboarded onto the new platform and will order your PPE through the new system. There will be no change in the type or quantity of PPE that you can order. Please note that this user research does not mean that DHSC has taken a decision on whether to continue to supply free PPE to health and care sectors beyond March 2022. They will announce their decision in due course.
If you have any further questions, please get in touch with DHSC at ppe-portal@dhsc.gov.uk and they will be happy to assist. 
New COVID-19 Treatments
New COVID-19 treatments are now being made available. This includes oral antivirals and intravenous monoclonal antibody treatments. Some care home residents, care recipients and some staff will be eligible for this treatment if unwell with COVID-19. DHSC has sent specific newsletters to settings that provide more detail for residential settings (care home newsletter and Extra Care/Supported Living newsletter). These treatments can help some people manage their COVID-19 symptoms and reduce the risk of becoming seriously ill. They are a further measure in addition to vaccinations, which remain the best way to protect everyone.  

There are now two routes available - with different criteria - for accessing new COVID-19 treatments for non-hospitalised individuals this winter, both of which are relevant to care homes and wider adult social care as well as the wider population; 
  • Participating in the PANORAMIC national study (over 50s; adults with underlying health conditions and all care home residents); or 
  • Direct access to treatments for those at highest risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19 (for individuals with specific listed conditions including down syndrome, MS and certain types of cancer).  
There has been an official announcement from the DHSC confirming that Liberty Protection Safeguards will not ‘go live’ in April 2022.
Please find attached the letter from the DHSC regards the same. The public consultation for the Regulations and Code of Practice is planned for the New Year. There is no new implementation date at this time. More details here.
Did you attend one of the engagement sessions on the new ADASS/ LGA Home Care cost of care toolkit developed by ARCC?
The attached Q+A represents responses to the common queries that were raised during the course of the sessions. The tool and accompanying guidance are awaiting final formal sign-off and will be published on the LGA website early in the new year. We will provide a link once it is published. 
And did you also manage to attend the Social Care special webinar on Points-Based Immigration System?
Good news for our local region's progress on DSPT. Thank you one and all.
Two announcements made last week that you may have missed.
Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement
Over £1bn of additional funding is being made available for children and adults’ social care:
  • £700m of new grant funding for social care:
  • £636m more into the Social Care Grant, including funding for equalisation against the 1% Adult Social Care precept
  • Providing an inflationary uplift to support integrated working with the NHS
  • Money for an improved Better Care Fund
  • 1% Adult Social Care precept and deferred flexibilities from last year’s settlement
LAs are also able to access the un-ringfenced 2022/23 Services Grant (£822m) and Council Tax to raise money for social care in addition to the above. In terms of Council Tax, LAs are able to add up to an additional 3% of unused ASC precept from 2021/22. 
  1. Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement: England, 2022 to 2023
  2. Michael Gove’s summary statement here
Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care Fund: 2022 to 2023
On top of the above, Government has published how They will provide £1.4bn (which is part of the £5.4bn Health & Care Levy) over the next three years to support Councils to prepare markets for reform and moving towards paying providers a fair cost of care. This is broken down as:
  • £162m for 2022-23
  • £600m for 2023-24
  • £600m for 2024-25
The document says:
  • significant number of local authorities are paying residential and domiciliary care providers less than it costs to deliver the care received. This is undermining their markets, creating unfairness, affecting sustainability and, at times, leading to poorer quality outcomes.
In preparation for the expanded means test and cap on care costs, DHSC wants to:
  • address the current differential in fee rates charged to some self-funders. The market effect of this change will be that some providers will over time need to reduce reliance on subsidising state-funded care from self-funders.
As part of this DHSC is enabling 18(3) of the Care Act (2014) to allow more people who self-fund care to ask the LA to arrange it on their behalf to secure better value.
DHSC recognises that:
  • uncertainty over future funding, combined with low fees by some local authorities, has resulted in under-investment in local care markets, buildings and innovation, and call-cramming (systematically cutting visits short to allow time for travel) in domiciliary care.
Councils are expected to:
  1. conduct a cost of care exercise to determine the sustainable rates and identify how close they are to it
  2. engage with local providers to improve data on operational costs and number of self-funders to better understand the impact of reform on the local market (particularly the 65+ residential care market, but also additional pressures to domiciliary care)
  3. strengthen capacity to plan for, and execute, greater market oversight (as a result of increased section 18(3) on commissioning) and improved market management to ensure markets are well-positioned to deliver on our reform ambitions
  4. use this additional funding to genuinely increase fee rates, as appropriate to local circumstances.

As a condition of receiving further grant funding in the 2 following years, local authorities will need to submit to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC):
  1. a cost of care exercise – produced by surveying local providers for 65+ residential and nursing care and 18+ homecare to determine a sustainable fee rate for different care settings. Exercises will need to accurately reflect local costs such as staff pay and travel time, and provide for an appropriate return on capital or return on operations. Local authorities will be expected to publish the exercises
  2. a provisional market sustainability plan setting out local strategy for the next 3 years (2022 to 2025) – using the cost of care exercise as a key input, this provisional plan will demonstrate the pace at which local authorities intend to move towards a sustainable fee rate, in particular taking account of the impact of section 18(3) as well as other pressures they have identified. DHSC expects to see strategic planning for changes in types of provision in response to local need with other local areas, taking into consideration the role of new models of care (including housing)
  3. spend report – this will detail how money has been allocated in line with DHSC’s expectations in order to achieve a more sustainable local market

The Minister sees the move to a fair price to care is an essential part of the reform to social care and a clear acknowledgement that a significant number of local authorities are paying residential and domiciliary care providers less than it costs to deliver the care received.
  1. Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care Fund: 2022 to 2023
  2. Gillian Keegan’s summary statement here
The Mental Health Units (use of force) Act 2018 was enacted in November 2018. However, commencement regulations have only now been passed with a view to the Act coming into force from 31 March 2022.
On 7 December 2021 the Government published guidance on the implementation of the Act which is available here.
The Act has a wide remit as the use of force is defined to include physical, mechanical or chemical restraint of a patient, or the isolation of a patient (which includes seclusion and segregation). 
In summary, the Act requires the following:
  • Mental health unit staff must receive appropriate training in the use of force
  • The unit must publish a policy regarding the use of force and the steps taken to minimise the use of this
  • The unit must publish information to patients about their rights
  • The unit must keep records of the use of force
  • The unit must appoint a person with responsibility for the steps above and for ensuring the requirements in the Act are carried out.
The Secretary of State for Health & Social Care will publish statistics at the end of each year regarding the use of force, and will conduct an annual review of any reports made by coroners pursuant to their duty under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, schedule 5 para 7 relating to deaths arising from the use of force.
In addition, the Act provides:
  • a police officer going into a mental health unit must wear and operate a body camera
  • where a patient dies or suffers serious injury in a mental health unit, regard must be had to relevant guidance relating to the investigation of that incident. 
Units have a few months before the implementation date but there is certainly work to be done before the end of March to implement the new Act.
Change of number for Locality Operational ASC Numbers in Oxfordshire County Council
Please note that from 1 January OCC will be operating on one number for operational locality teams
  • The number will be 03300 535120
  • Numbers currently used will be automatically forwarded to 03300 535120 for 3 months before being removed from service 

Email contacts will remain the same:
Oxfordshire provider networks
Fortnightly
  • OACP Home Care network: Monday 1-2 via Zoom. Next meeting: 17 January
  • OACP Learning Disability network: Tuesday 10-11 on Teams. Next meeting: 4 January
  • OACP-OCA Care Home network: Wednesday 2-3 via Zoom. Next meeting: 12 January.
Monthly
  • OACP Day centre network: 2nd Friday in the month via Zoom. Next meeting: 14 January.
Webinar & Podcast city
Hear how you can claim Workforce Development funding (WDF) to contribute towards the cost of vocational learning such as social care qualifications, learning programmes and digital learning modules.
  • Wednesday 19 January 2022
  • 14:30 - 16:00
  • Online event - via Zoom
  • Book here
  • Registrations will close 90 minutes before the scheduled start of the event
The session is aimed at managers in care services with responsibility for training and development.
In the session, we will tell you about which qualifications can be funded through WDF this year, the timescales involved, and how to set up or update your Adult Social Care Workforce data set account (ASC-WDS).
We will also give you details of how to:
  • Join a local or national partnership
  • Claim funding directly from Skills for Care
Regulars
Proud to Care Oxfordshire
A new website for people looking to enter adult social care has been launched today. A partnership of OACP, Aspire Oxford, Activate Learning and OCC, the website builds on experiences in other local areas to attract people into the sector.
The website is open to all care providers operating in Oxfordshire across all settings. Over the next few months we will add information on what the sector offers; the different roles available and support available to enable a first step into social care.

If you would like to advertise on Proud to Care, please contact Jane Wood or Diana Olszewska at hello@proudtocareoxfordshire.org.uk. Proud to Care is managed by OACP.
Your free guide to recruitment and retention in care
As England introduces new national lockdown restrictions, and the government is reportedly drawing up plans for carers to be banned from working in more than one home, there has never been a more important time to attract and retain your brilliant people.
With that in mind, the care experts of OACP partner, Citation, have created a free guide on recruitment and retention, specifically for care providers.
This guide includes things to consider when recruiting the right people for your business, and methods and tips for engaging your employees to keep them happy and working for you.

Your OACP member benefit
From recruitment and retention, staff training, mental health and wellbeing, professional bereavement and tricky HR issues, to infection control, risk assessments and visiting arrangements, Citation can help you operate both safely and compliantly in the coming weeks and months.
They can also help with fire and electrical safety, Care Policies & Procedures, Care Mock Inspections, and CQC Pro – an application to demonstrate you’re meeting CQC requirements.
To find out more or arrange a free consultation, click here or call 0345 844 1111.
Quote ‘Oxford Association of Care Providers’ when enquiring to access your preferential rates as a member.
Resources
Testing guidance
This very useful page brings together all testing guidance for adult social care, including non-regulated services.
Bookmark it.
DSPT support for Berks, Bucks and Oxon
Link and instructions on how to book: https://oacp.org.uk/events/. See also June webinars above.

If you are not sure which is the right webinar for you, please contact the DSPT team at dspt@oacp.org.uk. This is our dedicated team delivering the Better Security, Better Care roll-out across the Thames Valley.

If you are based in MK and have not yet been contacted by Bedfordshire Care Association who are leading on this for BLMK ICS area, please let us know and we will signpost you.

And Train your staff to be Cyber Aware
COVID-19 infection rates dashboards usually updated weekly:

Check vaccination levels across the country via this interactive map for first dose and second dose - whole population statistics.
Trusted Assessor services

The Oxfordshire Trusted Assessor service is now closed.
For Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire, the Trusted Assessor Service is run for care homes only by Lincolnshire Care Association.
Contact: Michelle Yusuf -
The project runs also for Hinchingbrooke and Addenbrookes hospitals.
BCA, MKB Care and OACP working together for you.
Care Association Alliance | our big family
As well as a constant stream of questions and answers by email from around the country, we are also part of the CAA weekly teleconference - Wednesdays at 10am. This informs us of current concerns and potential solutions and helps inform our local communications.
Consistent, quality information
We are mailing out once a week on a Wednesday, so you know when to look out for it. These updates will provide summary advice on emerging issues and signpost providers to government and other statutory agency advice as needed.

Reminder
We are always keen to hear from providers, if you have anything you would like to share with provider colleagues, please send to the usual address.

Receiving this newsletter for the first time?
We are adding new colleagues all the time.
Please let us know if there are other colleagues you would like this mailing sent to.

OACP
OACP Member offers | OACP works with the following suppliers to bring you market insight, quality products and expert advice. Contact them today - click on the logo...
Help yourself to help us
Now available for all Oxfordshire care providers.
Spectrum is a well-established buying consortium with an emphasis on the Care Sector including care homes, domiciliary care and supported living. They have been sourcing discounts with major suppliers for their members since 1992.