Happy Health and Social Care Levy day, the new 'hypothecated tax', a meaningless phrase in itself. The Levy will raise a purported £13.2bn of which £1.8bn will be used to compensate those employed by the public sector leaving £12.2bn to be added to the total spending on health and social care in England [of] approximately £235bn, with the gap covered by some of the other roughly £800bn per year that the government receives from other sources. [The new funding] can be spent on any of the public services or social security that the government funds.

Following on from Monday's Member mailing on the changes to Living with Covid guidance we thought it might be useful to set out some scenarios for testing and recap what DHSC is asking you to do as from last Monday...

All guidance up to 4 April has been withdrawn and has been replaced with Living with Covid guidance.

Old guidance should be marked as 'withdrawn', but worth checking on the publication date just in case DHSC has missed some. We know there are some updates to come.

All new guidance refers to high prevalence; whilst the definition of high prevalence hasn't been defined yet, we are definitely in a state of high prevalence. Still with us?

Notably, staff movement between care homes is particularly dependent on whether the local area is in a state of high prevalence and local Directors of Public Health can restrict staff movement, but UKHSA hasn't released this guiding framework yet.

We are also now in purdah, the temporary neutral state running up to elections (in this case local elections on 5 May).

This part of the guidance is still woolly.

The list of symptoms has been updated to include three more symptoms:

Symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) in adults can include:

plus

The symptoms are very similar to those of other illnesses, such as colds and flu and indeed other winter bugs, many of which are spreading later due to less exposure over lockdowns and using masks.

Clearly, this makes the identification of covid-19 from less dangerous diseases very difficult without a covid-19 test.

And coupled with the need for staff to work from their perspective as the alternative is SSP and from your perspective, as the alternative is possible unsafe staffing, both you and your workforce are caught between a rock and a hard place. It feels like we have the potential for massive sickness rates AND missing covid-19 amongst the chaos.

You will not be able to require staff testing positive to self-isolate by law, so you will need a local OH/ HR policy.

Finally:

Having taken this all in, this letter from MHA probably sets out the general mood which can be summarised as:

Last week at the Care England annual conference the Secretary of State said that 'social care is nothing without its workforce'.

This week's guidance will lead to more colleagues isolating when Government funding for their sick pay has been withdrawn or coming to work when they are in fact genuinely sick.

It doesn't feel remotely strategic, sensible, or fair.

And if you're interested, here are the links to:

and

And there's always the UK COVID-19 Inquiry to examine the UK’s pandemic response and to ensure that the UK is better prepared to respond to future pandemics. More information and a survey to take part in their consultation can be found here. 

Following last week's mention of changes to Capacity Tracker, it is our understanding that care providers are no longer contractually obliged to complete the Tracker. You may receive some local pressure to do so and the Integration Bill may add some specific obligations. But this Bill is still in the Lords. But this is the latest we have:

The frequency that providers will be asked to update their information is changing as follows.

Plans are currently being discussed to agree on a timeline for moving questions to their appropriate location i.e., daily, weekly and monthly pages.

Exclusive webinar with Colostomy UK, with expert insight on the following and more:

Book your place today to avoid disappointment.

DHSC webinar on changes to COVID-19 measures in CARE HOMES from April

For further details contact icsupport@healthinnovationmanchester.com

DHSC webinar on changes to COVID-19 measures in NON CARE HOME SERVICES from April

Skills for Care is looking to organise some short virtual events with Job Centre Plus and the National Careers Service and are looking for some volunteers to help with recruitment into the care sector open across Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire

Please reply to Rachel.Reid@skillsforcare.org.uk

DHSC webinar on supporting implementation of the Infection Prevention and Control: Resource for Adult Social Care guidance

If a place is booked before 31 March 2022 you can get 22% off each place you book using the code 2022. 

If you are registered on ASWDC (Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set) and compliant by 31 March you can claim back up to £500 per person that completes a programme before the end of May.

Our new website for people looking to enter adult social care has been launched. 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.

With that in mind, the care experts of OACP partner, Citation, have created a free guide on recruitment and retention, specifically for care providers.

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.

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.

The Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT)

View the latest DSPT webinar recording:

Data Protection Compliance in conversation with Royds Withy King - Watch it here

Come to our next webinar event 'Boost your Cyber Knowledge' with Chris White, Head of Cyber and Innovation from the Cyber Resilience Centre South East - Book here

Digital solutions are here to stay! The Better Security, Better Care programme will continue throughout 2022 - 2023. We are reviewing current activities, and the availability and format of support will change after March 2022. We strongly encourage you to contact the DSPT team now to access this free support.

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.

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.

The Oxfordshire Trusted Assessor service is currently closed. We are in discussions about what a future service might look like.

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.

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.

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.

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.

We are adding new colleagues all the time.

Please let us know if there are other colleagues you would like this mailing sent to.

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.