Join our regular networks and share your concerns, find support and discuss the latest news. |
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This week's mailing is with you earlier than usual as the White Paper is expected today and we're trying to clear the decks ready for whistling aboard our future. We'll cover what the Minister has in store for us in a separate mailing. |
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Aah, Omicron, we've been expecting you (as we stroke a long-haired white cat).
It was only a matter of time before a variant under investigation turned into a variant of concern.
We're disappointed that Profession Jonathan Van Tam didn't say that Covid-19 has brought on a substitute of unknown quality as we enter injury time in his long-running theoretical football match (is it Ronaldo or just a Norwich City player?), but went for something more complicated about yellow and red cards.
So what do we know?
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Data is still emerging on Variant B.1.1.529 (aka Omicron). It is now designated as a Variant of Concern by the World Health Organisation and the UK. NERVTAG met on 26 November 2021, and the summary of what the group discussed has influenced the latest advice for the public and healthcare workers.
Some of Omicron's 30-50 mutations (depending on which news feed you follow) are common to those seen in other variants:
- 10 in the receptor binding motif, the part that binds to our cell receptor called ACE2, which is greater than any other mutated strain.
- Spike proteins are little grappling hooks on the surface of the virus which it uses to latch on to human cells. Changes to the spike protein are concerning because vaccines have been designed to help the body recognise the spike shape. If they change too much, the immune system will be blind to an infection and vaccines would stop working.
- Antibodies made by the body from a natural infection may also struggle to see off the new variant.
- There are also mutations at the furin cleavage site, an area that helps the virus get into human cells, and which makes it so infectious. One mutation, P681H, has previously been found in alpha, mu and some gamma cases. But this is the first time that two changes have been seen in a single variant. These changes are likely to enhance the virus’s ability to enter cells, increasing viral load and making it more transmissible.
- There are also two mutations in an area called the nucleocapsid, R203K and G204R, which were present in the alpha, gamma and lambda variants, and are known to increase infectivity.
- There are also several changes that have never been seen before, which are also alarming scientists.
Dr Jesse Bloom, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, USA, said that many mutations, particularly E484, G446, K417 and Q493, were at “peak escape sites”, meaning that many antibodies would be impacted.
“This does not mean that the [Omicron] variant will fully escape vaccine or infection-elicited antibodies. It takes many many mutations to fully escape neutralisation, and there are also T-cells. But I’d expect the [omicron] variant to cause more of a hit on vaccines – and infection-elicited antibody neutralisation – than anything we’ve seen so far.”
Aside from the theory of why it could be more infectious and dangerous, real world data is suggesting that Omicron could cause serious problems, but we await hoping not.
And it appears that it is too early to tell whether a domestic lateral flow test (LFT) will detect the Omicron variant. LFTs pick up a protein from the virus to detect its presence, rather than its genetic makeup, and cannot detect a specific variant, but she says early signs show that the rapid tests do return positive results for people Omicron as they would for other strains of Covid.
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Currently, the growth rate (R number) for UK is between 1.0 and 1.1 means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between 10 and 11 other people.
- A growth rate of between -1% and +2% means that the number of new infections could be broadly flat, growing by up to 2% or shrinking by up to 1% every day.
Whist the predominant variant is Delta, There is a growing number of Omicron cases being identified.
We have yet to hear if there are any specific changes for adult social care, but you will know that for the general public (including when staff are off duty), masks are now mandatory in shops and public places (except hospitality venues). As of yesterday, a £200 fine could be levied for transgressors. One of the scientists, Prof Adam Finn, from the JCVI committee said we must be prepared for a change in Covid-19 restrictions in the coming weeks. Reports from South Africa show that the Omicron variant has risen from 1% to 30% of cases detected in less than three weeks.
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If there is any good news, it's that Omicron caused a surge in people trying to book covid-19 vaccines and boosters on the National Booking System. As you will have heard by now JCVI now advises:
- All adults aged 18 to 39 years should be offered a booster dose, in order of descending age groups, to increase their levels of protection.
- Booster doses should be given no sooner than three months after the primary course.
- All severely immunosuppressed individuals should be offered their booster dose no sooner than three months after completing their primary course of 3 doses.
- Young people aged 12 to 15 years should receive a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, no sooner than 12 weeks after the first dose.
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Timely communications from The Centre: Symptomatic individuals - think Covid-19, Flu and other seasonal respiratory viruses
As we all know, anyone with Covid-19 symptoms should isolate and take a COVID-19 PCR test, but many of the symptoms are similar flu and other winter infections, such as:
- A symptomatic individual who tests negative for COVID-19 may have another infectious illness like flu. Therefore action may still be needed to limit transmission including using appropriate PPE when working with symptomatic care home residents and isolation while the individual is unwell.
- Also, care homes with one or more confirmed case of COVID-19 or Flu, or two or more individuals with any of the symptoms above (suspected cases) should contact their local Health Protection Team (HPT). The HPT will advise if additional testing is needed (including flu testing) and how to access this testing.
- If you have multiple people with symptoms, do not wait until receiving the COVID-19 PCR result before contacting your HPT. Do not delay contacting your HPT because interventions including flu antivirals are more effective the earlier they are started.
Remember, there are also preventative steps to take to reduce the risk from flu:
- Maximise flu vaccination uptake for staff and residents. Staff can receive a free flu vaccine by booking an appointment at their GP practice or community pharmacy.
- Keep good Infection prevention and control measures in place - flu spreads in a similar way to Covid-19. The measures in place for Covid-19 such as ventilation, hand hygiene, social distancing, PPE, cleaning and avoiding symptomatic individuals entering the care home will all help to reduce the risks from flu. This poster can be used to advise visitors to stay away if ill.
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Flu vaccination numbers are still looking low on Capacity Tracker. Is this a recording issue?
We have a concern that if numbers don't rise, or rather the numbers vaccinated and recorded don't rise, Government may move to make this mandatory in the future. Can you systemise your recording and get CT showing the true numbers?
And numbers of people with a learning disability are particularly low.
Can you help support people with take up?
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And finally, on vaccines, Thursday 2 December will be BOOST DAY where you’ll see a mass media campaign takeover promoting the uptake of vaccines ahead of the festive season. There is a range of resources to support this on the Campaign Resource Centre (CRC). BOOST DAY will drive mass awareness and momentum around the importance of boosting your immunity this winter.
Messaging encourages those eligible to book their vaccines as soon as possible so we can all enjoy the festivities safely with our loved ones.
This includes both flu and COVID-19 boosters, the evergreen offer for anyone still to get their 1st and 2nd doses of COVID-19 vaccine and second doses for 16-17-year olds.
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This brings us to, hopefully, an isolated example of a GP and an accompanying junior doctor barging past reception staff at a local care home and dismissing requests to provide proof of double vaccination.
With the support of the local authority and the CCG, we reiterate that you are within your rights to refuse entry to anyone who is unable to provide proof. Indeed failure to receive proof of vaccination prior to people entering could impact your CQC registration.
If this happens to you, please report this directly to ASCcovid19@oxfordshire.gov.uk naming the person and their employer. We believe these are isolated individual examples, not system-wide issues. |
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Guidance updates
In the light of Omicron, there has been no further change to Restricting workforce movement between care homes and other care settings which was last updated on 23 November 2021 cautiously lifting some of the previous restrictions. Local Public Health assures us that individual cases of Omicron will be flagged, but as yet no such cases have been identified in our area.
Updated to place more emphasis on face-to-face visits which should take place wherever is most comfortable for the resident. Visiting restrictions due to an outbreak should only be in place for 7 to 8 days following negative testing, and that physical contact should be supported to help health and wellbeing. Advice around flu and other transmissible viruses has also been added, along with guidance on how care homes can support residents on visits outside of the care home.
The guidance has been reordered into different sections to move the focus away from mandating specific types of visits.
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Section 1 is now Visits in all Circumstances which makes the guidance around end of life visits and essential caregiving more prominent in the guidance. There is also a section here on visiting professionals, including requirements for VCOD and testing.
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Section 2 is focused on safe visiting practices such as IPC measures, risk assessments, testing arrangements, visits out of care homes, communications with families and visitors.
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Section 3 is focused on when alternative visiting arrangements might be required and looks at care home outbreaks and the role of Public Health and DASSs.
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Section 4 contains information on other sources of support and information.
Things to note from this guidance:
- The preamble has been substantially changed to reflect the refocusing of the document. It also includes an outline of clear expectations for visitors as well as an emphasis on visiting being the default position all providers should be enabling - even during outbreaks (see Section 3).
- Visiting can now happen in a resident's room where this would benefit them.
- Facemasks can be removed in certain circumstances when not in communal areas of the home but other mitigations should be put in place to compensate - see the guidance.
- Visitors are advised not to visit if they are a contact of a positive case:
- visitors who are not legally required to self-isolate are advised against visiting the care home if they have been identified as a close contact of someone with COVID-19, unless absolutely necessary, even if they have been fully vaccinated. Where visits do occur, visitors should have received a negative PCR test result prior to their visit, and a negative lateral flow test result earlier in the day of their visit
- Enhanced emphasis on outbreak rules ending after 7 to 8 days (but note the requirement in the guidance to consider vaccine coverage of residents and testing participation of staff):
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an outbreak may be considered over when there have been 2 rounds of whole home polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, taken 4 to 7 days apart, which are both negative. This means that effectively some outbreaks could be declared over after 7 to 8 days (rather than 14 days), subject to other considerations. An outbreak of a variant of concern could still see more prolonged and significant restrictions
- Physical contact should be supported.
- Visits out of care homes remain largely unchanged - including the requirements to isolate following high-risk visits out - such as an unplanned overnight stay in hospital.
- There is an increased focus on the flu and COVID-19 vaccines as well as other respiratory viruses such as RSV.
- The section on visiting professionals makes it very clear that they need to show evidence of vaccination or exemption alongside a negative test (taken within 72 hours) to enter the care home.
Updates to Discharge Guidance Leaflets
A series of leaflets have been updated relating to discharge:
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Do you remember that we said to check the expiry date on LFD/ PCR test kits to ensure that they were not past their expiry date? DHSC have now confirmed that swabs from these kits cannot be re-purposed (saved) as spares and should be discarded along with the rest of the expired kits.
There are still a significant number of voids being recorded by UKHSA, but this number has reduced by 70% over the past few weeks.
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Infection Prevention Network launch
The network of adult social care infection prevention and control champions will help maintain and continuously improve standards across the care sector. Run by the Queen’s Nursing Institute, the scheme will be supported by Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care Deborah Sturdy OBE and backed by a £35,000 grant from the Department of Health and Social Care. Lessons learned from the pandemic will be rolled out through the network to help minimise the future spread of infections, including COVID-19 and flu, to protect people living in care homes and receiving home care. The Champions will share best practice through a series of virtual meetings, a newsletter and a discussion forum. The IPC Champions’ Network will be made up of frontline social care staff from settings around England who are responsible for infection prevention and control in their specific areas or homes.
Meetings will be bi-monthly and is designed to be a sounding board for sharing good practice.
Infection Prevention society resources.
The network is for all CQC-registered adult social care services, but all resources are available publicly so can be used by non-CQC registered services.
For further IPC resources, see also:
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Oxfordshire CCG are looking to roll out 2-day training to become an IPC train the trainer for new and existing staff have regular training.
After Christmas in January ready for Spring.
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OUH/ OCCG are looking to create a training video to demonstrate how a person with dementia wanders and what they touch using a light-box method (where touch points show under ultra-violet light).
If you would be interested please contact:
This would require some OUH staff entering your home - they would all be double-vaccinated.
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Additional information has been published urging pregnant women to get vaccinated following new UK safety data. Catching COVID-19 carries a far higher risk than having the vaccine and only 22% of women who gave birth in August were vaccinated.
Over 100,000 covid vaccinations in pregnancy in England and Scotland, and a further 160,000 in the USA, show there has been no subsequent harm to the foetus or infant.
A government-backed trial, Preg-CoV, has also been launched to provide more data about how the NHS can best protect pregnant women and their babies, and the evidence will be used to inform future vaccination programmes. Pregnant women are being encouraged to sign up to the trial.
The data has been published for the first time today, now sufficient numbers of women who were pregnant when the vaccines were rolled out have given birth.
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Ronapreve has been approved by MHRA for use in children aged 12 and over and adults on prescription. Ronapreve has been confirmed as reducing the viral load of Covid-19 in affected patients. |
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Health and Care Bill
The Health and Care Bill passed the House of Commons after two days of debate and moves onto the House of Lords. Government rejected and voted against nearly all the non-government amendments to the Bill. This includes amendments in relation to workforce planning for social care, NHS and Public Health (Jeremy Hunt and Labour’s amendments) and the removal of assessments prior to discharge as part of discharge to assess (one Labour amendment to add safeguards and another to remove the clause entirely). Debates around the membership of Integrated Care Boards and Integrated Care Partnerships, unfortunately, got stuck on the issue of private sector involvement due to a number of Labour MPs trying to unhelpfully cast the Bill as an ‘NHS Privatisation Bill’.
The most controversial element of the debate was the amendment to exclude means-tested support from counting towards the new capped cost model for social care. The amendment passed 272 to 245.
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Leadership review into health and social care
The terms of reference for the leadership review in health and social care has been published. The review is to be led by former Vice Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Gordon Messenger and supported by Dame Linda Pollard, Chair of Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust.
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Around three in 10 people with Parkinson's have Parkinson's-related dementia at any one time, with people with Parkinson’s up to six times more likely to develop dementia compared to the general population. Despite this, the health and social care system is failing to meet their needs or those of their family, friends, and carers. Getting the right care, treatment, and support at the right time can be life-changing for people with Parkinson’s-related dementia, but too often, this is not the case.
The report is based on extensive interviews with people with Parkinson’s-related dementia and their carers, as well as surveys of carers and healthcare professionals. It demonstrates the breadth of challenges that people with Parkinson’s-related dementia face right from the outset of their journey and puts forward solutions to bring about much-needed change.
People with Parkinson’s-related dementia regularly interact with many elements of health and social care, yet they feel “nobody really knows us.” More professionals require training in Parkinson’s-related dementia so that people’s needs are understood.
The report reveals that people with Parkinson’s have to wait an average of six months to receive a dementia diagnosis, and that only 14% of health professionals report that their training has equipped them to care for people with Parkinson’s-related dementia. Worryingly, around a quarter of carers surveyed reported that health professionals responsible for Parkinson’s care did not understand and take account of the person they cared for having dementia.
Unpaid carers of people with Parkinson’s-related dementia play a crucial role in supporting their loved ones with day to day living and helping meet their health and care needs. Yet we found they are not receiving enough support for their own needs from the health and care system. Over half of the carers we surveyed are providing more than 70 hours of direct care each week, yet only 15% had accessed respite care. This has severely impacted carers’ mental health, with over 60% experiencing anxiety or depression.
The report’s recommendations aim to improve the care people affected by Parkinson’s-related dementia, including dedicated training for health and social care professionals, funding for carer education, respite for unpaid carers, and publication of the diagnosis rates of Parkinson’s-related dementia. Parkinson’s UK are calling on decision makers to take action now so the health and social care system can deliver high quality, person-centred care for people with Parkinson’s-related dementia and better support for carers.
If you have any questions on the report please contact Rini Jones, Senior Policy and Campaigns Adviser (mental health and dementia), Parkinson's UK rkjones@parkinsons.org.uk.
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Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set official launch
The Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS), is an easy-to-use online service that helps you manage your team and makes sure your voice is heard by the government and other key sector decision-makers.
ASC-WDS has been operational for a couple of years and around 20,000 care providers currently use the service which has been undergoing regular developments to bring added value for users. It's now at a stage to officially launch the service.
Why should you use the service?
Features and benefits include:
- Contribute to the crucial intelligence that decision-makers across the sector need to provide support to the workforce.
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Access to the Workforce Development Fund and essential training programmes
- Manage your staff training records, including setting mandatory training for each job role and alerts when training is due to expire.
- Safe and free storage of staff records
Brand-new ASC-WDS Benefits Bundle
The data collected in ASC-WDS is crucial for understanding the adult social care workforce. To say ‘Thank you’ for their contributions, new and existing ASC-WDS account holders can now gain offers and discounts on products and services from Skills for Care and partners including:
- 10% off all bookshop items
- 10% off values-based interviewing and valuable conversations bespoke seminars
- 10% off registered manager membership
- 10% off digital learning for managers modules
- Funded essential training
Get in touch
If you have any questions on the ASC-WDS service, then please email
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HSE Working Minds campaign launched
Launched by Sarah Albon, chief executive of the Health and Safety Executive, at the HSE Health and Work Conference earlier this month, Working Minds raises awareness about how to recognise and respond to the signs of stress to protect workers and support good mental health to help people to stay well.
Work-related stress is now the number one cause of employee sickness absence, with major factors causing work-related stress including workload pressures - tight deadlines, too much responsibility and a lack of managerial support. Whether you are a GP practice, a hospital, or a care provider, the law requires every employer to assess the risk of work-related stress and to put measures in place to tackle it.
Campaign partners
Working with partner organisations, including the Homecare Association, Lifelines Scotland, Mind, Acas and Mates in Mind, HSE will provide businesses with relevant information and practical tools.
Make it Routine
Working Minds is aimed specifically at supporting small businesses by providing employers and workers with easy-to-implement advice that directs employers to Make it Routine by Reaching out, Recognising, Responding and Reflecting.
Sharing personal experience is a powerful way of helping others to understand the real-life impacts of these issues. If you have experience of work-related stress – either personally or managing stress as an employer – please email campaigns@hse.gov.uk and a member of the team will be in touch.
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Employers have the same health and safety responsibilities for those working at home as any other worker.
HSE's homeworking guidance is for anyone who employs home workers, including those who split their time between their workplace and home (sometimes called hybrid working).
The guidance has been redesigned and expanded to provide more detail on straightforward actions to manage home workers’ health and safety.
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Yep, more Studies and Surveys...but some of them have vouchers!! |
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National survey of care workers’ experiences during COVID19. This is the second wave of the survey (the first wave was April-June 2021) but everyone delivering frontline care in the social care sector is eligible to take part, even if you did not take part before. A presentation of the wave one findings can be found here. Wave one highlighted the significant impact of COVID-19 on the health and wellbeing of the social care workforce, including raising issues of abuse and working conditions.
Those who complete the survey will be given the opportunity to enter a prize draw to win a £50 Amazon voucher!
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Age UK Oxfordshire
We recognise that we still face a big challenge in ensuring that our services are truly accessible to all and we know there is more work to be done. We would value your help to determine where we should focus our energy in the coming years.
We have asked the National Centre for Diversity (NCD) to help us gather people’s thoughts and build a plan for the future.
We would be very grateful if you felt able to complete the brief survey, please, and provide your perspective on the work, to ensure we build a plan that works for everyone. It should only take around 5 minutes.
Every voice matters and we want to make sure we have heard from as many people as possible. We are also asking people who use our services, staff and volunteers for their views. NCD will be analysing all the feedback and working with us as we develop an action plan.
The survey is anonymous - please be open and honest.
Please note that the survey closes on 26 November and you can only complete the survey once from your device.
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Share your experiences of working in adult social care during Covid
Researchers have launched a UK-wide survey to find out how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting experiences of working in adult social care at the present time.
The survey - part of the NIHR ARC North Thames-supported Retention and Sustainability of Social Care Workforce (RESSCW) project - is funded by the Health Foundation and has been put together by researchers at the University of Kent, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), University College London (UCL), and City University of London.
The project aims to understand the drivers of staff retention and motivators of care staff, to better support the sector to provide sustainable, high-quality services and meet increasing demand.
If you work in adult social care, please help with this research by taking part in the second round of this survey. You can find the initial findings of the first round available here.
It takes about 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire and participants can enter a prize draw at the end to win an Amazon voucher worth £50.
If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please contact Catherine Marchand at c.marchand@kent.ac.uk
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England-wide survey on community care provision to older people living with advancing frailty
The PALLUP study, led by Professor Caroline Nicholson, aims to identify and understand the Palliative Care needs of older people with advancing frailty and to support community services to deliver this care. While older people with advancing frailty are likely to be in the last phase of life, their end-of-life needs are often under-recognised. The purpose of the online survey is to aims to understand current community service response, and recent service improvements, for older people with advancing frailty with palliative care needs. This will help develop a Palliative Care Service Framework and resources to consistently provide better palliative care across England for this under-serviced population.
Who can take part?
We are looking for people who are leading, managing or providing care within a home-based care service to older people with advancing frailty. Your knowledge and experience in service delivery is important in developing an understanding of an England-wide picture of current care needs and service responses for older people with advancing frailty. We are hoping to involve participants from a range of health, voluntary and social care agencies.
What we are asking of you?
What next?
The deadline for completion is Wednesday 15 of December.
We hope you will agree to take part. If you have any questions, please contact the PALLUP research study team via email richard.green@surrey.ac.uk or phone 07815919559.
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Oxfordshire provider networks
Fortnightly
- OACP Home Care network: Monday 1-2 via Zoom. Next meeting: 6 December
- OACP Learning Disability network: Tuesday 10-11 on Teams. Next meeting: 7 December.
- OACP-OCA Care Home network: Wednesday 2-3 via Zoom. Next meeting: 1 December.
Monthly
- OACP Day centre network: 2nd Friday in the month via Zoom. Next meeting: 10 December.
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Watch again
Webinar to discuss emerging evidence, innovation, and best practice for a sustainable social care workforce.
Sidesets and publication here: https://www.pssru.ac.uk/resscw/frontpage/
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‘The regulation of social care: Improving the treatment of workers through regulatory law’
The speaker will be Professor Lydia Hayes, Head of Kent Law School at the University of Kent. The session will be chaired by Professor Mary Daly, Governing Body Fellow, Green Templeton College and Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford.
- Thursday 2 December
- 18:00 to 19:30
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If you would like to attend this event, please complete this registration form
Professor Hayes will present new research, undertaken during the pandemic, showing that care safety and job quality in care settings are inseparable. The findings point to failures in the regulation of care provision. Job quality indicators, highly relevant to the objective of care safety, were being ignored or marginalised by providers and inspectors. Professor Hayes will make the case that existing regulatory law provides the social care sector with a framework of sector-specific employment standards. Better understanding of the potential of regulatory law could help organisations that represent either employers or workers to improve terms and conditions of work as an inseparable element of the quality of care.
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REACTMH® wellbeing conversation training is an amazing initiative that will provide managers, supervisors and those with caring responsibilities, in clinical and non-clinical services, with the tools and confidence to have wellbeing conversations with people in their teams and community.
The REACTMH training is an evidence-based active, listening skills training session which enhances mental health awareness among staff by enabling staff to identify, engage with and support people in their teams who may be struggling with their wellbeing. The training is designed to improve confidence in initiating supportive wellbeing conversations.
During the course you will gain new knowledge and have a chance to put this into practice during the session. The training is underpinned by psychologically sound principles and the REACTMH technique comprising of: Recognise, Engage, Actively listen, Check risk, and Talk about specific actions.
Many studies have shown that line managers, supervisors and those with caring responsibilities can significantly impact, both positively and negatively, on the mental wellbeing of the people in their teams. Long-term negative impact on mental health can be significantly reduced where managers receive training in identifying the need for and successfully engaging in supportive wellbeing conversations.
The final training session is delivered online and is 90 minutes in duration.
- Fri 3 December 9.30am – 11.00am
When making your booking please confirm the date you would like to attend, your full name and the Trust or Organisation you work for.
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Getting to grips with Digital basics
This session is aimed at people who aren’t confident or comfortable with digital technology and who want to know more about it
In this session, our colleague at Barclays Digital Eagles will focus on helping you with tasks for work, like completing online forms, searching for information, and lots of other top tips for going digital.
They will go through everything you need to know about using digital technology, right from the very beginning.
There are two sessions repeated on 2 days. Choose from either
- Tues 7 December
- 10 am - 11 am
- Delivered via Teams
OR
- Thurs 9 December
- 2 pm - 3 pm
- Delivered via Zoom
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Social media can be a great way to get your message out to people
This session is aimed at people who may want to boost their recruitment opportunities via social media, but who may not be confident with the various types of social media and what’s involved.
In this session, Skills for Care colleagues will look at messaging you can use through social media to attract people to come and work at your service.
Our colleague at Barclays Digital Eagles will show you how messaging can be sent out via social media. They will focus on four keys areas of social media- Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and What's App.
There are two sessions repeated on 2 days. Choose from either
- Tues 7 December
- 2 pm - 3.30 pm
- Delivered via Teams
OR
- Thurs 9 December
- 10 am - 11.30 am
- Delivered via Zoom
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Oxford Health Community Services Strategy workshop
- Wednesday 8 December 2021
- 3-5 pm
Oxford Health is holding a workshop at which carers, friends and family members of patients can share their experiences of accessing health services and help shape future plans for the county’s community services.to get involved:
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HMRC webinars
Statutory Maternity and Paternity Pay
This webinar covers the conditions your employees need to meet, how much they’re entitled to, claiming back some or all of what you pay, and record-keeping.
Statutory Sick Pay
We explain key terminology, who qualifies, what to pay and when to pay it, and what happens when employees are sick or self-isolating due to coronavirus.
HMRC online guide to Statutory Sick Pay is split into sections to make it easy to find what you’re looking for.
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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.
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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.
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Testing guidance
Bookmark it.
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DSPT support for Berks, Bucks and Oxon
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
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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. |
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Trusted Assessor services
The Oxfordshire Trusted Assessor service is now closed.
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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.
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BCA, MKB Care and OACP working together for you. |
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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.
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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.
OACP
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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... |
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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.
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