Networks pick up current issues and pressures with a chance to get peer support or link with commissioners and other public sector colleagues.

We have created a Fair Cost of Care webpage with all the links and advice you need (hopefully) to enable to you submit your data.

If you are a home care provider and wish to submit anonymously, you can do this via eddy.mcdowall1@nhs.net. We will ensure your data is submitted before the 22 July deadline.

And two additional dates have been offered by the Care Provider Alliance for busting myths and addressing questions, concerns and issues. you can find the dates in the Webinar listing below.

Oxfordshire County Council has set out a timetable for moving existing ETMS users across to ContrOCC by 31 March 2023. The letter above is for home care providers providing 'legacy packages'. We are aiming to invite the Council to set out more details in our first September home care network.

Last week we notified you that the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Adults Board Consultation line for professionals has re-opened.

We have also set up quarterly safeguarding briefings/ catch up open to all care providers with the new Safeguarding Adults Operations Officer, David Lunt. The first one will be on 19 September at 2 pm. You can find the details in the Webinar listings below.

You Matter July 2022 newsletter. See Regulars below for contact details.

DHSC SE has asked Charles Taylor at Oxfordshire Care home Association to do some quick research on the barriers to care workers working longer hours, and in particular the fact that we have large numbers of part-time workers. The stories that we usually have are:

We are working with the Department of Health to carry out some research on care staff working hours and whether there are any changes that Government could make to allow individuals to carry out more full-time work to alleviate some of the pressures on the social care workforce. The hope is that we can then work with the department to lobby for changes so that some of these barriers can be removed. Below are a series of questions based on your experience in your role - we would really appreciate any answers that you can give.

For ease of collection we have created a quick 2-minute survey that can collate the results, please click on the link here https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/VMBMX3Y

Improving the Health and Care of Residents in Care Home: Care Home Managers needed for a research project

The University of Oxford, with the Oxford Academic Health Science Network (AHSN), is collaborating with the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care System (ICS) to better understand and contribute to improving quality of life and care in care homes.

The project is led by Professor Ray Fitzpatrick, as part of a NIHR long-term programme (https://www.arc-oxtv.nihr.ac.uk/). This research is part of a national initiative to assess the benefits of deterioration tools to care homes and to provide training and support in this area.

Please use this link https://tinyurl.com/Oxford-RESTORE2-Survey to access the survey.

Do you have staff in the Didcot area (OX11 postcode)?

Draycott Engineering is offering free MOTs to cars owned by key workers including carers.

See this leaflet for more details. Please call to enquire about booking: 01235 819966

Integrated Commissioning Systems came into being on 1 July. They replaced Clinical Commissioning Groups and will be responsible for commissioning NHS services in the local region. Since much of adult social care is funded or part-funded through pooled budgets, it is important that adult social care is not only connected but also embedded in decision making.

This Good Governance Guide provides a straightforward primer of the development steps and best practice for where partners should feature in the system.

Looking at our Non-Exec Directors on the BOB ICS in the Leadership Team, none appear to have experience in adult social care, so there is an opportunity here for our sector to support and inform them of the challenges you are facing and what needs to improve to hold the Leadership Team to account.

BOB Integrated Commissioning Board would like to extend an invitation to you to attend the 14th Annual UK & International ANTT®Conference in London on 21 October, fully funded by BOB ICB.

The registration and travel cost will be fully funded by the BOB ICB (IPC team)

If you are interested in attending the face-to-face or online live stream conference, please contact Hilary Munube, IPC Lead before the end of July. 

The heatwave may be passing, but it might return another week (certainly another year...) as such we are just sharing the UKHSA interim advice issued last week for ASC during the heatwave regarding risk of COVID-19 infection in the context of extreme heat.

Universal masking (for source control) is still recommended, but when extreme heat makes this intolerable (due to heat stress), staff and visitors should prioritise wearing a mask for source control when within 1m of a resident at higher risk of severe COVID-19. Staff may also need to need to change their face masks more frequently than normal due to sweat and the need to take more frequent breaks to drink. This should be supported and if there are any concerns regarding stock, providers should contact the PPE Portal customer service team on 0800 876 680.

Sadly we are having to look at ASC monthly statistics for rising infection rates again.

The latest adult social care official monthly statistics for England published on 14 July 2022 show an increase in positive tests across the board. Much of the data in these reports comes from the Capacity Tracker - bear in mind data is up to a month behind.

In December 2021 DHSC published People at the Heart of Care, announcing at least £150m to drive digitisation across the adult social care sector to improve the quality, safety and personalisation of care.  

Drawing on this investment, DHSC announced in June that they are making £25 million available to Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) in 2022/23 to support adult social care providers to adopt technologies that can transform care.

Further information and support can be found on the Digital Social Care website.

DHSC has published the Formal Notice setting out what information is required by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from CQC-regulated adult social care providers, under section 277A of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, as inserted by section 99 of the Health and Care Act 2022. As per the Formal Notice, the first set of monthly data is due by the end of 14 August 2022 and on day 14 every month thereafter. where the 14th falls on a weekend or bank holiday, it will be the following working day.

DHSC is working on a future data collection from care providers, which will eventually replace the Capacity Tracker dataset that becomes mandatory from 31 July 2022. As promised at the start of the pandemic, it’s now time for the longer-term approach to be developed and co-produced with providers and other stakeholders.

If you were unable to attend one of these workshops, or you did attend and have further feedback, you are invited to complete the following survey to share your views with DHSC by Friday 22 July:

Provider data survey for LAs/ICSs – understanding your data needs (~15 mins) (office.com)

At the end of last week, the JCVI announced that everyone over 50 would be offered a COVID-19 booster, while DHSC announced it would expand the free flu vaccine in England.

I'm sure you know by now that CQC is changing its approach to Regulation.

Here are two helpful summaries:

Early adopters and testing for the new framework will begin in August 2022 - these will be a small number of prospective home care providers registering for the first time and some hospice providers.

From September this will be expanded to include a small number of GP practices, independent providers and care homes.

From October the new provider portal will open to all providers and CQC will start carrying out assessments using their new approach with the early adopter group.

From January the aim is to start the full roll-out of the new way of regulating.

Skills for Care is pleased to be able to share with you headlines from the size and structure of the adult social care workforce in England report. This report includes current information on the number of organisations, number of workers and number of job roles.

You can find the full report on the SfC website

If you would like to know more about our data and whether SfC could provide you with more tailored reporting please contact analysis@skillsforcare.org.uk

Calling Third Sector Social Care Providers | HEE-funded Peer Support offer for 3rd sector

This offer is available again this year. DHSC is seeking expressions of interest for this to be sent to the Wessex School of Public Health at HEE – WessexPublicHealthSchool.SE@hee.nhs.uk by Monday 5 September 2022.

The training will be delivered by With-you (see this flyer) who have been commissioned to deliver the PSW and Peer Supervisor Training. DHSC has asked the With-you Training Lead to attend a forthcoming Third Sector network meeting where they will be able to answer any questions you may have regarding the training [I'm sorry we don't have details of these DHSC networks but presume that Third Sector organisations are directly in contact].

For those who are interested in taking up this offer please answer the questions below to express your interest and return to WessexPublicHealthSchool.SE@hee.nhs.uk:

Please could you complete this survey. Honestly, less than a minute to complete.

If you would like to be involved in this work, please contact Melanie Weatherley direct email: melanie@walnutcare.co.uk

Three schemes paid for through WRRF to support the existing workforce and future recruitment.

Find out more below:

Care Friends candidates are 9x more likely to be hired than job board candidates and 50% less likely to leave in the first 6 months.

Alex Ruck-Keen has recorded a video providing an overview of how the LPS is relevant for care providers (primarily residential care providers), and what steps they need to be taking to ready themselves for LPS implementation.

The slides to which Alex refers to are here.

A series of training opportunities for care home staff from Immedicare over June, July and August including:

Running through July is a series of workshops promoting tips and hacks developed by Community Integrated Care to help the care sector through the energy crisis.

The Taking Charge campaign is a special campaign to help people who work in social care, and the people they support, find ways to reduce their energy bills.

Workshops will take place live via Zoom and will last approximately 40 minutes.

Watch the short video, How do I use payroll software to send reports to HMRC?, on HMRC’s YouTube channel for help with sending information digitally.

Two additional sessions for providers of home care and care homes to answer any concerns, questions, or issues you may have relating to their participation in the Fair Cost of Care exercise to support your participation in the process and to quash any myths surrounding their understanding.

We understand that some local authorities have communicated different levels of information to providers. The LGA, ADASS, and DHSC have also shared guidance along with your local and national trade associations all saying how important it is to engage in the Fair Cost of Care process. Collectively this can be confusing and overwhelming. These sessions are aimed at supporting providers with a more fluid agenda driven by the subjects raised.

If you have any questions or points you wish to raise upfront, please feel free to email those to FCC@CareProviderAliance.org.uk or simply join the call and use the chat facility or raise your hand to ask your question/s.

If you have questions in the meantime, please email FCC@CareProviderAlliance.org.uk

We look forward to supporting you to determine if you can participate in the Fair Cost of Care process

3 short training sessions covering Dysphagia and IDDSI (International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative) that will cover:

Please email Sue.Langan@nhs.net for details.

And an excellent opportunity to re-share this fabulous mini-series on the IDDSI Framework from February 2021 led by OakHouse Kitchen and supported by outstanding Care Home, The Close.

Watch the box set all over again.

Please book the date for the third Workforce Roundtable.

The purpose of the Workforce Round Table meetings is to provide a forum for social care providers to come together for focused conversations about workforce issues and support available in Oxfordshire. We will circulate an agenda closer to the time.

We are looking for enthusiastic people, with a passion for the environment, reducing health inequalities and generally making things fairer and greener. If this is you, please contact Hannah Cole: hannah.cole-hall@nhs.net and we will invite you to the first session and you can play your part in making a difference!

WellbeingLine@berkshire.nhs.uk

The Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT)

COVID-19 infection rates dashboard usually updated weekly:

The Oxfordshire Trusted Assessor service is closed and awaiting a decision by commissioners for recommissioning.

A service provision for Berkshire East is under discussion.

For Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire, the Trusted Assessor Service is run for care homes only by Lincolnshire Care Association.

Contact: Michelle Yusuf -

Please raise these through the relevant Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). All matters that go through PALS get raised at clinical governance in their particular area of expertise e.g. orthopaedics / LD etc, so it is imperative that any matters that need raising go through this route.

As well as a constant stream of questions and answers by email from around the country, we are also part of the CAA fortnightly teleconference on Wednesdays. 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.

Brilliant training! It was easily the best and most relevant training that I have ever had since I started work. It has had a massively positive effect on myself and the team - without it we would have suffered badly during the pandemic! | Amy Price - Cancer Nurse Specialist

Log My Care is accredited by NHSX as an ‘Assured Supplier’ for Digital Social Care Records.

With annually rising charges and continual changes in government legislation, we believe there’s a better, brighter way of managing your utilities over and above the habit of annual renewal.

We can help cut through the confusion; free you from the stresses of managing bills, chasing payments and validating invoices.

We can help you establish low-carbon, energy-efficient plans, delivering profound cost savings and helping to safeguard the environment for future generations.

Or contact us with colleague details who would like to be on the mailing list.

Remember to update us if you're moving on.