COVID-19

Covid-19

COVID UPDATE 15/9/20

We have been lucky so far and had no COVID case in our Home and we would make every effort to keep it this way.

We are taking immediate and further actions to minimise risk of anyone contracting Covid19.

  1. We have decided again to stop all social visits from tomorrow 16/09/2020.
  2. No activity co-ordinators, chiropodist, physiotherapist or hairdresser allowed until further notice.
  3. All video calls and phone calls would be continued as usual. Just a quick reminder – please make sure
    that they are all booked in advance and arranged with duty nurse (on the phone) or Home Manager (email).
  4. We would accept all letters, postcards and parcels sent to residents from their relatives as usual.
  5. Residents to stay in their bedrooms until further notice. Staff will provide plenty of reassurance where needed.
  6. Staff to enter the building from the Extension Lounge through the garden, USE Hand sanitisers as soon you enter
    to disinfect hands please go to the nearest bathroom and wash mouth nose and hands with soap and sanitise again.
  7. All staff and visitors to wear masks strictly.
  8. Social distances to be kept when and where possible by all staff, visitors and residents.
  9. All deliveries to be off loaded outside when possible and left for minimum half an hour.

Best Regards
Manager

COVID-19 Update

30 April 2020

  A weekly update for providers and professionals working in adult

  social care, sharing the latest   guidance on COVID-19 and CQC’s approach during this period.

Joint statement on our regulatory approach during the coronavirus pandemic

  • On 30 April our chief inspectors issued a joint statement which sets out our approach to regulation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Our regulatory role has not changed and our core purpose remains keeping people safe and ensuring that health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care.

  • During a period of intense challenge such as this there are increased risks to people, including those with coronavirus but also those without it, whose treatment and care is being affected directly or indirectly. To enable us to take the appropriate action to keep people safe, we have developed an Emergency Support Framework. This will help us deliver our purpose and has been designed to be flexible to allow us to respond to the changing needs of the health and social care system during this time.

  For further information read the full joint statement.

Stay up to date with the latest CQC COVID-19 information

We’re making changes to the way we work during the COVID-19 outbreak. We’ve developed a dedicated area on our website so that you can stay up to date with the latest  information. Visit our website to find out more. We have also published the answers to frequently asked questions from adult social care providers.

Food offers for ASC staff and providers
NHSX and CQC are working together to identify and disseminate priority food offers for social care staff. These include offers that are available to individual employees and for care providers.

Skills for Care launch new advice line for registered managers
The advice line and email inbox have been set up to support those managing CQC regulated adult social care services through the current crisis. Skills for Care’s team are available 9.00 – 17.00 Monday to Friday, and can help managers to access the latest workforce related guidance, information, resources, funding, online learning and other opportunities in response to COVID-19. Find out more.

Reminder: All CQC offices are closed – please do not send post
All Care Quality Commission offices are now closed. This means that we have stopped communicating by post, and ask that you do not send post to us. Please use other methods to contact us, details of which are available on our website.

Please do not send completed notification forms, including notifications of deaths, to us by post. These should be emailed to HSCA_notifications@cqc.org.uk.

In the event that we have to issue a formal notice, we will contact the provider by phone to discuss this and to confirm the approach for further contact. Providers are also reminded of their duty of care to people using their services. For those detained under the Mental Health Act, this may mean supporting people to access the internet or make telephone calls if they ask to contact us.

Reminder: Reporting workplace deaths
All providers of adult social care who are employers must report COVID-19 workplace deaths that meet the criteria published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in its guidance ‘RIDDOR reporting of COVID-19’.

Sharing good practice and innovations
Thank you to those people who have contacted us with their examples of good practice and innovations so far. We’ve been overwhelmed by the response, and it’s inspiring to see so many examples of good practice, creative thinking and innovation.

We are aiming to share as many examples as possible online, but this is taking a little longer than planned due to the volume of responses we’ve received. We will let you know when you can read about what others have been doing, but in the meantime, please continue to share the great things you are doing! You can send examples to C19innovation@cqc.org.uk

Care for Others. Make A Difference
‘Care for Others. Make a Difference’ is a new national recruitment campaign launched by The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). The campaign seeks to generate a mass show of appreciation for care workers across the country, while continuing to raise awareness of existing opportunities available within the sector.

Over 1.49 million people work in adult social care, but there are currently approximately 122,000 varied vacancies available across England. With the outbreak of coronavirus creating an even greater demand than before, the campaign will seek to inspire potential applicants by highlighting the huge impact care workers have on the people they support.

Suitable applicants are encouraged to visit www.everydayisdifferent.com to find out more and apply.

‘Care for Others. Make a Difference’ will include updated TV and radio advertising, as well as a new and emotive film highlighting the huge impact that care workers have on the people they support.

How the sector is expected to interpret guidance on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
Skills for Care have published a document produced for reference by employers and stakeholders in the care sector to detail how to interpret the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

The interpretation has been agreed by the Department of Health and Social Care and was produced in consultation with HM Treasury.

Read the full document.

New ‘Register with CQC’ service launched
On Monday, 27 April we launched our new ‘Register with CQC’ service. The new registration service application has a simpler, clearer flow of questions and is quicker to complete but without reducing its robustness.

The new service is initially only open to new applications from community-based adult social care providers, in a phase known as ‘private beta’. This will run for at least four months. During this time, we will continue to improve the service as well as expanding its scope and features so that it is open to an increasing number of applicants.

If you would like to find out more about ‘Register with CQC’ please contact marc.seery@cqc.org.uk

Cruse Bereavement Care
Cruse Bereavement Care is the largest bereavement charity in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It provides support, information and advice for adults, children and young people when someone they loved dies. They are continuing to be there for bereaved people during the COVID-19 outbreak, and are also preparing for a huge uptake in demand.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Cruse branches across the country are currently only offering telephone and online support. The Worcestershire Cruse branch can be contacted on 01905 22223, or worcestershire@cruse.org.uk.

People can also access instant support via the Freephone National Helpline. It is open on weekdays from 09:30 to 17:00 and until 20:00 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The number is 0808 808 1677. More information can also be found at www.cruse.org.uk.

Information about grief and bereavement during the coronavirus can be found on the Cruse Bereavement Care website.

Regulation of coronavirus (COVID-19) antibody testing
We’ve published guidance for providers delivering antibody tests are blood tests designed to show whether people have had coronavirus (COVID-19)