Wishing all our members a very happy and restful Easter! Please find a roundup of the latest news and resources we think may be of interest to you.
News and Resources
- RMN follow up
At the last RMN we discussed OMMT, and we welcomed Eelke Zoestbergen from the ICB and Stephen Miles, SC LD Commissioning. Here are the responses from some questions:
- OMMT
- Does Oliver’s Training apply to CQC regulated services only?
Yes, it does, the Health and Care Act 2022 stipulates that “from 1 July 2022, service providers registered with the CQC must ensure their staff receive training on learning disability and autism appropriate to their role. It applies to all registered providers of all health and adult social care in England.”
- What are the expectations on those who provide services to people with LD/A who are not regulated such as day services and micro providers?
The code of practice (which is still in draft form) states that “health and social care providers who are not CQC registered should use the code to understand the optimum way to ensure their staff are trained to care for and support people with a learning disability and autistic people” and “commissioners of services should use the code to understand what they should expect of their providers and to help set standards for non-regulated commissioned services through contracts, for example”. Oliver McGowan draft code of practice on statutory learning disability and autism training – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
- Do we have to deliver OMMT, or can we use alternative training? How is this interpreted by CQC during inspections?
CQC have recommended all providers review their guidance around Oliver’s Training, which you can do here: https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/training-staff-support-autistic-people-and-people-learning-disability
Somerset ICB is organising a meeting with CQC and Somerset Council to talk about expectations for those providers whose services (such as day services) are not CQC regulated, as well as CQC expectations during inspections. As soon as that meeting has taken place, Eelke will provide further updates.
- Public liability insurance (PLI) limits for LD and Home care providers
Concerns were raised about the potential increase in insurance limits and subsequent premiums for LD and Homecare providers. There are currently two DPS (Dynamic Purchasing System) recommissions taking place in Somerset, to replace the former Homecare Open Framework and the Learning Disabilities Open Framework. Both go live on 1st April 2024.
For the SASS (Specialist Adult Support in Somerset) DPS, Somerset Council held 3 market engagement events. The PLI has been worked through to reduce to £10M and SC feels appropriate for this DPS, as they ‘have a mixture of lots or service types, including non-regulated services and provider supporting only a handful of people, therefore are often much smaller organisations.’
However, we hear the PLI for the Homecare in Somerset DPS is remaining at £15M as this is solely for regulated providers and works on a larger quantity scale of provision.
- Supporting the NHS BSA with research into the adult social care sector
The NHS BSA are testing a brand-new service designed to streamline training reimbursement for care professionals. They are asking people for up to an hour of their time, remotely, to test the service and provide feedback. All testers will be given a £20 gift voucher in return. Please see attached for further details and how to sign up.
- EHCH
We’ve been asked by NHS England to circulate this survey re webinars. https://forms.office.com/e/bTQKQUepvZ The national EHCH team are keen to hear if webinars and/or quick guides might be of use to care home, primary care and community services colleagues.
- Covid updates
Changes to Covid-19 Testing from 1st April 2024
The relevant links are here:
- Outline of testing policy from 1st April 2024
- Parliamentary statement
- IPC in adult social care: acute respiratory infection
- Testing for hospices
From 1st April 2024, the following changes will be made to Covid-19 testing to align with the approach taken for other respiratory infections. The UKHSA testing portals have now closed. Testing can now only be accessed for those who are eligible for Covid-19 treatments via the NHS or at the direction of local health teams.
Outbreak Management in Care Homes
The routine supply of free Covid-19 LFD tests for outbreak management will end. Instead, the local UKHSA health protection team or other local partner will advise if PCR testing is deemed appropriate. Providers should follow the IPC in adult social care guidance (linked above) and notify their health protection teams or other local partner of any suspected outbreak, and initiate risk assessments where able.
Routine Covid-19 Discharge Testing
The routine testing of asymptomatic patients from NHS settings into a care home will end to bring it into line with admissions from other care settings and the community. The guidance gives discretion to local hospitals or health protection teams to implement LFD testing if they think it is needed.
The cohort of people eligible for Covid-19 treatments
The eligibility has been expanded following NICE guidance to include:
- People in care homes or hospital who are aged 70 years and over, or who have a BMI of 35 or more, or who have diabetes or heart failure.
- People aged 85 years and over outside of care homes or hospital.
- People with end-stage heart failure who have a long-term ventricular assistance device.
- People on the organ transplant waiting list.
Full information about eligibility for Covid-19 treatments here. NHSE will be expanding access to symptomatic LFD testing from 1st April 2024 to include the people who meet the newly expanded criteria. These tests should be accessed via the NHS via a local pharmacy. There is also a section in the IPC guidance which explains the process in more detail from the perspective of social care providers.
Closure of 119 Service
The 119-phone number service used for testing queries will end from 1st April.
- Wellbeing podcast – ‘The Parent-Infant relationship’
Please see attached and https://somersetemotionalwellbeing.castos.com/episodes/the-parent-infant-relationship
From our Partners
- RWK Goodman webinar – International Recruitment recordings
RWK held a series of webinars but for those who missed them, here is the link below. Please let us know if you have problems accessing (it asks you to verify with a code to your email).
Skills for Care
Information and support from Skills for Care, please click here