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Provider Corner - Information for adult health and social care front line workers

Information and best practice for Nottingham city health and social care frontline workers.

 

Joined Up Care Derbyshire Launch Wellbeing Timetable

Details of the up-and-coming events from Joined Up Care Derbyshire.

These events are free for all to access across the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire system, running from January to March.  

JUCD Wellbeing Timetable Download

Winter Timetable Workshop And Webinar List

Homecare Workers' Group

Connecting domiciliary care workers in the UK.

Are you a home care worker?

Join us in bringing our community together.

Homecare Workers' Group is a secure online community exclusively for home care workers.

In addition to being a place where workers can find support and community, Homecare Workers' Group connects members with local and national opportunities to contribute to research, campaigns and policy.

Visit the Homecare Workers' Website

Wheels To Work

What Is Wheels To Work?

The Wheels to Work service provides riders with either a 50cc or a 125cc hire scooter for use to get to and from work. Along with the scooter, the hire fee includes insurance, roadside assistance, a maintenance plan, delivery, a secure lock and a tracker.

Contact Details

Telephone No: 01327 857213

Email: info@wheelstowork.net

Website: www.wheelstowork.net

Wheels To Work Logo

Workforce Update For Services That Support People With A learning Disability And/or Autistic People

Latest News From Skills For Care

The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in learning disability and autism
We anticipate standardised training packages and the trainer training for the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training soon, following publication of the Code of Practice. To keep up to date on the latest developments go to the frequently asked questions section of the Heath Education England website

Guide to planning your health and care if you become very ill: Easy read
The Universal Principles for Advance Care Planning set out national good practice for everyone involved in advance care planning. These principles will help people who want to make a plan, as well as their families and health and care staff. Working with ‘Go Easy Read’, Skills for Care has produced an easy read version.

⇨ View the guidance in easy read

Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) training: Peer review process
Skills for Care has run a project to develop and test a peer review process for PBS training. It involved learning providers conducting peer reviews on each other’s training to give feedback and share ideas to improve the quality of PBS training across the sector.
A list of learning providers involved is available and funding can be claimed through the Workforce Development Fund (WDF) for training provided by them.
At the beginning of this project, we did a survey to understand more about PBS training and learning provision in adult social care.

⇨ Download the findings from the survey
⇨ Watch this recorded webinar to find out more or email us

NEW: Learning disability training videos
Skills for Care have published five videos that are a resource for education colleges for use as part of health and social care training courses. Skills for Care commissioned a user led group to create these to support existing training materials on the topics of communication in learning disability services, law, equality and human rights, LeDeR protections, experiences of lockdown during COVID-19 and safeguarding.

⇨ View the videos

The 2022-23 Workforce Development Fund is now open
The Workforce Development Fund (WDF) 2022-23 is now open to adult social care employers in England to support the development of their staff at all levels, offering funding for a wide range of qualifications, learning programmes and digital learning modules.
⇨ Visit our website to find out more and apply


Guidance and resources from the Government, regulators and advisory bodies:

Homes not Hospitals: Best Practice Commissioning with Citizens and Communities statement
This guidance statement was produced by the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), to support social workers and organisations involved in commissioning support for autistic people, people with learning disabilities and their families. Skills for Care worked with BASW in the development of this resource as part of their Homes not Hospitals campaign.

⇨ View the statement

Local Supported Employment (LSE) initiative
The LSE initiative is providing £7.6m of funding to 24 local authorities in England and Wales to help support adults with a learning disability and/or autistic people move into competitive employment and provide the help they need to maintain that employment. The Government made a public commitment to delivering LSE in the Adult Social Care Reform White Paper.

⇨ Read the Government’s press release

Cost of living resources from Learning Disability England (LDE)
You can find accessible advice about saving money, keeping warm, grants and campaigns on the LDE website – and you can share any of your helpful resources here too.

Webinars about Ukraine and distressing world eventsThe University of East Anglia (UAE) and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have produced a webinar for people with a learning disability that explains what is happening in Ukraine. In the video, witnesses talk about the impact of the war on Ukrainian people with a learning disability and autistic people.

⇨ Watch the video 


News From The Sector:

Internships project set to help more disabled people into work
4,500 16 to 25-year-olds with special educational needs and disabilities in England are set to benefit from a new, supported internship programme each year by 2025. Internships Work is a brand-new collaboration between NDTi, the British Association of Supported Employment (BASE) and DFN Project SEARCH.

⇨ Find out more about the project


Get Involved:

Call for evidence for down syndrome statutory guidance
NHS Continuing Healthcare (NHS CHC) is funding from the NHS for a complete package of health and associated social care needs for an adult. If you have recent experience (good or bad) with NHS CHC or children’s continuing care that you would be willing to share, you can email Alison Giraud-Saunders, who is the volunteer representative for Learning Disability England on info@LDEngland.org.uk.  

Ethnicity and difference in health and care
Learning Disability England (LDE) is working with the Race Equality Foundation and partner research institutions on a project investigating health inequalities among people from minority ethnic groups with a learning disability. They are looking for people to take part in sessions throughout November to share their experiences.

⇨ Find out more about the project and how to share experiences

Wave four of the Coronavirus and Learning Disability Study
The ongoing study of how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the lives of adults with learning disabilities is now entering its fourth wave of engagement. If you were involved in waves one to three of the research, keep an eye out for an email inviting you to speak to the team again.

Palliative And End of Life Care Toolkit

About the Nottinghamshire Palliative and End of Life Care Toolkit

The Nottinghamshire Palliative and End of Life Care Toolkit has been adapted and developed with kind permission, building on the work of the Derbyshire Alliance for End of Life Care.

It aims to provide advice, guidance, education and support to health and social care teams across Nottinghamshire.

Including care homes, voluntary, community and secondary care services, the Toolkit will enable these teams to improve care outcomes for individuals and those important to them as they approach the end of their lives.

Each section contains both local and national documents and information that has been tailored to that specific area of practice. Therefore, please ensure that any documents you select are in the relevant section to your area.

The Toolkit is also an open, public facing website and aims to raise awareness and contribute to discussion around the experience of death and dying in a supportive way. We would encourage members of the public to explore its contents to seek out relevant information about the care available to them.

Please be aware however that the toolkit is first and foremost designed for health and social care professionals to use.

For feedback and comments, or to raise any changes to the toolkit, please contact Notts.eol@nhs.net

Visit the Nottinghamshire Palliative and end of life care toolkit website

Flu Vaccinations For Adult Social Care

Flu vaccination for social care staff directly working with people clinically vulnerable to flu is strongly encouraged. We have developed this guidance to support staff to ensure there is high uptake of the flu vaccine this season. Those eligible for a flu vaccination include all social care workers and social care workers working with children who are clinically vulnerable to flu.

Those eligible for a flu vaccination

All social care workers who are in direct contact with people who receive care and support should get the vaccine, including:

  • those working in a registered residential care or nursing home and who are directly involved in the care and support of people
  • those working for a registered homecare provider and who are directly involved in the care and support of people
  • those working for a voluntary managed hospice provider
  • those employed through personal budgets and or personal health budgets, such as personal assistants

Why you should get a flu vaccination

Getting the vaccine will help to protect you, your family, and the people you care for from getting the flu.

For people in at-risk groups, such as those aged 65 or over or with an underlying health condition, flu can be a serious disease and can cause death.

As a social care worker, you will be caring for many people in these at-risk groups. Getting the vaccine will mean you are much less likely to spread the flu to those you care for and will help to protect them and yourself this winter.

Vaccination reduces the spread of flu among staff and people receiving care and support, keeping social care services running and reducing the burden on the NHS during the winter. This is true every year, but it is particularly important this year, as coronavirus (COVID-19) is still in circulation.

How to get a flu vaccination

Your employer can support in ensuring that you receive a flu vaccination. They may do this by arranging for you to be vaccinated at your place of work or by arranging for you to be vaccinated off-site. Your employer can let you know which scheme they are running. If not, please ask them

In instances where an employer can not provide a flu vaccination scheme, you can still receive the flu vaccination free of charge from a GP practice or pharmacy through the complementary NHS scheme if you’re a social care worker employed by a:

  • registered residential care or nursing home
  • registered homecare organisation
  • voluntary managed hospice provider

Or, if you provide social care through direct payments or personal health budgets, there is specific flu vaccination guidance for personal care assistants.

Identification needed to prove you are a social care worker

You do not need to present your ID at your local GP practice or pharmacy. However, we will be advising employers to issue staff with a letter identifying you as a social care worker to make the process as easy as possible for you.

When to get the flu vaccine

The best time to have a flu vaccine is in the autumn, before flu starts to circulate. The majority of vaccines are given from September to the end of November but it is still possible to get a flu vaccination through to the end of January.

There is enough flu vaccine for everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated. If you are eligible and are asked to wait, there is still time to get vaccinated at a later opportunity.

Safety of the flu vaccination

The flu vaccines used in the national NHS programme have a good safety record. The vaccines are thoroughly tested before they are made available in England.

You may have a mild fever and aching muscles a few days after having the vaccine and your arm may be sore at the injection site. Further information is available on possible side effects.

Those who shouldn’t get a flu vaccination

Most adults can have the injected flu vaccine, but you should avoid it if you have had a serious allergic reaction to a flu vaccine in the past. If you are uncertain whether you should avoid it due to a medical condition, you should speak to your GP.

You may be at risk of an allergic reaction to the flu vaccine injection if you have an egg allergy. This is because some flu vaccines are made using eggs. Ask a GP or pharmacist for a low-egg or egg-free vaccine.

If you’re ill with a high temperature, it’s best to wait until you’re better before having the flu vaccine.

Effectiveness of the flu vaccine

The flu vaccine is the best protection we have against flu, which can cause serious illness and death in at-risk groups.

Studies have shown that the flu vaccine will help prevent you from getting flu.

Flu is caused by a number of different strains of the flu virus and the vaccine only protects against those that are most likely to cause flu during this year’s flu season. As a result, there’s not a 100% guarantee that you won’t get flu if you’ve been vaccinated.

However, even if you do get flu after being vaccinated, studies have shown that you’re likely to have a much milder and shorter illness.

You cannot catch flu from the flu vaccine because there are no live viruses in the vaccine.

Getting the flu vaccination every year

The strains of flu in circulation change every year, so the protection from the vaccine you had last year will decrease over time.

New flu vaccines are produced every year to protect against the strains most likely to be in circulation, which is why people are advised to be vaccinated every year.

Agreeing to be vaccinated

It’s important that as many health and social care workers as possible get the vaccine – it protects you, your family, and the people you care for from the flu – but if you don’t want to have the vaccine for whatever reason, you don’t have to have it.

Source

Social Care Nursing Network

Please find some information about a new social care nursing network that is being set up by the Nottingham Alliance Training Hub.

Nursing in social care is such a rewarding career, but often people can feel isolated. One of the biggest lessons we learned through Covid-19 was that working together and supporting one another is essential. Some of you may have been involved in the National Covid-19 WhatsApp support group which won the category, Caring for Older People, in the Nursing Times Awards.

Its success was based on people wanting to work together to achieve.

We want the same opportunities for you as nurses and nursing associate and want to set up a WhatsApp group to help you connect across Nottinghamshire. Setting up a WhatsApp group will:

  • Provide you with a support network which you can shape and develop over time.
  • Be the first port of call for shared advice.
  • Make you aware of any training and development opportunities so you can access them.

If you would like to be added to the ‘Notts Social Care Nurses & NAs’ please email nicola.payne8@nhs.net with the following information:

  • Name
  • Organisation
  • Role
  • NMC pin number
  • Mobile number

Please note that we are asking for NMC pin numbers to ensure that those within the group are part of the nursing workforce.

To read the full letter please click here

How to Make Referrals for Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Safe and Well Visits

Dear colleague, 

Please would you all refresh on how to make referrals for Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Safe and Well Visits. As a service we rely on the eyes and ears of out partners who go about their daily business and encounter vulnerable members of the public in their home settings. 

If you have identified any person who fits any of the CHARLIE profile  - please do not hesitate to make an online referral.

As you may know, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service now use an online referral process for Safe and Well visit requests from our professional partners for residents of Nottinghamshire who are, or maybe, at an increased risk of fire. The Service website now has a separate area for ‘professionals only referrals’ that incorporates our fatal fire CHARLIE matrix: it can be accessed under the staying safe heading on our website. 

Please be sure to access the website every time you make a new referral. Any old saved links regularly get updated and therefore may no longer work. In addition to this, please could you submit the referral ensuring that you physically type in the address details rather than copying and pasting the information from another source, as this causes a fault within our system and means we are unable to process the referral. 

You will need the following credentials to make the referral:

Website: Professional referral - NFRS (notts-fire.gov.uk)

Agency Code:         agency

Password:               CharliePMx1

An e-learning package has been developed to support the completion of the CHARLIE P matrix that can be accessed on the same professional page on our website. We would suggest that you participate in the package to familiarise yourself with ready for making a referral.

This will give further information about risk identification and scoring the matrix.

If you require any further assistance please get in touch with us at:-

 

It is important to us that you have the opportunity to make this referral yourself so we can gain as much risk information as possible.  Please do this as soon as possible for any at risk address.

CHARLIE poster

Funded Initiatives to help you Develop and Recruit Staff

Please find below information put together by Skills for Care about all the funding initiatives available to social care organisations to help them develop and retain staff:

Information about the EU settlement scheme

11th August 2021: EU Settlement Scheme: information for late applicants

The deadline has passed, but applications can still be made here.


Since the UK left the EU on 31st December 2020, regulations allowing for the Freedom of Movement no longer apply. EU/EEA and Swiss citizens in the UK must apply to the EU Settlement Scheme for Indefinite Leave to Remain in order to continue to live and work in the UK and to access healthcare and social security benefits. Depending on the length of time an EU national can evidence they have lived in the UK will determine whether Settled Status or Pre-Settled Status is awarded. 

Whilst the scheme has received over 5 million applications, there are concerns that some vulnerable groups are under-represented in those applications. Those thought to be at risk of failing to make applications in time are; the elderly or those who have lived in the UK for a very long time, those who lack/have failing mental capacity, those in care settings, young people, looked after children, those suffering Domestic Violence, those already holding permanent residence documents etc. 

We are asking all care and support providers to attempt to identify any potential EU nationals within their care and determine if an application to the EU Settlement scheme needs to be made. There is a need to act quickly as the deadline for applying is 30th June 2021. 

Information, help and specialist immigration advice can be sought from Nottingham law Centre who have been funded by the Home Office to support vulnerable groups.

The application is very simple, details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/eligibility

Workplace Travel Service - Transport Nottingham

A refreshed package including business active travel package and grant support launched on 10 July. For more information about how the Workplace Travel Service can help to reduce staff travel costs, improve staff health, fitness and wellbeing, reduce local road congestion, AND to save you money, go to:


https://www.transportnottingham.com/projects/workplace-travel-service/

The Consent Coalition has launched!

Do you know that removing a condom during sex without consent is rape? Do you know that you need to get consent for sexual activity even if you are in a relationship?

These questions and others are set to be tackled by what is believed to be the country’s first multi-agency approach to consent, sexual violence and abuse. 

On the 3rd February the Consent Coalition launched to co-inside with National Sexual Violence Awareness week!  The Consent Coalition is made up of many organisations, including specialist sexual violence sector organisations, statutory services and universities.

Together the Consent Coalition is working to:

  • Raise awareness of the importance of consent
  • Challenge myths about rape and sexual violence
  • Encourage survivors to access support and/or make a report, if they choose to do so

Alongside the consent campaign, the Consent Coalition has also created a booklet called Your Journey, which is a guide for survivors of sexual violence on the range of support and reporting options available, whether they choose to report to the Police or not.

Please click here for further information about the Consent Coalition.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) For Frontline Workers

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

FGM is a procedure where the female genitals are deliberately cut, injured or changed without any medical reason.  FGM is usually carried out on girls before puberty starts, sometimes before the age of 12 months.  FGM is irreversible and very painful, it can be harmful to the health and wellbeing of women and girls.  It can also lead to problems with sex, childbirth and menstruation.  FGM has no health benefits for the woman. 

FGM is a hidden issue which often only comes to light when related health problems occur or the woman is pregnant. It is against the law in the UK, Europe and many African countries to perform or facilitate this procedure. The practice became illegal in the UK in1985 (The Prohibition of Circumcision Act 1985). More recently the Female Genital Mutilation Act (2003) makes it illegal for any residents of the UK to perform or facilitate FGM within or outside the UK. The punishment for violating the 2003 Act carries 14 years imprisonment, a fine or both. FGM is recognised internationally as a violation of the human right of girls and women.

Click here to read more.

 

End FGM Logo

Quick Guide - Giving Medicines Covertly

SCIE and NICE have published a leaflet about the use of covert medication in care homes and homecare settings.

Adults should not be given medicines covertly unless they have been assessed as lacking the mental capacity to make decisions about their health or medicines. If they lack capacity to make these decisions and it is assessed as being in their best interests, they may need to be given medicines without their knowledge or consent (e.g. hidden in food or drink).

Care staff need to be aware of the Mental Capacity Act and its Code of Practice and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards to protect both the person and themselves.

To find out further information please click here.

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