Please see below for COVID-19 Vaccination Guidance: Consent in Care Homes in Scotland, produced by Scottish Government colleague for NHS Boards and Care Home Managers.

As you will be aware, Lateral Flow Tests (LFTs) are being distributed to adult care homes in Scotland to support visitor testing.  We are pleased to share the letter below from Donna Bell, Director of Mental Health and Social Care, which outlines arrangements for testing care home visitors.  It also explains how to access training materials, back-up PCR testing where visitors are unable to have LFT tests for any reason, and wider information/financial support.

Testing Training

A range of training materials and resources for care homes (both testing and visitor information) are now available online at: Coronavirus (COVID-19): adult care home visitor testing guidance – gov.scot (www.gov.scot). These will continue to be updated in the early weeks of rollout.  Please continue to check the page for updates and additions.

Online workshops – feedback and updates

There will be online workshops through December and January to walk through the testing process, as well as to share updates and hear feedback from you. These will be held across several weeks, and then move to focus increasingly on updates and feedback after the Christmas and New Year period.  All are welcome to attend one or more session although please note that MS Teams can only accommodate around 300-350 people in any one meeting. Places are on a first come, first served basis and meetings will be opened a few minutes before the start time. Some people have so far not been able to join the workshops because they are full, so please join a couple of minutes before the start times to maximise your chances of joining.

Workshops will be held on:

Thursday 17^th December 3.30-4:30pm  Click here to join the meeting

Friday 18^th December 1-2pm  Click here to join the meeting

Monday 21^st December 11.30-12.30 Click here to join the meeting

Tuesday 22^nd December 10.30-11.30 Click here to join the meeting

Tuesday 5^th January 2-3pm Click here to join the meeting

Wednesday 6^th January 3-4pm Click here to join the meeting

Tuesday January 12^th January 2.30-3.30 pm Click here to join the meeting

Wednesday January 13th January 12-1pm Click here to join the meeting

Tuesday 19^th January 10.30-11.30am Click here to join the meeting

Wednesday 20^th January 1.30-230pm Click here to join the meeting

Tuesday 26^th January 3-4pm Click here to join the meeting

Wednesday 27^th January 12-1pm Click here to join the meeting

Public Health Scotland has published a toolkit on the Covid-19 vaccine for social care workers, this can be accessed on: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/downloads/social-care-worker-covid-19-resources

These resources are provided to help you promote the COVID-19 vaccination programme to care home and social care staff. The Outlook email template will include your email signature if you have this turned on by default. Care home and social care employers can request additional copies of these resources by emailing: [email protected].

Scotland is currently putting plans in place to deliver a programme of COVID-19 vaccination, when a vaccine becomes available. The Scottish Government’s Flu Vaccination and COVID Vaccination Programme (FVCV) is overseeing national planning, and working with all local health boards, to get ready to deliver what will be Scotland’s most ambitious (and most anticipated) mass vaccination programme.

This is first of a number of newsletters from the Scottish Government to update you on the work that is underway.

SG FVCV Programme - issue 1 update