Help shape the delivery of COVID-19 vaccination to social care staff

NHS Scotland want to speak to frontline social care staff as part of research to inform the delivery of a future COVID-19 vaccination to social care workers.

The research will help them better understand social care staff needs, such as how and where delivering a COVID-19 vaccination would work best, once a suitable vaccine is available.

They’re looking for workers to take part in a one-to-one telephone chat which will last around 30 minutes. This can also be done as a video call.

Times will be arranged to fit around your schedule and it’s likely to take place between 19 October and early November.

Who can take part?

NHS Scotland is initially looking for social care staff (in the statutory, third and private sectors) who provide direct care in the following settings:

  • residential care and secure care for children
  • community care for persons at home (including housing support and care at home services)
  • care homes for adults.

If you are interested in taking part please email [email protected] with the subject title of your email ‘C19 vacc chat’. Please also provide your job role and the type of service you work in. A mix of staff across the above groups will be contacted.

The deadline for emailing your interest in taking part is 21 October 2020.

Communications for Social Care Workers – Travel

There have been a number of queries from social care workers regarding travel, since the new restrictions were announced. The communication below has been put together to provide some clarity on the issue:

Travel at work

For travel in the course of social care work for example if two members of staff need to travel together to visit a client, the relevant workplace guidance applies. Please see links below to the Health Protection Scotland guidance documents for Domiciliary Care, Social, Community and Residential Care Settings and for Care Home Settings.

COVID-19: Guidance for Domiciliary Care :  Publication date: 20 August 2020 is for those working in domiciliary care settings to give advice to their staff and users of their services about COVID-19. This includes registered providers, social care staff, local authorities and care staff who support and deliver care to people in their own homes (including supported living settings). It contains a section on : Personal or work travel and physical distancing : https://hpspubsrepo.blob.core.windows.net/hps-website/nss/3046/documents/1_COVID-19-guidance-domiciliary-care.pdf

COVID-19: Information and Guidance for Social, Community and Residential Care Settings. (excluding Care Home settings) Publication date: 21 August 2020, contains a section on : Personal or work travel and physical distancing : https://hpspubsrepo.blob.core.windows.net/hps-website/nss/3045/documents/1_covid-19-guidance-social-community-residential-care.pdf

COVID-19: Information and Guidance for Care Home Settings: Publication date: 17 September 2020, contains a section on: Personal or work travel and physical (social) distancing:

https://hpspubsrepo.blob.core.windows.net/hps-website/nss/2980/documents/1_covid-19-information-and-guidance-for-care-homes.pdf

All pieces of guidance state : “If you can adhere to physical distancing whilst travelling, then do so. Where this is not possible and you are travelling with non-household members, limit the number of passengers and space out as much as possible. In enclosed spaces, where physical distancing is more difficult and where there is a risk of close contact with multiple people who are not members of your household, you should wear a face covering”.

Travel outside work

For sharing transport outwith work duties, such as giving a colleague a lift home from work, you should only do so if absolutely necessary as per the national travel guidance (see below).

National travel guidance Car/vehicle sharing and giving lifts

You should only travel with members of your own, or extended, household.

We recognise that there may be occasions when there is no alternative but to travel with people from out with your household. This should be limited as much as possible.

On such occasions, you should:

  • keep to small groups of people, up to 6 at any one time (assume this is on public transport)
  • keep your distance and take care entering and exiting the vehicle
  • sit as far apart as possible in the vehicle, avoiding face-to-face
  • maintain good ventilation by keeping the car windows open
  • wear a face-covering, unless you are exempt
  • clean your hands before and after your journey
  • if the vehicle is your responsibility, clean the door handles and other areas that people touch.
  • If you regularly share transport whether it is a car or minibus or other private vehicle, try and share with the same people each time.

 

 

The Care Inspectorate update on pre-employment checks

Please see below for the latest update from the Care Inspectorate on pre-employment checks.


Supporting short-notice recruitment

On 8 September, we issued a joint statement with the SSSC that our position on pre-employment checks had reverted to pre-pandemic requirements and staff could no longer start without satisfactory checks being fully completed.

However, due to increasing COVID-19 cases and staff consequently having to self-isolate, more care services are having to deploy new staff at short notice.  In light of this changing situation and to support services, we have re-instated flexibility allowing providers to deploy staff pending employment checks being returned.  Providers should continue to request PVG checks and references, but no longer need to wait for these to be returned satisfactorily before deploying individuals to regulated roles directly supporting and caring for people.

We understand sudden change is challenging, particularly during this pandemic. If and when, after careful consideration, our position on pre-employment checks needs to change again, we will give you advance notice so you can prepare.

Occupational Risk Assessment Tool – updated clarification

On Friday September 18 the Care Inspectorate issued a Provider Update featuring information on the COVID-19 occupational risk assessment tool. It has come to their attention that the information provided was out of date and they have therefore included a clarification below:

The Scottish Government has provided additional guidance on the risk and vulnerability assessment process in relation to the specific risk of COVID-19 to individuals in the workplace.

In particular, this is relevant to those staff members who are returning to work after shielding, those who are returning to normal duties after COVID-19 related restrictions, those who are returning to the workplace after working from home or anyone who has a concern about a personal vulnerability to COVID-19.

The tool can be used to assess the risk and enable employers to support staff by introducing suitable controls. The assessment tool allows the employee to complete an individual risk assessment with their manager using the COVID-19 occupational risk assessment tool. This will support staff and managers to agree a course of action on working duties. The tool can be found at the bottom of the guidance linked to above.

Further guidance on COVID-19 individual risk assessment for the workplace can be found here.

Care Inspectorate Update – COVID-19 outbreak notifications

The Care Inspectorate has changed some of their COVID-19 notifications to make them easier to use.

They have created four specific notifications to enable you to tell us when there are suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19, and when these end.

Please use the same notifications both for staff and for people experiencing care.

The four new notifications are specifically:

  • Suspected cases of COVID-19 – please use this when someone who experiences care or a member of staff, including agency workers, shows symptoms of coronavirus.  The notification can record multiple individuals, therefore if several people show symptoms at the same time, you only need to complete one notification.
  • End of suspected outbreak of COVID-19 – please use this notification if the suspected cases result in negative tests, or after they have shown no symptoms for a period of 14 days.
  • Confirmed cases of COVID-19 notification – Please use this notification whenever someone experiencing care, or a member of staff, including agency staff, tests positive for COVID-19. Please also use this notification if a test has not been possible but coronavirus is confirmed by a medical professional.  You need to complete this notification for each person who has been confirmed as having COVID-19. 
  • End of confirmed COVID-19 outbreak notification – Please use this notification when the outbreak of COVID-19 has come to an end, based on negative tests, or when people who had symptoms have shown no symptoms for 14 days.

Delay to ‘Discharges from NHS hospitals to care homes between 1 March and 31 May 2020’ Publication

On 30 September, Public Health Scotland were due to release a publication on ‘Discharges from NHS hospitals to care homes between 1 March and 31 May 2020’.  However, whilst undertaking the analyses PHS identified a number of data quality issues that need resolved.  PHS has, therefore, made the decision to delay this publication until the 28 October to allow further data quality assurance work to be undertaken, in collaboration with NHS Boards. This work links together several different datasets for the first time and we need to incorporate, where possible and appropriate, feedback from NHS Boards to ensure accuracy.

Our plans for the publication on the 28 October are to have two complementary reports: one reporting on the statistics; and the other providing the wider narrative to contextualise the statistics.

PHS are collaborating with clinical experts from University of Glasgow and University of Edinburgh.

Find out more about PHS’s forthcoming publications on: https://beta.isdscotland.org/forthcoming-publications/