Today (Sat 8th) the Scottish Government has published a letter from the Cabinet Secretary detailing the extension of visiting for care homes including additional numbers for outside visiting (from Monday) and the requirements to enable indoor visiting by one designated individual. The latter will require submission of a plan and sign off (as before) by the Dire tor of Public Health. I know that many homes are far down the line re preparation in this regard. As soon as sign-off is achieved then the visiting process can commence. There is also detail in the letter rework that is ongoing for those who wish to leave the care home to engage in community activity and the issue of the use of communal space. The letter also underlines the importance of continuing to enable window-visiting where it is possible and the critical role of indoor visiting in situations of distress for residents. I met the Cabinet Secretary yesterday (Friday) and the issue of visiting occupied much of our discussion. This has become a critical area of concern for providers, staff, families and residents and I earnestly hope that we are now getting to a stage at which the normalisation of encounters with families will become more normal. Obviously the events of the last week in Aberdeen highlight the extent to which an upsurge in cases at a local level will inevitably result in local lockdown and restrictions being re-imposed. See https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/advice-and-guidance/2020/06/coronavirus-covid-19-adult-care-homes-visiting-guidance/documents/adult-care-homes-visiting-guidance-cabinet-secretary-for-health-cover-letter/adult-care-homes-visiting-guidance-cabinet-secretary-for-health-cover-letter/govscot%3Adocument/Visiting%2Bin%2Bcare%2Bhomes%252C%2BCabinet%2BSecretary%2Bletter%2B8%2BAugust%2B2020.pdf
The following is a summary of some of the main issues in the week that has passed.
Finance and sustainability
We received the positive news that the Scottish Government has agreed with COSLA to add another £50 million to sustainability payments. We remain concerned that there is still a massive inadequacy in the dispersal of these sums and Karen and Jim yet again in the week that has passed have been active in addressing issues of concern. We still need input from you to get the sense of what is happening on the ground. As a number of submissions have just been made in the last 2-3 weeks we have not acted upon some of these. We are also concerned with the sense that payments will taper as we come to the end of September and continue to make clear to Scottish government and others that we are likely to continue to face considerable disruption and impacts on sustainability over the next foreseeable future. See https://scottishcare.org/update-on-social-care-sustainability-payments/
There continues to be issues related to the payment of monies from the Social Care Support Fund. When this Fund was established both ourselves and COSLA indicated that it would be much easier and faster if the payment route for this was Not the sustainability route. Unfortunately, this was ignored by Scottish Government and we are now in the position which we had feared whereby payments for this Fund are being conflated with the same slow process for payments for sustainability. Added to this the trade union Unison has developed a list of providers who have not been making payments. We have worked on this list with Scottish Government and have made it clear that many providers – despite not having received payment – have made payments to staff. In addition, we have underlined that despite all their efforts many providers are simply unable to make payments out when they have no revenue from which to make these payments especially given the failure to pay out on sustainability payments. We will keep pressing this point. Nevertheless, it is in all our best interests to avoid what will undoubtedly be a negative media campaign from the unions suggesting that the sector is holding back on paying for staff who have to be off.
Care Home issues
COVID19 deaths in care homes remain low at 2 to the week ending 2nd August ( the same as the previous week.)
The Digital Daily Huddle tool was the subject of a Webinar on Monday and this was well attended. It was also the subject of much of the discussion at the Care Home Rapid Action group. Sign up for the tool is already impressive but can I take this opportunity to encourage everyone to sign up. It will be of immense benefit in reducing the multiple reporting which is still happening in some areas and has real potential for ensuring more robust data for both individual care homes and also group homes. You can watch the webinar which goes through the Tool in detail at https://scottishcare.org/digital-safety-huddle-webinar-recording/
One of the major issues which I have had to deal with this week relates to operation Koper. Many more care homes have been receiving emails about the Crown Office investigation into the deaths of individuals in care homes during the pandemic.
When these investigations were announced we issued a media statement indicating that whilst we felt everyone had the right to know that all procedures were followed in the care of their relative that these investigations should also include deaths in NHS hospitals and in the community. This was ignored. They do include all care homes including Council run care homes. You will also appreciate that this is an area of real public and personal sensitivity. The statement is at https://scottishcare.org/reporting-of-covid-19-deaths-to-procurator-fiscal/
A special unit was established by the Crown and Procurator Fiscal Service. Their first task has been to instruct the Police to gather evidence and information. As their letter states this is not to pursue any charges but to ascertain what has happened in each circumstance. Five weeks ago we began to get sight of these initial letters and as I reported in my weekly update I made an approach to Scottish Government re the pressure and volume of demand. The Director General for Social Care took this matter up with Police Scotland and the Crown Office. She reported that she had aired our concerns but that there seemed little desire to move. Scottish Government and other parties are wary of being compromised by interfering with a Crown investigation.
That said I have been given a direct contact by Scottish Government and am currently arranging a meeting with the senior officer at the Crown and Procurator Fiscal Service to express concerns about timing and volume of demand. Scottish Government have as I said done the same with no result other than length of case note request. Initial requirements were for case notes from admission – this is now down to 6 months. I am also led to believe from members that if care homes request more time then they are being granted it. I will be joined at the meeting by the Director of the RCN in Scotland who share our concerns about the nature of these preliminary investigations.
This is an immense additional pressure on a very tired system and will be considered by many to be a ’slap on the face.’
We will keep members in the loop through the members area of the website.
Homecare Festival. WEDNESDAY 7TH – FRIDAY 9TH OCTOBER.
SAVE THE DATE:
In light of the fact that we are not going to be able to hold our annual Care at home and Housing Support Conference as we had planned in September we will be holding a virtual Homecare Festival. This will highlight issues faced by care at home and housing support. There will be various sessions over a three-day period, culminating in an Awards Evening on the Friday 9th evening.
Fuller details will be made available as soon as possible. We are looking forward to this opportunity to focus upon and celebrate the amazingly creative and compassionate work being undertaken across Scotland by services.
Care at Home & Housing Support Awards reopen for entries
In light of the Coronavirus pandemic, we have decided to reopen entries for our Care at Home and Housing Support Awards. This offers the opportunity to recognise all the compassion and hard work from the homecare workforce during the pandemic.
We would like to thank everyone who has already submitted nominations in March. These awards entries have been kept and will still be valid. Should you need to make a change to your entry, please contact [email protected].
Please submit your award entries by Monday 31 August.
Entries can be made either online on our website, or by sending a completed Word version of the nomination form to [email protected].
For more information: https://scottishcare.org/cah-awards-2020/
Testing
Testing has progressed over the past week and it would appear that rates remain high across the country. At least 36,157 individual care home staff were tested. This includes staff tested via UKG routes and the NHS Care Portal. At least 1,799 individual residents in care homes were tested, based on new data reported by NHS Boards. This does not yet include figures from all care homes. There was a significant reduction in the number of staff declining.
However, I have been informed that there are a total of 33 care homes who have not engaged with the testing requirements since the start of the process. I believe that the majority of these are learning disability care homes, but I also believe that there are some older people care homes. You will be aware that as an organisation we have campaigned robustly for testing recognising it as a critical tool in our battle against the virus. If you feel that you are unable or unwilling to engage in the test process to protect staff and residents then I would be grateful if you could contact me directly so that I might be able to answer some of your questions or concerns.
Care at Home
After many many weeks there has been updated Guidance for Care at Home and Housing support issued by Scottish Government. This can be located at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-clinical-guidance-care-at-home-housing-support-and-sheltered-housing/ This is substantially a development of the SSSC Guidance at https://learn.sssc.uk.com/coronavirus/infectioncontrol/
Collective Care Futures
The Collective Care Futures project is now entering its final stages. Please continue to take part by contributing to the Surveys which are still available. I cannot underline how important this work is.
The surveys are available at https://scottishcare.org/project/collective-care-future/
Over the next few weeks Becca and Tara will publish some Emerging Insights sheets showing early findings from the research, The first of these came out on Thursday and relates to Week One on Technology. It can be accessed at
https://scottishcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Care-Future-Emerging-Insights-Technology.pdf
Care Tech 3 :
Save the Date: Care Tech 3 – 28 August
Can I remind you yet again of the fact that we will be holding our third technology event ‘Care Tech 3’ – ‘Tech that Cares: making tech personal in post-COVID social care’ on Friday 28 August 2020.
The event will take place virtually and will bring together a range of perspectives to discuss developments and impacts of technology, particularly during COVID-19, and the future potential of technology across the Scottish social care sector.
The programme and tickets will be available on Monday.
PPE
After much debate and discussion, a paper proposing the potential of NSS becoming a main supplier to the social care sector is being developed and will be presented to the Cabinet Secretary Scottish Care is involved as part of the Programme Board in this proposal.
Communication
Next week the Tuesday Surgery will be at the usual time of 11 am and will be hosted by Becca Young and myself.
Workforce
Staff absences due to Covid-19 are now sitting at 2%. Shielding continues to be most common reason, however the number absent due to shielding has fallen sharply as at the 4th Aug.
EU Workers.
He decision to leave the Eu will have an impact on the immigration status of approximately 3.5 million EU citizens that live in the UK. Since leaving the EU in January 2020 we have been in a transition period which runs until 31st December 2020 and EU citizens and their non-EU family members must apply under the UK Government’s EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) before 30th June 2021 if they wish to live and work in the UK.
From 1st July 2021 all EU citizens must be able to show that they have either Settled Status or Pre-Settled Status to prove that they have a right to remain and continue working in the UK.
The care sector in Scotland employs large numbers of EU citizens.
The Citizens Advice network in Scotland provides a national service called the EU Citizens Support Service (EUCSS) and has a team of specialist advisers working across the country and taking calls on their national telephone helpline to provide information and support to people with their application to the EUSS. They also have a solicitor-led service to support complex cases. The national helpline number is 0800 916 9847.
If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact their national co-ordinator at [email protected]
Extension of Influenza (flu) vaccination programme to include social care staff
One of the most significant news items of the week relates to an issue we have long campaigned for in Scottish Care – namely the extension of the flu vaccination to social care staff.
The Scottish Government is extending health board free flu vaccine programmes to include social care staff of all ages who have a direct hands-on care role working 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
This is targeted at those delivering direct personal care in these settings no matter of whether they are employed by Local Authorities, private or third sector employers.
Scottish Care, the Care Inspectorate, the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland, and the Scottish Social Service Council support this approach.
In the coming weeks each health board will organise delivery of the vaccination programme for their area. Further communication will be issued letting you know how you can get vaccinated this year.
We encourage staff to take up this opportunity. It’s quick, safe and free.
Find out more on the NHS Inform website: https://www.nhsinform.scot/flu
And finally,…
I am continuing to try to keep all the issues relevant to the sector in the public consciousness and as part of that I invite you to join me and continue to light a #candleforcare at 7pm on a Tuesday – along with others to remember and to give thanks.
Many thanks
Donald
8th August 2020
