News Update: Adult Social Care

At the National Children and Adults Social Services Conference (NCASC), Sajid Javid set out the three key principles of the forthcoming social care reform: making services fair and accessible for all, ensuring that people have access to outstanding care and making sure everyone choice, support and control over their care.

The Health Secretary also said that £500 million will be allocated to social care workforce training and recognition, whilst there will be further work to prioritise social care workforce wellbeing and promote social care as a profession.

While relatives can care for vulnerable loved ones during the day, it can be more challenging when individuals need around-the-clock care. For example, adults living with dementia can wake in the night, and those recovering from injury may need repositioning at regular intervals. This is often when it becomes clear that professional care is needed.

In residential care, full support is provided during the night. Care is tailored to each individual’s requirements, with support always available during the night.

New guidance has been released by the government for care providers in supported living settings, such as care homes. While there are no national restrictions on care home visitation, care providers are expected to facilitate visits in a risk-managed way to protect vulnerable residents from Covid-19. This includes arranging visits in advance, ensuring that visitors have a negative lateral flow test on the day of their visit and facilitating supported physical contact.

Staff movement should be restricted between care homes and other care settings to minimise the risk of outbreaks in care homes.

You can read all the current guidance for care home visiting here.

Flu can be a serious and life-threatening condition, especially for those who are vulnerable or living with existing health conditions.

Frontline health and social care workers are eligible for free flu vaccines. These are being strongly encouraged by the government to help protect yourselves, the people you care for and the NHS this winter.

Find out more about the winter flu vaccination campaign here.

The UK Health Security Agency has released a new illustrated guide to show unpaid carers what PPE they should we wearing, and when. The guidance applies to carers who do not live with the person they are caring for.

Here is a summary of the key information:

• If the person you’re caring for has Covid-19 symptoms, you should wear a disposable plastic apron, single use fluid-repellent surgical mask, eye protection and disposable gloves.
• When providing personal care to someone with no Covid symptoms that involves contact with bodily fluids, you should wear the same as above.
• If you are within two metres of the person you are caring for but have no contact with bodily fluids, you should wear a type I, II or IIR surgical mask.
• When more than two metres away from the individual and carrying out domestic duties, you should wear a type I, II or IIR surgical mask, eye protection and any other PPE required for specific cleaning tasks such as gloves and aprons.

You can read the full guide here.