30/04/2021
The growing impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is having an unprecedented generational impact on the health and wellbeing of society across the UK and around the world. The impact is being felt in our everyday lives and is now having far reaching consequences for everyone. If you or your organisation needs advice relating to Coronavirus, Bevan Brittan has set up a COVID-19 Advisory Service which draws upon the expertise of a range of Bevan Brittan legal and regulatory teams. Please feel free to contact us.
Bevan Brittan provides high quality, comprehensive advice to the NHS, independent healthcare sector and local authorities. This update contains brief details of recent Government publications, legislation, cases and other developments relevant to those involved in health and social care work, both in the NHS, independent sector and local authorities which have been published in the last month.
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If someone forwarded you this email you can sign up for your own free copy here delivered directly to your inbox.
Bevan Brittan Free Training Events
Clinical Risk Webinars
Bevan Brittan Clinical Risk/Health, Care and Regulatory Law Team Training - These are internal hour long lunch time training sessions. You can sign up to watch the training sessions remotely via our webinar facility. Please contact Claire Bentley.
Please note that registration for each webinar will close when the webinar starts, so please do ensure you have booked your place in advance to guarantee your attendance
Clinical Risk
Employment
Local Government
General Practice
- Common legal issues in General Practice, why they happen and things legal teams may not know. 1st June 12.30pm
Coronavirus
The growing impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is having an unprecedented generational impact on the health and wellbeing of society across the UK and around the world. The impact is being felt in our everyday lives and is now having far reaching consequences for everyone. If you or your organisation needs advice relating to Coronavirus, Bevan Brittan has set up a COVID-19 Advisory Service which draws upon the expertise of a range of Bevan Brittan legal and regulatory teams. Please feel free to contact us.
Acute and emergency care
Publications/Guidance
Risk perception on the labour ward: A mixed methods study This study describes the negative terminology prevailing in emergency obstetric care. These experiences can have a profound impact on staff. Risk reduction strategies and the provision of increased staff support and training are crucial to improve staff wellbeing in stressful scenarios.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around acute and emergency issues please contact Claire Bentley.
Children and young people
Publications/Guidance
New draft guidance aims to achieve fairer outcomes for looked-after children and young people. New National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) draft guidelines outline that looked-after children and young people should be considered "one of their own" by carers, and that looked-after persons should be surrounded by a care network consisting of positive relationships supported by genuine caring.
Special Educational Needs: support in England This House of Commons Library briefing sets out the system of support for children and young people in England aged 0-25 with special educational needs (SEN). The briefing provides an overview of the new system introduced in 2014, the transitional arrangements, and how the new system differs from that which preceded it. It also includes a brief history of the movement towards reform that preceded the 2014 changes, and information on the impact of the new system available to date.
Levelling up health This report states that Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on the United Kingdom, exposing the nation’s poor health and health inequalities – 90 per cent of those who died with Covid had significant prior poor health. The report explains why a new health care system is essential to confront how unhealthy the UK population is. It proposes a 10-year health improvement plan, and new health improvement fund, a shift in political attitudes that have impeded progress, clear priorities for action, and the need to challenge and change organisations that harm children and health.
What is happening to life expectancy in England? In this long read Veena Raleigh examines trends in life expectancy at birth up to 2020 and the impact of Covid-19 in 2020, gender differences, geographical inequalities, causes of the changing trends since 2011, and how the UK's life expectancy compares with other countries.
Domestic Abuse Practice Guidance for Children and Family Social Workers. British Association of Social Workers (BASW) guidance on supporting victim-survivors of domestic abuse aims to provide social workers with a trauma-informed understanding of patterns of such abuse alongside advice on best practice and research.
Consultations
Launching the biggest ever consultation with children in England as part of Beveridge-style report into post-Covid childhood. The Children's Commissioner for England is launching "The Big Ask", the biggest ever consultation with children undertaken in England. The survey, which will be made available to every school in England, runs from 19 April to 19 May 2021 and will ask children across England to set out their priorities for improving childhood post-COVID. The results of the survey will form the cornerstone of the Children's Commissioner's "Childhood Commission", an ambitious Beveridge-style report due to be published later in 2021.
Bevan Brittan Updates
Vaccinations in a new light. This article looks at whether we will be seeing decision-making around vaccination for children in a new light.
Domestic abuse - assessing risk for professionals. This article looks at how professionals across health and social care can best assess risk to individuals and use established multi-agency processes to support victims.
How we can help
We can assist in relation to the statutory responsibilities for children under the Coronavirus Act 2020 including decisions around:-
- commissioning and the provision of healthcare and social care;
- isolation and duties toward children in the care and those classed as vulnerable under the Coronavirus ( COVID19 );
- guidance on vulnerable children and young people;
- the delivery of EHCP plans;
- safeguarding; and,
- all aspects of educational provision including for key workers.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around children please contact Deborah Jeremiah.
Clinical Risk / Patient Safety
Publications/Guidance
To err is system; a comparison of methodologies for the investigation of adverse outcomes in healthcare. The authors conclude that system based models generate the strongest barriers to improve future performance. Healthcare providers and their regulatory bodies need to embrace system based methodologies if they are to effectively learn from, and reduce future, adverse outcomes.
Risk perception on the labour ward: A mixed methods study This study describes the negative terminology prevailing in emergency obstetric care. These experiences can have a profound impact on staff. Risk reduction strategies and the provision of increased staff support and training are crucial to improve staff wellbeing in stressful scenarios.
NHS injury costs recovery scheme: tariff and charges from 1 April 2021 Annual amendment in the tariff and ceiling of charges payable by compensators for the recovery of NHS charges under the NHS injury costs recovery scheme.
Longer waits, missing patients and catching up This analysis looks at the impact of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic on elective care in England. The waiting list has now reached the highest level since comparable records began, with more patients experiencing long delays in diagnosis and treatment.
NHS activity tracker: April 2021 This report analyses the latest NHS activity figures across a range of services and sets out the trends in each clinical area. It highlights the scale of the backlogs caused by the ongoing pandemic and argues that multi-year financial support is required to help the NHS to recover the backlogs.
NICE strategy 2021 to 2026. Under plans unveiled in its five-year strategy, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is to speed up patients' access to the latest and most effective treatments, renew and develop collaborations to support patient safety and track adoption of improvements, and place dynamic guideline recommendations in the hands of healthcare professionals.
Suicide Prevention: Policy and Strategy This House of Commons Library briefing paper examines suicide prevention policies and strategies throughout the UK. It outlines national and local approaches to prevention policy in England, as well as Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Covid 19: supporting the vulnerable during lockdown This report recognises the pace and urgency with which the government delivered the shielding programme. However, the report concludes that the programme suffered from the problems of poor data and a lack of joined-up systems, meaning that it took too long to identify some clinically vulnerable people at a time when their need was urgent.
Cases
Mustard v Flower Queen's Bench Division [2021] EWHC 846. It was held that a defendant does not need to plead fundamental dishonesty to make an application under section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 (CJCA 2015) or to disapply qualified one-way costs shifting (QOCS) on that ground. In addition, "speculative or contingent" claims of fundamental dishonesty should be discouraged as allowing them would cause potentially unnecessary difficulties and stress to claimants.
Wormald v Ahmed 2021 EWHC 973 considered the difficult issue of whether a protected party can accept a Part 36 offer and its interaction with the need for court approval. A Part 36 offer made in 2014 was accepted on the day the claimant died in September 2020, raised novel questions about Pt 36. She suggested it would be "unjust" for a defendant to be held to a six-year old offer accepted hours before the claimant died. The judge said the claimant's solicitors knew of the significant change in the claimant's prognosis in the days before he died and noted that the defendant was not notified of this until after the offer was accepted. She ruled that the court should not approve a settlement made under these circumstances, but reserved final determination until the claimant's solicitors provided further information. See article in Law Society Gazette.
News/articles
Ombudsman shines a light on service failures across the public sector. As from 29th April PHSO has begun to routinely publish its investigations. This includes cases where serious mistakes have been made and not readily admitted nor addressed so vital improvements have been delayed. Incidents of avoidable death, delayed cancer diagnosis, and an ambulance being five hours late are among the upheld complaints published on the website. These cases provide valuable learning for the NHS in England and Government bodies by showing what needs to change to help prevent the same mistakes happening again. The portal is available here
Trust ‘reviewing hundreds of patients’ after failings discovered
NHS trust admits failures over death of baby in rare prosecution by the CQC In a rare prosecution brought by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust has pleaded guilty to failing to provide safe care over the death of a baby boy in 2017. Representatives from the NHS trust were at Folkestone Magistrates' Court on 19 April 2021 and admitted failing to provide safe care and treatment to both the baby and his mother. The CQC has now brought four prosecutions under the Health and Social Care Act 2001 s.12, which states that care providers must "assess the risks to people's health and safety during any care or treatment'.
Bevan Brittan Events
Bevan Brittan Clinical Risk/Health, Care and Regulatory Law Team Training - These are internal hour long lunch time training sessions that are attended by our team of solicitors. If you would like to receive more information about our webinar programme just ask Claire Bentley.
- Common legal issues in General Practice, why they happen and things legal teams may not know. 1st June 12.30pm
If you would like to receive the Education Lunch Programme for 2021 just ask Claire Bentley.
How we can help
We are working with clients on formulating policies and making it easier to balance treatment with finite resources. We are helping with social care policies and day to day activities such as contact and isolation, human rights issues and life/death decisions. We are working on notifications of harm and death, RIDDOR, CQC compliance, judicial review, infection control law and grappling with the new regulations and guidance. For more information click here.
If you wish to discuss any clinical risk or patient safety issues please contact Tim Hodgetts or Joanna Lloyd.
Digital Health
Publications/guidance
Time to update: moving away from legacy IT in healthcare Technology offers huge potential for the NHS to deliver better outcomes for patients and make the system more effective. However, to deliver this bold vision, it needs to get the basics right. This means understanding what the key blockers are to moving away from legacy technology and creating practical solutions remedying them.
Pain assessment tool available in social care setting Social care professionals working in residential care and nursing homes can now use an AI-powered pain assessment tool to assess and score pain in residents whether they are able or unable to self-report their pain.
Beyond digital: planning for a hybrid world. House of Commons Covid-19 Committee This report recommends that as part of its new hybrid strategy, the government should work to develop a genuinely hybrid health service. This should acknowledge the importance of face-to-face provision as well as digital and enable patients to move seamlessly between online and offline service provision.
The Covid-19 vaccine rollout: an opportunity to bring digital health and care into the community Digital health and care must work for as many as possible or we risk exacerbating inequalities. The vaccine rollout provides an unmissable opportunity to address longstanding gaps in care and delivery.
Shaping the future of digital technology in health and social care This report, commissioned by The Health Foundation, provides a summary of evidence for how emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, smartphones, wearable devices and the internet of things are being used within care settings around the world.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around Digital Health please contact Daniel Morris.
Employment/HR
Publications/guidance
Long COVID - advice for employers and employees. Guidance from Acas sets out advice for employers and workers suffering with symptoms of COVID-19 weeks or months after the infection has gone (Long COVID). It suggests that employers: arrange and offer occupational health assessments; look into reasonable adjustments, which can vary from changed hours, to adapted physical workspaces; and discuss flexible working as an option as well as phased returns, which may mean coming back part-time initially to build back up to working usual hours.
Supporting your Public Health Heroes: employer’s toolkit This toolkit is designed to help employers support individual public health practitioners to achieve registration with the UK Public Health Register.
Questions over mask guidance and protection against Covid-19 aerosols Renewed calls are being made for nurses to be provided a higher level of personal protective equipment (PPE), as further evidence emerges about airborne transmission of Covid-19.
Quarantine arrangements for exempt nurses arriving from overseas What NHS trusts must do to provide managed quarantine accommodation for nurses arriving in England to work for the NHS if they’ve passed through red-list countries.
Risk perception on the labour ward: A mixed methods study This study describes the negative terminology prevailing in emergency obstetric care. These experiences can have a profound impact on staff. Risk reduction strategies and the provision of increased staff support and training are crucial to improve staff wellbeing in stressful scenarios.
Cases
Gupta v Northampton Hospital NHS Trust Case [2021] EWHC 965. The court refused a doctor's application for an interim injunction against his NHS employer after he was excluded from work pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations that he presented a financial risk to vulnerable patients. The employer had also been entitled to share information about the investigation with the doctor's private work providers and other employers.
News
Government to suspend NHS recruitment from India amid covid crisis.
Visas extended for thousands of frontline health and care workers. Extension to benefit 14,000 applicants
Fears frontline NHS staff are refusing to get Covid vaccine
Bevan Brittan Events
Immigration: Right to Work Checks - a refresher - 9th June 11am.
Bevan Brittan Updates
Vaccinations and Privacy - mutually exclusive? The vaccine rollout continues to dominate the news at present, with issues relating to vaccine supply, vaccinations of employees and the proposed vaccine passport. Managing these issues and the pandemic in general requires data controllers to process data in ways which very few have considered in detail and raises some interesting and complex data protection and data ethics questions.
How we can help
We can offer support and advice on managing many workforce issues including flexing your workforce to respond to the pandemic, managing bank staff, redeployment, vulnerable groups, sick pay, leave options, supporting staff well-being, presenteeism, remote and home working, through FAQs, helpline or policy guidance and practical day to day advice.
If you wish to discuss any employment issues generally please contact Jodie Sinclair, Alastair Currie or James Gutteridge.
Finance
Publications/Guidance
Financial incentives and prescribing behaviour in primary care Many health care systems prevent primary care clinicians from dispensing the drugs they prescribe due to concerns that this encourages excessive, ineffective or unnecessarily costly prescribing. This study uses data from the NHS to model the impact of clinican dispensing rights on prescribing behaviour.
NHS entitlements: migrant health guide. Advice and guidance for healthcare practitioners on the health needs of migrant patients.
NHS injury costs recovery scheme: tariff and charges from 1 April 2021 Annual amendment in the tariff and ceiling of charges payable by compensators for the recovery of NHS charges under the NHS injury costs recovery scheme.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around finance please contact Claire Bentley.
Information sharing/data
Publications/Guidance
Putting Good into Practice: A public dialogue on making public benefit assessments when using health and care data. A National Data Guardian (NDG) report details the findings of a dialogue with members of the public about how to make sure that health and care data is used in ways that benefit people and society. It aims to assist in producing guidance from the NDG to help organisations tasked with making decisions about data use. The guidance, to be published later in 2021, will encourage greater consistency for decisions about whether health and care data should be used for research, planning and innovation and will be developed in consultation with members of the public, data users, data custodians and policymakers.
Seventeen South West trusts sign deal to support regional image sharing A programme in the South West of England will enable diagnostic images to be easily shared across 17 trusts in the region. The first stage of this initiative, funded by the Cancer Alliance and NHS England, began in March 2021.
Covid 19: supporting the vulnerable during lockdown This report recognises the pace and urgency with which the government delivered the shielding programme. However, the report concludes that the programme suffered from the problems of poor data and a lack of joined-up systems, meaning that it took too long to identify some clinically vulnerable people at a time when their need was urgent.
News
NHS staff 'tremendously anxious' over data sharing, says new national leader
Bevan Brittan Updates
Vaccinations and Privacy - mutually exclusive? The vaccine rollout continues to dominate the news at present, with issues relating to vaccine supply, vaccinations of employees and the proposed vaccine passport. Managing these issues and the pandemic in general requires data controllers to process data in ways which very few have considered in detail and raises some interesting and complex data protection and data ethics questions.
How we can help
We have a dedicated Information Law & Privacy team who advise clients on:-
- all aspects of the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 including commercial GDPR issues and information sharing
- managing and completing Subject Access Requests
- rights of access under Freedom of Information and the Environmental Information Regulations, alongside issues relating to access to records, confidentiality, cyber risks and data breaches.
For more information contact James Cassidy or Jane Bennett.
Inquests
Publications/guidance
Prevention of future deaths: Ella Kissi-Debrah. Following his December 2020 ruling at the end of the inquest into the death of Ella Adoo Kissi-Debrah, which concluded that the 9-year old died of asthma contributed to by exposure to excessive air pollution, Coroner Philip Barlow's prevention of future deaths report calls for maximum levels of particulate air pollution (PMs) to be legally brought into line with World Health Organisation (WHO) levels.
Bevan Brittan Updates
Practical issues when preparing for and attending a remote inquest hearing. This article looks at practical issues that witnesses should be aware of when attending a remote inquest hearing.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around inquests, please contact Toby De Mellow, Samantha Minchin or Claire Leonard
Mental Health
Publications/guidance
Covid-19: mental health and wellbeing surveillance report This report is about population mental health and wellbeing in England during the Covid-19 pandemic. It includes up-to-date information to inform policy, planning and commissioning in health and social care. It is designed to assist stakeholders at national and local level, in both government and non-government sectors.
Care Act 2014: supporting implementation Support for local authorities to carry out the implementation for part 1 of the Care Act 2014. Updated DHSC’s position on the determination of ordinary residence disputes pending the outcome of the Worcestershire case
White paper on reforming the Mental Health Act - Law Society response In response to the Department of Health and Social Care paper seeking views on changes to the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) to help put patients at the centre of decisions about their own care, the Law Society notes that solicitors have an important role in supporting vulnerable people subject to mental health legislation to understand their rights and to access justice, and that whilst many of the white paper's proposals are welcome, these must be carefully thought through and sufficiently backed up by resources in order to be effective in practice.
The Mental Capacity Act (2005) (MCA) and deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLS) during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The guidance has been updated in relation to the discharge of functions by people under DoLS.
Coronavirus (COVID-19): looking after people who lack mental capacity. Guidance for health and social care staff who are caring for, or treating, a person who lacks the relevant mental capacity.
Mental Capacity: Question for Department of Health and Social Care Official. In response to a written question asking for an update on the timescale for the introduction of the Liberty Protection Standards (LPS), the Department of Health and Social Care states that in July 2020 it set out a target date for implementation of the LPS of April 2022. It is working towards public consultation which will inform plans for full implementation.
Call for evidence: Mental Health in Prison Official. A Justice Committee call for evidence to inform its inquiry into mental health in prison. The inquiry seeks to understand the scale of mental health need within prisons, identify what support exists and whether there are any gaps in provision. Comments by 19 May 2021.
Suicide Prevention: Policy and Strategy This House of Commons Library briefing paper examines suicide prevention policies and strategies throughout the UK. It outlines national and local approaches to prevention policy in England, as well as Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Cases
London NHS Trust v CD & Ors (Withdrawal of Life Sustaining Treatment) [2021] EWCOP 727. Application to discontinue life sustaining treatment to the P who was in a vegetative state. The application was granted.
News
CQC tells provider to inform police of staff assault on patient
Not unlawful for carers to help autistic man visit sex worker, CoP rules.
Bevan Brittan Events
ON DEMAND - Reforming the Mental Health Act: Have your say on the White Paper Consultation Questions
If you wish to discuss any mental health issues facing your organisation please contact Simon Lindsay Hannah Taylor,or Stuart Marchant.
Primary Care
Publications/guidance
Primary care networks and place-based working: addressing health inequalities in a Covid-19 world This report provides fresh insights from those working to address health inequalities outside the NHS about how primary care, enabled by PCNs, might access the breadth of potential solutions that are possible when they work in partnership with their communities and local partners.
Financial incentives and prescribing behaviour in primary care Many health care systems prevent primary care clinicians from dispensing the drugs they prescribe due to concerns that this encourages excessive, ineffective or unnecessarily costly prescribing. This study uses data from the NHS to model the impact of clinician dispensing rights on prescribing behaviour.
Bevan Brittan Events
Common legal issues in General Practice, why they happen and things legal teams may not know. 1st June 12.30pm
Bevan Brittan Clinical Risk/Health, Care and Regulatory Law Team Training - These are internal hour long lunch time training sessions that are attended by our team of solicitors. If you would like to receive more information about our webinar programme just ask Claire Bentley.
Bevan Brittan Updates/Videos
Bevan Brittan has collaborated with NHS Resolution to produce a series of videos outlining key areas in general practice that frequently give rise to claims. Members of our clinical negligence team draw on their wealth of experience in dealing with claims to highlight the common areas of risk, provide guidance on how to mitigate or avoid these issues, and what steps to take if a complaint or a claim is received. The first three videos in this series are available to watch now. See below:-
Consent - Daniel Morris
Medical record keeping - Ben Lambert
Administrative errors - Susan Trigg
What to do if you receive a complaint or claim - Joanne Easterbrook
Common pitfalls - Helen Carrington
Other useful resources from NHS Resolution for primary care are set out below:-
1. General Practice Indemnity schemes
2. Understanding the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice
3. Handling claims under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice
4. Covid-19 guidance for general practice
How we can help
We can offer support and advice on managing contractual and operational issues affecting the delivery of primary care services, including emerging legislative changes, updated guidance and policy arrangements, workforce issues and any transactional – related matters relating to vertical integrations, STPs, PCNs, etc.
If you wish to discuss any commercial, corporate or regulatory issues in primary care then please contact Vincent Buscemi.
Providers
Publications/Guidance
Actions for early years and childcare providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. A Department for Education publication provides guidance for providers registered with OFSTED and childminders registered with childminder agencies for children of all ages on operating during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been updated to reflect Step 2 of the Government's roadmap out of lockdown, on singing in parent and child groups, educational trips, and for staff and children who are clinically extremely vulnerable. The sections on face coverings and on visual communication, visors and exemptions have also been updated.
To err is system; a comparison of methodologies for the investigation of adverse outcomes in healthcare. The authors conclude that system based models generate the strongest barriers to improve future performance. Healthcare providers and their regulatory bodies need to embrace system based methodologies if they are to effectively learn from, and reduce future, adverse outcomes.
Fractured and forgotten? The social care provider market in England This report warns that years of delay to social care reform and a fragmented market have left provider services unstable and without support for innovation. It argues that there needs to be a better understanding among policy-makers of how the market works and an acknowledgement that any reform to funding also needs to address the structural faults.
News
CQC tells provider to inform police of staff assault on patient
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around providers please contact Vincent Buscemi.
Public Health
Publications/guidance
The King's Fund's response to plans for the future public health system in England In a letter to Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer, the King's Fund sets out their views on plans for the future public health system in England.
Assessing England’s response to Covid-19: A framework Learning the lessons from Covid-19 would allow England to better prepare for future pandemics, and understand the weaknesses and strengths of the health, care and public health systems. This framework sets out a structure to help untangle the complicated interactions between different elements of the response in England.
Spending on health in Europe: entering a new era This report argues that governments need to maintain a higher level of public spending on health for the wider benefit of society, despite expected budgetary pressures following the pandemic. It analyses health spending across all 53 member states of the WHO European Region over nearly two decades.
Developing place-based partnerships: the foundation of effective integrated care systems Our new report considers the potential of place-based partnerships to improve population health and truly support integrated care, and highlights principles to guide their development and the support they might need from regional and national leaders.
Bevan Brittan Updates
Domestic abuse - assessing risk for professionals. This article looks at how professionals across health and social care can best assess risk to individuals and use established multi-agency processes to support victims.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around public health please contact Claire Bentley.
Regulation
Publications/Guidance
Living organ donation - Research Briefing. A Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) note describes the scale and nature of living donation in the UK, its regulatory framework and the ethical considerations around this highly regulated procedure. It also analyses challenges within living organ donation, and the strategies implemented to address them.
CQC tells provider to inform police of staff assault on patient
Bevan Brittan Updates
DNACPR Notices: CQC publishes final report. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has released its final report into the use of ‘do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation’ (DNACPR) decisions during the coronavirus pandemic. The background on this topic can be found in our article here as well as our commentary on the Interim Report here.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around regulation please contact Stuart Marchant.
Social Care
Publications/Guidance
Summary of guidance for visitors. The government is asking all care homes to allow every resident to name up to 2 people who can come for regular indoor visits. As far as possible these 2 should remain the same people. The named visitors will need to follow some important steps to reduce the risk of infection to the person they are visiting and to others in the care home.
Guidance on care home visiting. This guidance applies from 12 April 2021 and replaces previous guidance on care home visiting. It applies to care homes for working age and for older adults.
Arrangements for visiting out of the care home Sets out how care homes can support residents on visits outside of the care home.
Supporting the mental health and wellbeing of the adult social care workforce Key resources to support adult social care employees mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.
Workforce Capacity Fund for adult social care. Information for local authorities and adult social care providers on the £120 million Workforce Capacity Fund during coronavirus (COVID-19).
Coronavirus: Adult social care key issues and sources This briefing provides an overview of key issues facing the adult social care sector during the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, and provides links to some of the key official guidance for the sector.
Fractured and forgotten? The social care provider market in England This report warns that years of delay to social care reform and a fragmented market have left provider services unstable and without support for innovation. It argues that there needs to be a better understanding among policy-makers of how the market works and an acknowledgement that any reform to funding also needs to address the structural faults.
Integration and Innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all White Paper - Written submission from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman The forthcoming Health and Care Bill plans to legislate for the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch to become a statutory body. Their response focuses on how this proposal will affect the role of PHSO.
COVID-19: ethical framework for adult social care. A framework to support the planning and organisation of adult social care during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Covid 19: supporting the vulnerable during lockdown. A Public Accounts Committee report states the Government's centrally-directed scheme to support those most vulnerable to coronavirus (COVID-19) disease who were instructed to shield "suffered from the problems of poor data and a lack of joined up systems". The Government "took too long to identify some clinically vulnerable people at a time when their need was urgent", with up to 800Covid 19: supporting the vulnerable during lockdown: Fifty-Third Report of Session 2019-21,000 people missing out on support. The Committee adds that the Government "learned lessons which have fed into more recent iterations of shielding", including much greater understanding of the range of COVID-19 risk factors.
Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for people receiving direct payments Advice for people who buy care and support through a direct payment, as well as local authorities, clinical commissioning groups and those who provide care and support.
Domestic Abuse Practice Guidance for Children and Family Social Workers. British Association of Social Workers (BASW) guidance on supporting victim-survivors of domestic abuse aims to provide social workers with a trauma-informed understanding of patterns of such abuse alongside advice on best practice and research.
Making vaccination a condition of deployment in older adult care homes. A Department of Health and Social Care consultation seeks comments on a proposal to make COVID-19 vaccination a condition of deployment in older adult care homes. The Government is considering amending the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 so that older adult care home providers could only use those staff who have received the COVID-19 vaccination
Restricting workforce movement between care homes and other care settings Guidance for care home providers on limiting staff movement between settings in all but exceptional circumstances to help reduce the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection.
Pain assessment tool available in social care setting Social care professionals working in residential care and nursing homes can now use an AI-powered pain assessment tool to assess and score pain in residents whether they are able or unable to self-report their pain.
Consultations
COVID-19: DHSC consults on making it mandatory for staff in care homes with older adult residents to have COVID-19 vaccine Published on 15-Apr-2021 | England On 14 April 2021, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) published a consultation on making COVID-19 vaccination a condition of deployment for workers deployed in care homes with older adult residents (that is any care home in England registered with the Care Quality Commission with at least one person over the age of 65 living there). This will not include those who are medically exempt from vaccination.
Social care reform delay. The Prime Minister is expected to delay announcing plans for adult social care reform until after the 11 May 2021 Queen's Speech over concerns it will require cuts or tax rises of up to £5 billion a year. The Queen's Speech is expected to mention the promise to bring forward funding plans in 2021, but not any detail. Sir Andrew Dilnot's recommendation to cap care costs for individuals at £45,000 is under consideration. More than 25 Bills will be presented on 11 May 2021.
CQC tells provider to inform police of staff assault on patient
Physical and cognitive play helps people with dementia, study finds
Open Letter calls for 1948 moment for adult social care An open letter to the Prime Minister, co-signed by leading care organisations, politicians and peers, has called for a 1948 moment for adult social care.
Care England, the largest representative body of independent adult social care providers, has welcomed the opportunity to respond to the Government’s consultation on mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for care staff working in care homes for older people, rather than all care homes, but expressed concern about the very short timescales.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around social care please contact Siwan Griffiths.
General
Publications/Guidance
Deaths from Covid-19 (coronavirus): how are they counted and what do they show? Veena Raleigh examines the methods used to count deaths from Covid-19 and discusses what the numbers to date show. This explainer was originally published on 13 May 2020. It was last updated on 23 April 2021.
Stunning photographs show the people behind the national vaccination effort. The government has published a series of photographs taken by photojournalists working with the NHS, showcasing the people behind the UK-wide vaccination programme – ahead of a campaign urging under-50s to get the jab.
Integrated care systems explained: making sense of the new NHS structure Delivering more joined-up care for patients has been a key ambition for the NHS over the past few years. This glossary was developed following NHS Providers' recent virtual workshops, where governors expressed a desire to learn more about the acronyms and terminology that are now commonly used to describe how the NHS structure is evolving.
The road to renewal: five priorities for health and care Covid-19 has been the biggest challenge the health and care system has faced in living memory. It is essential that lessons are learnt from this experience. So how can the system build on this learning to bring about positive change and renewal?
Coronavirus: Covid-19 vaccine roll-out. Frequently Asked Questions. This Commons Library briefing addresses commonly asked questions about the roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine.
National protocol for COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca. An updated Public Health England document provides the authorisation protocol for appropriately trained professionals to immunise people with the Astra/Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Court declares inadmissible this application, which concerns the withdrawal of treatment from a five-year old in a permanent vegetative state, and discontinues interim measure Ruling in the case of Parfitt v UK (ECtHR), the Court unanimously declared the application inadmissible. Relying on art.2 and art.8, the applicant complained that the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment would violate her daughter's rights and that the domestic courts had insufficient regard to the family life of mother and child. The ECtHR decided the complaints were manifestly ill-founded and should therefore be rejected.
Track and trace: identifying corruption risks in UK public procurement for the Covid-19 pandemic This study of procurement during the pandemic involved a painstaking review of nearly 1,000 contracts worth a total of £18 billion. It concludes that the way the UK government handled bids for supplying personal protective equipment (PPE) and other Covid-19 response contracts appears partisan and systemically biased in favour of those with political access.
If you wish to discuss any queries around this general topic please contact Claire Bentley.
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