Coventry & Warwickshire COVID-19 Portal

The independent regulator of health and social care in England

 

9 April 2020

 

A weekly update for providers and professionals working in adult social care, sharing the latest guidance on COVID-19 and CQC's approach during this period.

Stay up to date with the latest CQC COVID-19 information

We're making changes to the way we work during the COVID-19 outbreak. We've developed a dedicated area on our website so that you can stay up to date with the latest information. Find out more.

Updated Regulation 16 (death notification) form

We would like to understand the numbers of deaths that are occurring due to COVID-19, whether suspected or confirmed. To do this, we have updated the Regulation 16 (death notification) form so you can indicate whether the death was a result of coronavirus (either confirmed or suspected). 

Please use this updated form to provide all Regulation 16 notifications from now on. We are aware that providers may have copies of the form saved locally on their computers – please check to make sure you are using the updated version. You can also bookmark the notification pages, or add them to your favourites, to ensure you are always able to access the most up-to-date form. 

The information you provide will help us develop a more accurate picture of the number of deaths due to COVID-19, which in turn will help us to work with system partners to mobilise the right level of support. It will also help the inform the government response, so it can put in place appropriate measures to support the health and social care system during this time.

Visit our website to access the updated form.

 

Interim guidance on DBS and other recruitment checks

We have published interim guidance on DBS and other recruitment checks, for providers recruiting staff and volunteers to health and social care services in response to coronavirus.

We have issued this interim guidance in response to temporary changes being made by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to DBS applications and processes. It will be in operation for the period the Coronavirus Act 2020 remains in force. We will review it on a regular basis.

Providers should read the whole of this guidance, which is available on our website.

 

Interim methodology for Mental Health Act monitoring visits

We have written to providers of mental health services to update them on the interim methodology for Mental Health Act monitoring visits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We will be introducing new remote monitoring methods to continue our monitoring of the use of the Mental Health Act. This will include collecting data from a range of sources via phone, email or video calls. If we believe there to be a risk of harm, ill-treatment or human rights breaches for people detained in services then we will, with oversight from the Chief Inspector, carry out additional activity which may include a site visit.

We will focus on carrying out monitoring where there are known or emerging concerns, for example, allegations or complaints from people who are detained in the service. Our primary objective at this time continues to be to support providers and keep people safe.

For more information read the letter from Kevin Cleary, Deputy Chief Inspector (Mental Health) and Kevin Cleary’s blog on protecting people’s safety, equality and rights during the COVID-19 outbreak.

 

Tell us about your good practice and innovations!

We're looking for examples of where providers are innovating in various ways to meet the challenge of responding to COVID-19.

These may be, for example, as ‘simple’ as providing an iPad to help people in a care home communicate with their family, something more radical such as using staff in different ways or reorganising services, or introducing technological solutions.

We will share these with providers and other stakeholders so that they can consider if there are any ideas or innovations that would be suitable for their organisation. Please send examples to C19innovation@cqc.org.uk

 

Contacting CQC

All Care Quality Commission offices are now closed. This means that we have stopped communicating by post, and ask that you do not send post to us. Please use other methods to contact us, details of which are available on our website.

Mental health providers that need to send section 61 reports should do this by email. If you have an nhs.net or CJSM secure email account, reports can be sent to s61.audit@cqc.cjsm.net. If you do not have an nhs.net or CJSM email account, please email reports as encrypted attachments to SOAD_Requests@cqc.org.uk. Visit our website for more information on mental health notifications.

In the event that we have to issue a formal notice, we will contact the provider by phone to discuss this and to confirm the approach for further contact. Providers are also reminded of their duty of care to people using their services. For those detained under the Mental Health Act, this may mean supporting people to access the internet or make telephone calls if they ask to contact us.

 

NHS Volunteer Responders: open to referrals from health and care professionals 

An incredible 750,000 volunteers have signed up for NHS Volunteer Responders since it was launched on 24 March. NHS England and NHS Improvement has published guidance for health professionals to explain how the programme works and how to refer patients for support. Health and social care professionals are encouraged to start using the service to refer people who use services for support.

Royal Voluntary Service, the charity delivering the volunteer effort, will have completed security checks for the 750,000 applications by the end of Tuesday. Thousands of these approved volunteers will be offered tasks via the GoodSAM app and will start helping people safely, with more expected to get requests over the coming weeks as referrals ramp up. 

Health professionals, pharmacists and local authorities can upload requests for help on the NHS Volunteer Responders referrer’s portal and volunteers pick the job they want to do that day and close the task once complete. Social care providers can also make referrals directly if they have an nhs.net or gov.uk email address. Without one, they will need to await approval which may take up to 72 hours, or they can make referrals via their local authority. 

Requests for support for individuals or organisations can be made by submitting details online via the NHS Volunteer Responders referrers’ portal. You can also call 0808 196 3382 to refer people who use services.

 

Tell Us Once

Tell Us Once is a service that lets you report a death to most government organisations in one go. 

If you are registering a death with a registrar in your capacity as an official informant, care home manager, next of kin or relative, the registrar will issue you with a unique Tell Us Once service reference number. You can then use this reference number to access Tell Us Once to complete the service to notify central and local government departments. 

The system is easy to use and once completed departments are notified instantly, which means there is no need for you, or relatives, to contact them separately via telephone or in writing. Visit the website for more information, including a list of the details you will need to use the service.

 

Updated guidance on COVID-19 prioritisation within community health services 

Guidance from NHS England details which community health services should stop, partially stop or continue so that providers can release capacity to support the COVID-19 response, and has recently been updated in line with developing clinical advice. To easily identify the most significant changes, it is accompanied by a change log which records additions, removals and changes to categorisation of services. The guidance will be discussed as part of a webinar for colleagues involved in community health services on Friday 3 April. For details on this webinar please email: england.ageingwell@nhs.net

 

Free refresher training for health and care professionals returning to work

Blue Stream Academy are offering a set of 'Essential Refresher Training' modules, available free of charge, to any professionals returning to work within the health and social care sectors. These modules are available to both clinical and non-clinical staff, and are designed to refresh returning staff members on the essential training required to safely deliver patient-centred care at this difficult time.

For more information please visit the Blue Stream Academy website, or register for access by getting in touch.

 

Useful guidance

• NEW: Guidance on admission and care of people in care homes 

• NEW: The Enhanced health in care homes framework has been expanded to include oral health; falls, strength and balance; mental health; wound care; continence promotion and management; and flu prevention and management. The framework can be used to support your engagement with your aligned primary care network.

• NEW: NICE COVID-19 rapid guidelines 

• NEW: Advice and information on looking after your mental health and wellbeing during the coronavirus outbreak from NHS England and the Mental Health Foundation 

• Guidance from Skills for Care on training staff during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Investigation and initial clinical management of possible cases

• NICE COVID-19 rapid guideline on critical care: updated following concerns raised by patient groups 

• Ethical framework for adult social care 

• Guidance for residential care, supported living and home care

• Guidance on the supply and use of personal protective equipment

• Guidance for health professionals

• Guidance for health professionals who have diagnosed a case within their facility 

• Infection prevention and control 

• Rapid tests for use in community pharmacies or at home

• Guidance for sampling and for diagnostic laboratories 

• Department of Health and Social Care's coronavirus action plan 

• NHS England has published measures for people who might be at greatest risk from corona-virus. Guidance (including an easy read version) is available on its website. People who are classed as extremely vulnerable are being asked to register for support.

 

Accessibility resources to help you communicate about COVID-19

• Signhealth is providing a videos of summaries of key coronavirus guidance in BSL

• Public Health England stay at home guidance, translated and in easy read

• Public Health England guidance on social distancing, translated.

• NHS guidelines translated into 32 languages by Doctors of the World

• Easy read information on COVID-19 from Mencap

• Public Health England resources in accessible formats

• COVID-19 guidance for providers of services for people experiencing rough sleeping

• The handwashing rap, produced to help people who have a learning disability

 

Further information

• Public Health Matters blog from Public Health England

• Number of COVID-19 cases in the UK

 

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