Skills for Care key updates – Feb 2024

• Keep up to date with all news and developments from Skills for Care (items below and our much wider work too) – enews, data and specialist topic newsletters can each be subscribed to: https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/news-and-events/Keep-up-to-date.aspx

• Social Care Workforce Strategy – the development of this key strategy is being led by Skills for Care. This will be key in setting out the workforce that we need for the next 15 year, including how we will recruit, retain and develop them. The strategy will align with the governments reform agenda and the NHS long term workforce plan too.

Find out more and register your interest in this here: https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/About-us/A-workforce-strategy-for-adult-social-care.aspx

Read the latest blog: https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/news-and events/blogs/an-update-on-the-workforce-strategy-for-adult-social-care

• Government workforce direction and initiatives including changes to funding - The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) recently announced their plans to develop the adult social care workforce in England as part of ongoing reform work. This includes:

• a new level 2 adult social Care Certificate qualification, with the intention that over time this new qualification will become the baseline standard for all new care workers to work towards when they join the profession (see more info on this below)
• learning and development, including training courses on healthcare interventions to support delegation, learning disabilities including autism, dementia care and leadership
• continuing professional development for registered nurses and other eligible regulated professionals
• digital skills training and development of a new leadership qualification based on the recently updated Digital Skills Framework (from Digital Social Care).

Read more about these including funding changes here: https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Funding/Workforce-Development-Fund/Changes-to-funding-for-learning-and-development-for-adult-social-care.aspx

• New level 2 qualification – Care certificate. The new qualification aims to launch in June 24 and is embedded into the Care Workforce Pathway. Awarding Organisations are currently developing the qualification and further details regarding the programes and also the funding will be shared in the coming months. Whilst this work is underway the Care Certificate standards should continue to be used. https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Developing-your-workforce/Care-Certificate/Level-2-Adult-Social-Care-Certificate-qualification.aspx

• The Care Workforce Pathway – phase 1 launched. The care workforce pathway outlines the knowledge, skills, values and behaviours people need to work in adult social care. This first part of the pathway focuses on direct care and support roles at four levels with each level relating to a role category, they are:

• role category A: new to care
• role category B: care or support worker
• role category C: supervisor or leader
• role category D: practice leader

Contained within each role category is a defined set of behaviours, knowledge and skills expected of someone to work at that level. The care workforce pathway also demonstrates how someone can develop within each category, building on their knowledge and skills to provide the best possible care to the people who receive their support.The new care certificate qualification is embedded in this pathway.: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-workforce-pathway-for-adult-social-care

Skills for Care: Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS) demo & Workforce Development Funding information session - your questions answered!

Thursday 22^nd February 3-4pm on MS Teams

The Adult Social Care Workforce Data Set (ASC-WDS) helps providers to manage their workforce data and provides crucial intelligence to key decision makers such as Government, DHSC, CQC and local authorities. It also gives employers access to safe and free management of staff and training records and the ability to benchmark your workplace against similar providers.

The Workforce Development Fund supports the provision of high-quality care and the continuing professional development (CPD) of staff across the adult social care sector by providing a contribution towards the costs of vocational learning. The fund allows you to claim back money towards the costs of paid staff completing a broad range of adult social care qualifications, learning programmes and digital learning modules.

If you are interested to know more about ASC-WDS, are planning to update your account, haven’t looked at it for a while or want to claim Workforce Development Funding and meet the eligibility criteria this is the session for you! Come along to have a live guided tour and hear all about the many benefits and ask any questions. The session will be hosted by Rachel Reid, Marianne Davis Skills for Care locality Managers in Surrey, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire and Liz Bailey Workforce Development Funding local lead.

This is a local session for providers across the Berks, Ox, Bucks and Surrey area. To book your place email rachel.reid@skillsforcare.org.uk

In July 2023 Oxfordshire County Council conducted a survey regarding the challenges of International Recruitment in the care sector.

The latest update is available here, including a link to register for a webinar which may be of interest to you. International Recruitment Fund update

Quality Improvement Team have been informed of a scam telephone call offering pendant alarm support to elderly and also asking for their bank details.

The telephone number for this scam caller was 01135252120.

Can you please alarm all your service users and advise to hang up and do not engage?

In the fast-paced world of healthcare, the exchange of accurate and detailed information is paramount to ensuring the highest quality of care for patients. However, recent observations have brought to light some inconsistencies in the completeness and clarity of key information section provided on the referral forms received by the council.

Addressing this issue is crucial as it directly impacts our ability to provide prompt and efficient care to those who need it most. In instances where essential details are not clearly presented on referral forms, there is a potential for delays in processing, which can ultimately affect the quality of care provided to your clients.

Therefore, in an effort to streamline our processes and ensure that every patient receives the care they deserve in a timely manner, we kindly request the cooperation of all referring parties. Before submitting referral forms, we ask that you take a moment to review and ensure that all key information is clearly and accurately documented.

This includes but is not limited to detailed information and the primary issue for which the client is seeking care. By providing this information in a clear and concise manner, you will greatly assist us in expediting the referral process and facilitating seamless coordination of care for your clients.

Improving the clarity and completeness of referral forms is not only beneficial for our facility but also for the community we serve. It ensures that their needs are properly addressed and that they receive the best possible care without unnecessary delays.

We sincerely appreciate your attention to this matter and your cooperation in enhancing the clarity of referral forms. Together, we can work towards improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our system, ultimately benefiting those who rely on our service for their well being.

Thank you for your continued support and dedication to providing quality care to your clients.

In preparation for the forthcoming review by the CQC, Oxfordshire County Council has published a draft self-assessment.

We're really keen to get your views on this document and to offer some constructive challenge around some of the assumptions and statements we have made about ourselves as an authority. What is it that we do well? Where can we improve from your perspective? What should we doing more of and what could we do with doing less?

The comments section is open for your views below. Submissions will be moderated for language purposes.

Information for 'self-funders' in care homes

We want the people of Oxfordshire to live well in their community, remaining fit and healthy for as long as possible. This is the vision within the Oxfordshire Way. This means that we want people to receive the right level of support for their needs. We do this by improving access to information that informs on people’s decision making to allow them to make the right choices, particularly when their needs are not being met by social care services. To make this really effective we need your help as care home managers.

We want to know what information you routinely ask of people entering your home as a resident and also what information you give to residents who may be approaching the £23,250 threshold for ASC funding. Please fill in the survey linked below

https://letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/embeds/projects/27235/survey-tools/32722

Time to Talk Day is the nation’s biggest mental health conversation. Happening every year, it’s a day for friends, families, communities, and workplaces to come together to talk, listen and change lives.

Time to Talk Day 2024 will take place 1 February 2024. It’s run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness and is being delivered in partnership with Co-op for the third year running.

The more conversations we have, the better life is for everyone. Talking about mental health isn’t always easy and sometimes it’s even harder to say how you really feel. But a conversation has the power to change lives.

Time to Talk Day is the perfect opportunity to start a conversation about mental health.

Have a look at these activities to do with your teams on time to talk day.

Values Based Approaches - workshops funded by Oxfordshire CC – last chance to attend this year!

To book click this link: https://events.skillsforcare.org.uk/vbr24oxfordcc

Values Based Interviewing: 16th April 2024, 10-3.30pm

Valuable conversations: 23^rd April 2024, 10-3.45pm

These will all be virtual - on zoom. There are 2 workshops covering different aspects of Values Based Approaches to Recruitment and Retention and these are aimed at managers and others responsible for recruiting. You can choose to attend both workshops, or just 1.

For Values based interviewing we suggest that it is best practice that at least 2 colleagues are trained in each organisation. So, if you do not have colleagues who are already trained then you may decide to submit 2 applications for 2 staff.

The workshops will cover the following. The approaches in values based interviewing can be used for all recruitment including overseas recruitment.

Just to let you know there have been two new NICE Guidelines and one NICE Quality Standard published.

For ease we have enclosed the links below.

Hearing Loss in Adults Assessment & Management https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng98

This guideline covers some aspects of assessing and managing hearing loss in primary, community and secondary care. It aims to improve the quality of life for adults with hearing loss by advising healthcare staff on assessing hearing difficulties, managing earwax and referring people for audiological or specialist assessment and management.

The guideline covers adults aged over 18, including adults whose age of onset of hearing loss was under 18 but who present for the first time in adulthood.

Stroke Rehabilitation - https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng236

This guideline covers rehabilitation after stroke for over 16s. It aims to ensure people are assessed for common problems and conditions linked to stroke and get the care and therapy they need. It includes recommendations on the organisation and delivery of rehabilitation in hospital and the community.

Transition from children’s to adults’ services - https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs140

This quality standard covers the period before, during and after a young person moves from children’s to adults’ services in all settings where transitions from children’s to adults’ health or social care services take place. It covers all young people (aged up to 25) using children’s health and social care services who are due to make the transition to adults’ services. This includes young people with mental health problems, disabilities and long-term, life-limiting or complex needs, rare diseases and those in secure settings or under the care of local authorities. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.

Each year the council reviews its fees and payments for providers of adult social care and support services.

We are now undertaking an annual review of prices paid to our contracted care providers and we want your views on the inputs that should be included in our decision making.

We will take the views expressed in this survey, alongside other considerations including sustainability and value for money when determine the final uplift and ceiling prices for 2024/25, which will start on 1 April 2024.

Introduction

The services that contracted providers deliver within Oxfordshire play an important role in helping to meet the needs of vulnerable adults and supporting the social care and health economies in the county. The Care Act (2014) places a duty on local authorities to promote the efficient and effective operation of the market for adult care and support as a whole and to ensure that there is sufficient capacity within the social care market to meet its current and future commissioning requirements.

We are now undertaking an annual review of prices paid to our contracted care providers and we want your views on the inputs that should be included in our decision making.

In setting our rate for 2024/25 we propose to look at the following inputs:

• Information from ADASS and LGA
• The announced increase in the National Living Wage
• The actual increase to wages that have occurred from previous annual uplifts
• Inflationary pressure indices
• The affordability of any proposal
• Our current ceiling rates and review processes
• How we compare with our neighbouring authorities (both geographic and statistical neighbours)

In the Chancellor’s November 2023 autumn statement, no new additional funding was announced to cover inflationary uplifts to fees in Adult Social Care. Therefore, the council will need to consider how this is managed within its existing funding. As you will see in the budget papers, like many councils, Oxfordshire County Council will need to make significant savings to ensure that they remain viable over the medium term. The vast majority of adult social care spend is with providers such as yourselves. It is therefore necessary for us to understand the opportunities for savings, efficiencies and cost reduction.

Have your say

The survey will remain open until 12^th January 2024

Once the survey has closed, we will analyse responses received together with other considerations including sustainability and value for money.

We will use this as the basis to determine the final uplift and ceiling prices for 2024/25 and we will write to all suppliers with the outcome.

If you have any specific questions, please use question 10 which will be monitored throughout the process. Or you can email: carecontractspricereview@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

The survey can be found here.