care home

Care providers see insurance premiums rise as they accept COVID positive service users from hospitals

As the pandemic grows to what would appear to be a critical point, there have been repeated calls for the Government to assist care services with covering the cost of increasing insurance premiums to cover admissions of COVID-positive patients from the NHS and into a care home setting. The Government has provided additional funding, available …

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Dementia charity brings legal challenge against care home visitors guidance

A dementia charity is seeking to judicially review the Government’s decision to publish guidance on visits to care homes. In England, the guidance focuses on giving individual care homes the independence to decide on what specific considerations should be in place in relation to visits. There are different approaches in place for each of the …

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DHSC publish “Overview of adult social care guidance on coronavirus (COVID-19)”

On 25 August 2020 the DHSC published what might be described as a “one stop shop” guidance document called “Overview of adult social care guidance on coronavirus (COVID-19) This page provides information for adult social care providers about COVID-19 guidance and support on the areas listed below and will be updated to reflect new DHSC, NHS …

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Updated guidance ‘Admission and care of residents in a care home during COVID-19′

On 14 August 2020, the Government published updates to its guidance on admission and care of residents in a care home. The guidance, ‘Admission and care of residents during COVID-19 incident in a care home’ updates the previous ‘Admission and care of residents during COVID-19 incident in a care home’ guidance published on 2 April …

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New guidance on visiting arrangements in Care Homes

The Department of Health and Social Care has published new guidance on visiting arrangements in care homes. The guidance sets out: the principles of a local approach and dynamic risk assessment advice for providers when establishing their visiting policy advice for providers when taking visiting decisions for particular residents or groups of residents infection control precautions …

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The CQC’s new “Closed Cultures” guidance – a signal of a new super-critical approach?

The CQC have recently published new guidance for its operational staff on “closed cultures” which it defines as a “poor culture in a health or care service that increases the risk of harm [including] human rights abuses”. Abuse in care has – and rightly so – been high on the CQC’s agenda for a while …

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Poll suggests Government guidance may have contributed to current rate of deaths in care homes

A recent poll by Sky News of care home providers conducted in collaboration with Care North East and the Registered Nursing Homes Association has found that 70% felt pressure from Hospitals to admit residents prior to the current version of government guidance; 41% stated that hospital discharged patients with Covid-19 symptoms and 38% stated that …

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Local Authorities Invoke Care Act 2014 Easements -what does it mean for providers?

Social care provisions under Schedule 12 of the Coronavirus Act 2020 came into force on 31 March 2020 when The Coronavirus Act 2020 (Commencement No.2) Regulations 2020 became law. Under the 2020 Regulations, Local Authorities have the power to misapply or modify certain duties in the Care Act 2014. The new regime does not apply …

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Admitting service users into care settings during the COVID-19 crisis – what does the guidance say?

Earlier this week I wrote an article considering the question of whether a Care Home can be compelled to accept the discharge of a patient who has tested positive for COVID-19. In that article (found here) I submitted that the Government guidance “Coronavirus (Covid-19): hospital discharge service requirements” (published on 19 March 2020) does not …

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Skills for Care issues guidance regarding staff training during the COVID-19 outbreak

The charity, Skills for Care, has issued guidance for adult social care providers in relation to staff training during the COVID-19 outbreak. It is stated on the Skills for Care website that: “During this period, we remind you to stop face to face training and to use digital solutions only.”  Skills for Care acknowledges the …

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