Care home residents and staff are set to be among the first in the world to receive the new, variant-tackling jabs from Monday 12 September 2022. This is part of the NHS COVID-19 autumn vaccination programme. Furthermore, to encourage protection, GPs will be incentivised to deliver ‘accelerated’ COVID-19 autumn boosters, with payments up to a …
Madelaine McTernan, who was recently appointed hormone-replacement therapy (“HRT”) tsar, to help deal with UK supply issues, has returned to her previous role overseeing vaccines. This is ahead of the planned autumn COVID-19 booster campaign set to commence on 5 September 2022 in England. What is the current status with menopause medication? The Department of …
HRT tsar returns to previous role overseeing COVID-19 boosters Read More »
Nearly half a million more adults in England are now taking antidepressants compared with the previous year, according to NHS data. It is now the sixth year in a row that there has been an increase in both patients and prescriptions for antidepressants. Alexa Knight, who is in charge of policy at the charity Rethink …
Nearly half a million more adults on antidepressants in England Read More »
Care Minister Gillian Keegan has announced that the Government is delaying self-funders access to lower local authority fee rates by 18 months. In a statement on Thursday 7 July 2022, Gillian Keegan outlined that following consultation on the implementation of change with local authorities, the Government has decided to utilise the extension of section 18(3) …
Government announces delays to social care reform by 18 months Read More »
On 18 May 2022, County Councils Network which is a body representing England’s local authorities, released a new independent report titled ‘Preparing for Reform’ report (“The Report”). The Report analysed aspects and costs of the Government’s planned social care reform. The Report estimates that the Government are ‘seriously underestimating’ the costs of its social care …
MPs in England want to reform the current system for clinical negligence claims against the NHS which they believe is failing. It is their view that the current system does not encourage a culture where there is learning from mistakes made in the NHS. The current claims system is expensive with costs predicted to double …
MPs want a major reform of NHS clinical negligence claims in England Read More »
The Department of Health and Social Care (“DHSC”) published statutory guidance on 24 March 2022. Local Authorities (“LAs”) are required to report to DHSC on cost of care exercises for 65 years plus care homes and 18 plus domiciliary care together with a Market Sustainability plan and details of how they have spent the new …
Care providers can influence fair fee rates – Seize the opportunity Read More »
On 19 April 2022 The Guardian published an article revealing that some local authorities are paying substantial costs for children to be placed in a privately run children’s care home. Private providers have defended these figures, citing the rising cost of living alongside high staffing levels needed for complex children as justification for the costs. …
Local Authorities pay up to £1m per child in private children’s homes Read More »
In due course, the Liberty Protection Safeguards (“LPS”), introduced under Schedule 1 to the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 (“MC(A)A 2019”) will replace the current Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (“DoLS”) set out in the Mental Capacity Act 2005. However, before this happens there are a few hurdles to cross, as detailed below. On 10 March …
An Update in Relation to the Implementation of the Liberty Protection Safeguards Read More »
On 10 February 2022, the CQC published a statement in response to the guidance published by the Department of Health and Social Care (“DHSC”) which lifts visiting restrictions in care homes. In the statement, the CQC explained that its expectation remains that care homes follow the latest Government guidance which is now to ensure that …
CQC’s statement on DHSC guidance regarding visits to care homes Read More »
Ridouts is a team of specialist health and social care lawyers, providing dedicated legal advice for care homes, GP practices, children’s homes, dental practices, domiciliary and home care agencies, supported and independent living services and both private and NHS hospitals.
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