Cornwall Partners in Care News

Domiciliary Care and Supportive Lifestyles Forum

Held on the 24^th November 2020 via Zoom

The meeting was chaired by Christine Rowberry and held via Zoom

Proud to Care Recruitment Campaign

Tish Berriman, Caroline Sommerville, Katy Hutchinson, and Babs Rounsevell attended the meeting to talk about the recently launched Proud to Care recruitment campaign as they have been involved in its development.

The campaign is offering a dedicated phone number, manned by people on rotation. This provides someone from the sector for candidates to speak with to look at what kind of care job they may be interested in.

It is the first time that the private sector, the NHS, and Cornwall Council have all worked together on any recruitment activity.

The campaign is 2 weeks into its 10-week run. Currently the campaign is a trial, but there is hope that this may be able to continue if it proves successful. Over 60k people were reached last week, generating 60 phone calls. There has been a 1000% increase in website traffic for Proud to Care since the campaign launched and one Provider received 31 expressions of interest for an advert over the weekend, so the signs are positive.

It was noted that there are lots of adverts that are not on the Proud to Care website, which could lead to Providers missing the opportunity.

Adverts should have an appropriate named individual as a contact rather than a generic “go to our website” link. The direct contact makes it easier for staff to put candidates in touch with employers.

Action: Katy offered to draft some content to be sent to Providers on the Proud to Care campaign and website.

Babs gave some background to CHAOS’ activities, including CHAOS TV. Richard offered to circulate information and links to our members. Action: Babs to send Richard details of CHAOS TV and other activities for onward promotion and circulation.

Babs was asked if it would be possible to share the campaign stats with Providers. Action: Babs to send campaign info and stats to Richard for onward circulation.

 The point was raised that some areas are hard to recruit in. Penzance and North and East Cornwall were two areas that were highlighted by Providers. CHAOS have offered to focus some of their activities in these harder to recruit areas.

In response to how Providers can help the campaign, Babs suggested that sending details, photos, blogs, stories, etc would be very useful as this would help create additional content to help promote the campaign.

One suggestion was for a standard template for Providers to use if candidates are not suitable. The template could let candidates know the other options, where to go next, etc.

Self-testing / Vaccinating staff

Providers should be getting details on how they can apply for test kits for their workforce.

Action: Christine to send details of webinars for onward circulation.

There was a discussion around the current guidance on how/when to self-isolate, and any recent changes to this guidance.

It was noted that staff can obtain certificates for self-isolating, which may help employers claim Statutory Sick Pay. Certificates are available from https://111.nhs.uk/isolation-note/

The infection control grant issue is still not fully addressed for Supportive Lifestyle Providers who are losing out due to the way the grant is calculated. Providers that deliver longer hours with fewer staff are only getting a payment based on the number of staff even though they will need the same volume of PPE etc as other domiciliary care providers. There is some concern that this may set a precedent that could harm supportive lifestyle providers in the long term.

We are still waiting to hear about the plan for delivering vaccines for domiciliary care staff. Care Homes are the current priority.

Natalie Swift from Swift HR reminded Providers of their obligations under GDPR and to think about how they will process resident and staff data to ensure that it is captured lawfully.

Natalie Swift from Swift HR issued this guidance on GDPR compliance with testing staff and residents to CPIC members following the meeting.

PBM Training

Christine suggested setting up a steering group to look at PBM training and asked for volunteers. Peni, Claire, Diane, Caroline, and Christine offered to join the group and Sue indicated that she has a member of staff that would join too.

Action: Richard to invite all interested parties to a meeting on Monday 30^th December at 14:00 and circulate the questions that Christine would like to discuss.

Any other Business

There was a discussion around whether testing would be mandatory for care staff and whether staff could be disciplined for refusing as it may lead to them not doing their job safely.

Natalie Swift from Swift HR issued this guidance on mandatory testing and dealing with staff who refuse to CPIC members following the meeting.

The meeting also discussed the restriction of staff movement across services as questions were raised about this could be done safely and how Providers are achieving this. It was noted that Providers that have longer shifts (eg Supportive Lifestyles) are probably finding this easier.

Providers are trying to keep the same people per client or client group to minimise cross-infection.

Providers were reminded that the duty of care is to the client, which must come first.

An issue was raised around the visits that some clients receive from other sources (eg Council staff, etc) as these do not always appear to be kept to a minimum.

Action: Providers with an issue around additional visitors to clients are to send details to Christine for reporting to Cornwall Council.

One Provider reported that their Registered Manager was asked to leave a Multi Disciplinary Team meeting as the meeting was “for professionals only.”

The next Dom Care Forum is scheduled for 26^th January 2021 at 10am.