Health & Social Care Workforce Guidance

As a service provider, we would like to invite you to join our network of Health Protection Advocates.

The network has been set up to share information about health protection issues such as infectious diseases, vaccinations, extreme weather, and screening, to help keep Nottingham and Nottinghamshire residents safe and well.

We’ve shared messages about measles and MMR vaccinations, hot weather, hepatitis testing, and norovirus, with advocates from local businesses, community groups, voluntary organisations, schools and local services.

There’s no regular commitment, just a willingness to share messages through your usual communications as issues arise and are relevant to you. As far as possible, you’ll receive email updates with posts or articles that would just need to be copied into your usual comms, supporting your occupational health, health and safety, and profile as a responsible service provider.

We also hope to offer you support including webinars, training, and updates, in a way that works for advocates. We have a growing bank of information and resources in our online Health Protection Hub.

If you would like to join the network, please register by completing the Health Protection Advocate Form. You can opt out at any time if you wish.

Register to join the Health Protection Advocates network

This review is essential to ensure our services are effective, affordable, and accessible. Here, you'll find details about the review's purpose, objectives, and alignment with our strategic goals. Your participation and feedback are vital to the success of this project.

For more information and to take part in our next provider briefing please click here

Digital Skills eLearning

To support adult social care staff to develop their knowledge and confidence in using digital technology, Skills for Care was commissioned by the NHS Transformation Directorate to develop a suite of free-to-access ‘bitesize’ digital skills eLearning modules, in line with the Digital Skills Framework.

The eLearning modules were shaped and co-developed with people within adult social care, including care providers, local authorities, people drawing on care and support and subject-matter experts.

The modules are designed to support people working in adult social care to gain knowledge and understanding on how digital, data and technology is used in the sector.

The titles and themes of these seven modules are:

• using technology to support person-centred care
• technical skills in using technology
• communicating through technology
• using and managing data
• being safe and secure online
• ethical use of technology
• digital learning, development and wellbeing.

Each module has a set of three learning chapters and objectives. They may each take longer to complete if wider learning materials and resources are accessed within each module.

For more information visit the skillsforcare website

Connecting domiciliary care workers in the UK.

Are you a home care worker?

Join us in bringing our community together.

Homecare Workers' Group is a secure online community exclusively for home care workers.

In addition to being a place where workers can find support and community, Homecare Workers' Group connects members with local and national opportunities to contribute to research, campaigns and policy.

Visit the Homecare Workers' Website

What Is Wheels To Work?

The Wheels to Work service provides riders with either a 50cc or a 125cc hire scooter for use to get to and from work. Along with the scooter, the hire fee includes insurance, roadside assistance, a maintenance plan, delivery, a secure lock and a tracker.

Contact Details

• Telephone No: 01327 857213
• Email: info@wheelstowork.net
• Website: www.wheelstowork.net

About the Nottinghamshire Palliative and End of Life Care Toolkit

The Nottinghamshire Palliative and End of Life Care Toolkit has been adapted and developed with kind permission, building on the work of the Derbyshire Alliance for End of Life Care.

It aims to provide advice, guidance, education and support to health and social care teams across Nottinghamshire.

Including care homes, voluntary, community and secondary care services, the Toolkit will enable these teams to improve care outcomes for individuals and those important to them as they approach the end of their lives.

Each section contains both local and national documents and information that has been tailored to that specific area of practice. Therefore, please ensure that any documents you select are in the relevant section to your area.

The Toolkit is also an open, public facing website and aims to raise awareness and contribute to discussion around the experience of death and dying in a supportive way. We would encourage members of the public to explore its contents to seek out relevant information about the care available to them.

Please be aware however that the toolkit is first and foremost designed for health and social care professionals to use.

For feedback and comments, or to raise any changes to the toolkit, please contact Notts.eol@nhs.net

Visit the Nottinghamshire Palliative and end of life care toolkit website

Flu vaccination for social care staff directly working with people clinically vulnerable to flu is strongly encouraged. We have developed this guidance to support staff to ensure there is high uptake of the flu vaccine this season. Those eligible for a flu vaccination include all social care workers and social care workers working with children who are clinically vulnerable to flu.

Those eligible for a flu vaccination

All social care workers who are in direct contact with people who receive care and support should get the vaccine, including:

• Those working in a registered residential care or nursing home and who are directly involved in the care and support of people
• Those working for a registered homecare provider and who are directly involved in the care and support of people
• Those working for a voluntary managed hospice provider
• Those employed through personal budgets and or personal health budgets, such as personal assistants

Why you should get a flu vaccination

Getting the vaccine will help to protect you, your family, and the people you care for from getting the flu.

For people in at-risk groups, such as those aged 65 or over or with an underlying health condition, flu can be a serious disease and can cause death.

As a social care worker, you will be caring for many people in these at-risk groups. Getting the vaccine will mean you are much less likely to spread the flu to those you care for and will help to protect them and yourself this winter.

Vaccination reduces the spread of flu among staff and people receiving care and support, keeping social care services running and reducing the burden on the NHS during the winter. This is true every year, but it is particularly important this year, as coronavirus (COVID-19) is still in circulation.

How to get a flu vaccination

Your employer can support in ensuring that you receive a flu vaccination. They may do this by arranging for you to be vaccinated at your place of work or by arranging for you to be vaccinated off-site. Your employer can let you know which scheme they are running. If not, please ask them

In instances where an employer can not provide a flu vaccination scheme, you can still receive the flu vaccination free of charge from a GP practice or pharmacy through the complementary NHS scheme if you’re a social care worker employed by a:

• Registered residential care or nursing home
• Registered homecare organisation
• Voluntary managed hospice provider

Or, if you provide social care through direct payments or personal health budgets, there is specific flu vaccination guidance for personal care assistants.

Identification needed to prove you are a social care worker

You do not need to present your ID at your local GP practice or pharmacy. However, we will be advising employers to issue staff with a letter identifying you as a social care worker to make the process as easy as possible for you.

When to get the flu vaccine

The best time to have a flu vaccine is in the autumn, before flu starts to circulate. The majority of vaccines are given from September to the end of November but it is still possible to get a flu vaccination through to the end of January.

There is enough flu vaccine for everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated. If you are eligible and are asked to wait, there is still time to get vaccinated at a later opportunity.

Safety of the flu vaccination

The flu vaccines used in the national NHS programme have a good safety record. The vaccines are thoroughly tested before they are made available in England.

You may have a mild fever and aching muscles a few days after having the vaccine and your arm may be sore at the injection site. Further information is available on possible side effects.

Those who shouldn’t get a flu vaccination

Most adults can have the injected flu vaccine, but you should avoid it if you have had a serious allergic reaction to a flu vaccine in the past. If you are uncertain whether you should avoid it due to a medical condition, you should speak to your GP.

You may be at risk of an allergic reaction to the flu vaccine injection if you have an egg allergy. This is because some flu vaccines are made using eggs. Ask a GP or pharmacist for a low-egg or egg-free vaccine.

If you’re ill with a high temperature, it’s best to wait until you’re better before having the flu vaccine.

Effectiveness of the flu vaccine

The flu vaccine is the best protection we have against flu, which can cause serious illness and death in at-risk groups.

Studies have shown that the flu vaccine will help prevent you from getting flu.

Flu is caused by a number of different strains of the flu virus and the vaccine only protects against those that are most likely to cause flu during this year’s flu season. As a result, there’s not a 100% guarantee that you won’t get flu if you’ve been vaccinated.

However, even if you do get flu after being vaccinated, studies have shown that you’re likely to have a much milder and shorter illness.

You cannot catch flu from the flu vaccine because there are no live viruses in the vaccine.

Getting the flu vaccination every year

The strains of flu in circulation change every year, so the protection from the vaccine you had last year will decrease over time.

New flu vaccines are produced every year to protect against the strains most likely to be in circulation, which is why people are advised to be vaccinated every year.

Agreeing to be vaccinated

It’s important that as many health and social care workers as possible get the vaccine – it protects you, your family, and the people you care for from the flu – but if you don’t want to have the vaccine for whatever reason, you don’t have to have it.

Source

Please find some information about a new social care nursing network that is being set up by the Nottingham Alliance Training Hub.

Nursing in social care is such a rewarding career, but often people can feel isolated. One of the biggest lessons we learned through Covid-19 was that working together and supporting one another is essential. Some of you may have been involved in the National Covid-19 WhatsApp support group which won the category, Caring for Older People, in the Nursing Times Awards.

Its success was based on people wanting to work together to achieve.

We want the same opportunities for you as nurses and nursing associate and want to set up a WhatsApp group to help you connect across Nottinghamshire. Setting up a WhatsApp group will:

• Provide you with a support network which you can shape and develop over time.
• Be the first port of call for shared advice.
• Make you aware of any training and development opportunities so you can access them.

If you would like to be added to the ‘Notts Social Care Nurses & NAs’ please email nicola.payne8@nhs.net with the following information:

• Name
• Organisation
• Role
• NMC pin number
• Mobile number

Please note that we are asking for NMC pin numbers to ensure that those within the group are part of the nursing workforce.

To read the full letter please click here

If you have identified any person who fits any of the CHARLIE profile  - please do not hesitate to make an online referral.

As you may know, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service now use an online referral process for Safe and Well visit requests from our professional partners for residents of Nottinghamshire who are, or maybe, at an increased risk of fire. The Service website now has a separate area for ‘professionals only referrals’ that incorporates our fatal fire CHARLIE matrix: it can be accessed under the staying safe heading on our website.

Please be sure to access the website every time you make a new referral. Any old saved links regularly get updated and therefore may no longer work. In addition to this, please could you submit the referral ensuring that you physically type in the address details rather than copying and pasting the information from another source, as this causes a fault within our system and means we are unable to process the referral.

You will need the following credentials to make the referral:

• Website: Professional referral - NFRS (notts-fire.gov.uk)
• Agency Code: agency
• Password: CharliePMx1

An e-learning package has been developed to support the completion of the CHARLIE P matrix that can be accessed on the same professional page on our website. We would suggest that you participate in the package to familiarise yourself with ready for making a referral.

This will give further information about risk identification and scoring the matrix.

If you require any further assistance please get in touch with us at:-

• Email: enquiries@notts-fire.gov.uk
• Telephone: 0115 838 8100
• Text: 07766 299 999 (aimed at Deaf community)

It is important to us that you have the opportunity to make this referral yourself so we can gain as much risk information as possible.  Please do this as soon as possible for any at risk address.

FGM is a procedure where the female genitals are deliberately cut, injured or changed without any medical reason.  FGM is usually carried out on girls before puberty starts, sometimes before the age of 12 months.  FGM is irreversible and very painful, it can be harmful to the health and wellbeing of women and girls.  It can also lead to problems with sex, childbirth and menstruation.  FGM has no health benefits for the woman. 

FGM is a hidden issue which often only comes to light when related health problems occur, or the woman is pregnant. It is against the law in the UK, Europe and many African countries to perform or facilitate this procedure. The practice became illegal in the UK in1985 (The Prohibition of Circumcision Act 1985). More recently the Female Genital Mutilation Act (2003) makes it illegal for any residents of the UK to perform or facilitate FGM within or outside the UK. The punishment for violating the 2003 Act carries 14 years imprisonment, a fine or both. FGM is recognised internationally as a violation of the human right of girls and women.

FGM Mandatory Reporting

FGM mandatory reporting for all women and girls disclosing / identified as having FGM using the FGM enhanced dataset

The FGM Prevention programme is led by the Department of Health to improve awareness, provision of services and safeguarding girls at risk. It is now mandatory for Trusts to submit data re FGM in order to establish a national picture and ensure appropriate services are offered to women and girls. This work specifically will not pass any personal details to the Police or Social Care services – the collection of this data will not trigger individual criminal investigations.

FGM Support Services

• Nottingham FGM Support clinics for women over 18 years old - The clinic is nurse/midwife-led and based at City Hospital Campus and Queens Campus. This clinic can be accessed by calling 0115 9691169 ext 55239.

• Mojatu Foundation - The Mojatu Foundations provides community-based support for survivors of FGM and those at risk of FGM, further details can be found at http://www.mojatufoundation.org/
• NHS National FGM Support Clinics - National FGM Support Clinics (NFGMSCs) are community-based clinics that offer a range of support services for women with female genital mutilation (FGM).

• National FGM Centre - A national FGM centre has been set up, details of this can be accessed here National FGM Centre.

Further Information and Resources

• GOV.UK Resource pack
• Home Office FGM information booklet
• FGM ‘The Facts’ leaflet: Promotional material overview: Female genital mutilation: the facts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• For more information on local and national support please access Equation's website.

Government Guidance

• Government statement opposing female genital mutilation - This outlines what FGM is, the legislation and penalties involved and the help and support available. The statement is often referred to as a health passport.
• Female genital mutilation protection orders (FGM700) - Who can apply for an order, what to do and what will happen when the court receives your application. Includes versions in different languages.

Ending Female Genital Mutilation film

This film was produced as part of the 2014 FGM campaign and is hosted on the NSPCC website.

SCIE and NICE have published a leaflet about the use of covert medication in care homes and homecare settings.

Adults should not be given medicines covertly unless they have been assessed as lacking the mental capacity to make decisions about their health or medicines. If they lack capacity to make these decisions and it is assessed as being in their best interests, they may need to be given medicines without their knowledge or consent (e.g. hidden in food or drink).

Care staff need to be aware of the Mental Capacity Act and its Code of Practice and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards to protect both the person and themselves.

To find out further information please 

Click here