How Hertfordshire County Council is using 'infection control fund' to keep elderly residents safe in care homes

Hertfordshire County Council responds to the Minister for Care
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Hertfordshire County Council, in collaboration with its multi-agency partners, has published a detailed response on how it is using the government’s new ‘Infection Control Fund’ across its care services in the county.

The letter is in direct response to Helen Whately, the Minister for Care, asking local authorities to set out an action plan for how health and care partners are supporting care homes through the challenges presented by Covid-19.

In its letter, the multi-agency group which includes the county council, Hertfordshire Care Providers Association (HCPA) and its Clinical Commissioning Groups, outlined the positive impact this significant financial support has had on its ability to respond at pace to the pandemic.

Hertfordshire County Council officesHertfordshire County Council offices
Hertfordshire County Council offices

Some of the many actions include:

Testing: building on the work already undertaken with testing to ensure that care homes have access to tests based on the guidance both for their residents and staff. This includes extending the county council’s local pathway for testing residents and staff in a community care setting who do not have any active symptoms of the coronavirus.

Infection control: The county council is working collaboratively with partners from across the health industry and have set up a Care Home Outbreak Cell. The Cell is clinically led and draws on social care and clinical expertise from across health and care providers, social care operational staff, commissioners, local Public Health colleagues, Public Health England and the Care Quality Commission. Here they share expertise and intelligence to respond quickly to outbreaks to keep residents safe and well.

Staff support: The set-up of the Provider Hub in collaboration with the HCPA to provide a seven-day telephone helpline, email support and FAQs, for care providers. Since March the team have taken over 1,500 calls and handled over 1,800 emails from care providers. Around 50 per cent of those queries have been about PPE and they have allocated and distributed up to 25,000 emergency sets of PPE (consisting of masks, gloves and aprons) per week since the beginning of April.

Recruitment: Hertfordshire County Council’s existing partnership with HCPA to support care recruitment campaigns and to raise the quality of services within the care market in Hertfordshire has ensured it is able to meet the challenges of maintaining safe staffing levels. HCPA has engaged with 446 providers (74 per cent of care market) to use their recruitment service so they can understand the level of need in terms of vacancies and staffing pressures. Since mid-March an additional 100 people and 250 volunteers have been recruited to support care homes.

Richard Roberts, Cabinet Member or Adult Care and Health said: "I would like to express my admiration for the entire health and social care workforce in Hertfordshire.

"They have shown professionalism, compassion and determination to provide the very best care to people in the most challenging circumstances.

"We believe this letter and the supporting information reflects the significant effort and hard work from staff in care homes and health and social care organisations to provide the necessary and developing needs for care homes to support residents and staff through this pandemic.

"It’s important to note that the current rate of infections and deaths across care homes has already and continues to decline.

"The reality for care homes is that the pandemic is far from over and work is ongoing to prepare for any possible future peaks, however we remain confident that the strength of our collaborative relationships across health and social care in Hertfordshire to date provides a strong platform for us to continue to support residents and staff in care homes to respond to the challenges presented by Covid-19."

Sharon Davies, CEO of HCPA said, “We are proud of the providers in Hertfordshire and how they have reacted to the pandemic with such care, compassion and professionalism.

"This has not been easy for an undervalued workforce and they have truly proved their worth to the citizens of Hertfordshire.

"Our strong existing partnership arrangement with Adult Care Services and health colleagues has enabled us to act swiftly to set up the many additional services which have supported our providers in this extraordinary effort.

"Our hopes are that after this situation has passed, the government is able to recognise social care workers alongside the NHS and value the input they have made."

The full letter to the Minister for Care can be found here.