The Carer Digital - Issue #31

T H E P U B L I C AT I O N F O R N U R S I N G A N D R E S I D E N T I A L C A R E H O M E S

W W W. T H E C A R E R U K . C O M

The Carer Digital

THECARERUK

Issue 31

THECARERUK

COVID Winter Plan Published but Figures 'Don’t Add Up'

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has published the government’s COVID Winter Plan, which will include care homes being able to permit family visits over Christmas by testing relatives for COVID-19.

Families and loved ones wanting to visit relatives in care homes will have to make certain they test negative for coronavirus and wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and follow infection control measures throughout their visit, but the Prime Minister says this plan means every care home resident can have two visitors, who can be tested twice a week.

The plan states: ‘If a visitor has a negative test, is wearing appropriate PPE, and

follows other infection control measures, then it will be possible for visitors to have physical contact with their loved one, such as providing personal care, holding hands and hugging.

‘The government wants to bring an end to the pain of separation and help care homes bring families and loved ones together in a way that recognises the risks but enables these to be managed in the best way possible.’

Testing of residents will also be increased in December to once a week.

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PAGE 2 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT Welcome to the latest edition of The Carer Digital!

“There are only four kinds of people in the world. Those who have been caregivers. Those who are currently caregivers. Those who will be caregivers, and those who will need a caregiver.”

ROSALYN CARTER

Editor

Peter Adams

The government’s Winter plan (see our front cover this issue) will allow relatives to visit loved ones in care homes over the festive season.

Boris Johnson announced that by the end of this year, every care home resident can have two visitors, who can be tested twice a week. I see no reason why we must wait until Christmas. The isolation care residents have suffered has been devastating and can see no reason why the scheme cannot be rolled out now.

Residents over the age of 65 unfortunately will not be able to leave their care home to spend Christmas with their family.

Families, the plan states, will be allowed to reunite when measures are temporarily eased from 23 to 27 December, allowing three households to form a

“Christmas bubble”.

However, government guidance for care homes in England says that outside visits should only be considered for residents of working age, due to the increased risk of exposure to coronavirus.

The impact of the emotional pressure these rules and regulations bring to residents and to care homes and staff particularly at what should be the happiest time of the year is deeply concerning.

This is an area where the government, as well as residents and families, do have my sympathy. I often say they are between a rock and a hard place. The government handling of the COVID crisis and care homes earlier this year drew enormous criticism, which has culminated in a legal challenge alleging “failure to protect care homes from Covid” clearing its first hurdle at a court hearing this week.

So, it would come as no surprise that the government is exercising as much due diligence as possible.

Nevertheless, the emotional toll on residents, families and staff will be unbearable.

Another significant issue described as the “elephant in the room”, and rightly so, is the cost of these tests to care homes and the resources available. The government has completely mismanaged PPE, wasting tens of millions of pounds, which could have been spent here UK with credible, reliable and competent companies who have been working flat out to keep the sector running.

And while leading industry bodies are welcoming the prospect that care residents will

be able to enjoy family visits, they are also expressing deep concerns of the intolerable burden the possibility of conducting 11 million tests, and spending 3.6 million hours of testing every month will have on the sector.

With respect to cost and resources Vic Rayner chief executive of the National Care Forum again rightly states that either they (The Government) have so little knowledge of what happens in a care home that they assume this can happen without additional resources, or conversely so little respect for what people are doing and the care that others need that they think that this can happen without impact on the care provided.

This has all the hallmarks, yet again, of a badly thought out plan, brought with the best of intentions but doomed to create confusion, chaos and exacerbating the heartache isolation has caused to care residents and their families.

The government has not sent a single press release to us regarding the Winter plan, and the policy expected in care home visits and testing. We have had to seek them out when they should have been forthcoming!

The government has 4 weeks to provide clarity and more importantly support. The alarm bells have been raised well in advance; the care sector has been working flat out the pandemic began under the burden of over 100,000 vacancies each day.

So I would echo the words of Mike Padgham of the Independent Care Group: “If Mr Hancock knows social care as he claims he does, he should know the extra resources this will need and would fight for greater financial support for the sector. We invite him to visit a care home on the frontline to see for himself the impact these new tests will have.”

I would also take this opportunity once again to remind you to send your stories, thoughts and views, we are always delighted to include some wonderfully uplifting stories from care homes throughout the country so please do keep them coming, I can always be contacted at editor@thecareruk.com

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THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 3

COVID Winter Plan Published but Figures 'Don’t Add Up' (...CONTINUED FROM FRONT COVER) The Winter plan sets out the end of national restrictions and the steps ministers will take to help bring life back to normal by Spring.

The plan seeks to bring R below 1, find new ways of managing the virus and enabling life to return closer to normal, and minimise damage to the economy and society.

The collective effort during national restrictions has brought the virus back under control, slowed its spread and eased pressure on the NHS – meaning national restrictions will end on 2 December.

England will move back into a regional, tiered approach – safeguarding the gains made, and using scientific advances in vaccination, treatments and testing to enable life gradually to return closer to normal by Spring.

However strong concerns of been raised about resources available and costs involved in the government’s plan.

Vic Rayner, Executive Director at the National Care Forum said “We have consistently called for a more supportive approach to care home visiting and to the rollout of testing beyond care homes to the wider care sector, so it is hugely positive to see reference to that in the Winter Plan.”

“However, the truly wonderful news about the vaccine and the seemingly extraordinary news about the new elasticity and capacity of the testing regime are overshadowed by the giant elephant in the room of cost and resource.”

“It is a real cause for concern that the government feels able to announce a quadrupling of the testing regime within individual care homes without even considering any extra resource to do this. Either they have so little knowledge of what happens in a care home that they assume this can happen without additional resource, or conversely so little respect for what people are doing and the care that others need that they think that this can happen without impact on the care provided.”

“This sounds harsh – and to be fair it feels harsh against a backdrop of a plan which does – for once – put social care front and centre of the things that need to happen. However, it is unfortunately a position borne out of long experience – once again reinforced by the announcements in that self same Winter Plan that is providing the NHS with an additional £3 billion ‘to preserve the essential and necessary functions of the health care system’ – whilst at the same time asking the care home part of the sector to simultaneously process an additional nearly 11 million tests per month without any additional resource. That is some cheap super lab!”

“So – to the maths.

The government has provided funding for care homes in the form of the Infection Control Fund (ICF). This second wave of the fund was smaller in totality, apportioned more widely across the sector, and spread over a longer period. For a care home – the outcome of all of this was a much smaller pot.”

“Our estimations are that a medium sized care home of 50 residents and 100 staff will receive somewhere between £5.5k and £6.5k per month to support all of the multiple core objectives of the Infection Control Fund.”

In November 2020 this ‘average’ 50 bed care home was being asked to deliver the following tests:• 50 Resident PCR tests monthly – administered in the home and sent off to the lab.

• 400 staff PCR tests – administered in the home and sent off to the lab.

• This already adds up to 450 tests undertaken per home.

All of these tests need to be ordered, received, administered (with consents documented) logged online, recorded on the government portal, updated in resident and staff records, dispatched, and then all the results appropriately recorded and stakeholders informed.

In December 2020, this ‘average 50 bed’ home will now be asked to deliver the following tests (we’re assuming a mix of PCR and Lateral Flow Tests):• 50 Resident PCR tests – administered in the home and sent off to the lab • 150 Resident Lateral Flow Tests (additional tests) – administered and processed within the home • 400 Staff PCR tests – administered in the home and sent off to the lab • 400 Staff Lateral Flow Tests (additional tests) – administered and processed within the home • 800 visitor Lateral Flow Tests – administered and processed within the home (additional tests)

These additions take the total tests to a minimum of 1,800 tests undertaken per care home.

“The PCR tests need to be administered as described above. The Lateral Flow Tests need a different system, currently primarily manual, to record and log tests and results. In addition, the tests need to be taken in a dedicated environment, and held for processing for half an hour. The results then need to be communicated and relevant action taken – which could be visitors accessing the home, or being asked to go away and test. In the situation of resident testing positive, will involve taking an additional PCR test and sending away for analysis.”

“So, in short, with no additional resource for December onwards, the ‘average 50 bed care home’ will need to administer an additional 1,350 tests per month minimum. Even on extremely conservative estimates about the length of time to manage each test – for example an average 20 minutes – this still adds an additional 450 hours to the testing regime in a single home or an average of 9 hours additional time on testing per resident of a care home per month. Which if you apply across the 400K or so residents of care homes, scales up to a staggering additional 3.6 million hours per month of testing alone. Which without additional resource – is 3.6 million hours per month which cannot be used to provide care.”

“With this in mind, it is not just insulting, but dangerous for government to suggest this can be delivered without extra resources and staff. We are already seeing members raising huge concerns and anxieties about how they are expected to deliver to this.”

“Of course government will reiterate that it has provided funding through the Infection Control Fund. Yet, the ICF cannot provide the response that is required. It is already flexed way beyond capacity in meeting existing requirements. There is no way that this can be stretched to cover nearly 11 million additional tests per month.”

“However, it seems that the Government believes that time is cheap in care – it has demonstrated that in spectacular technicolour in the COVID Winter Plan. Late on the 13th November the government put out a short notice 10-day consultation on the introduction of legislation around restriction of staff movement in care homes. I have no doubt there will have been hundreds of responses on this hugely contentious issue, equating to thousands of hours of social care time. The consultation closed at 12pm on the 23rd November, and by 3pm that same day the COVID Winter Plan was produced, enshrining the inception of the same said legislation that the introduction of had been out to consultation some three hours earlier, by the end of the year. Now that feels like the action of a government that not only doesn’t ‘know social care’ but also does not value or respect it’s work or it’s time. Warm words yet again provide cold comfort for social care in the latest Winter Plan.”

PAGE 4 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

The OT Show & Care Show Have Teamed Up to Bring You The Virtual Care Festival Care professionals in a safe space.

The Virtual Care Festival will run like an actual event but from the comfort, safety and convenience of your own living room. Just like a conference centre, you’ll be able to move around and talk to your colleagues like you would at any face-to-face event. This virtual space is split up into 4 areas for easy navigation.

The Entrance Lobby – this is where the journey starts with easy navigation to all the theatres, exhibition hall, and a help desk for advice.

Exhibition Hall – Where you can explore the latest brands, technologies and engage with the exhibitors. This virtual space allows you to have face-to-face conversations with the best companies in the industry.

Visitors can explore over 50 interactive leading suppliers, showcasing different products and services for all their organisation needs, such as; Arjo, CareLineLive, CoolCare, Opera Care, Recrutive, Sumed, Vileda Professional, My Learning Cloud Limited, Essex County Council, AKW, Closomat, Hill-Rom, Accora Limited, OSKA, CareLineLive, Medequip and Opera Care.

Networking Lounge – Networking opportunities amongst peers and new acquaintances. A place to meet attendees, speakers, and other exhibitors.

The Theatres – Where the learning takes place. 5 theatres with worldrenowned speakers to gain over 60 hrs of CPD engagement.

The OT Show and Care Show will be running the UK’s first Virtual Care Festival on the 25th – 26th of November 2020. The festival will be a great opportunity to gain CPD through lectures and seminars, presented by our esteemed speakers from the industry, network with colleagues, and meet your favourite exhibitors.

In a time where face-to-face learning for health and care professionals is restricted, there still needs to be a space where professionals can network, learn and explore the latest innovations in the industry. The Virtual Care Festival will be a place where OT professionals can do this with ease. Today, audiences expect more. Not death by PowerPoint or disruptive phone calls, but a tangible online experience that is human, interactive, and engaging.

The Virtual Care Festival 2020 will run on 25th and 26th November. The event will be the largest digital gathering of Occupational Therapists and decision-makers working in social and private care both domiciliary and residential in the UK.

WHY THE VIRTUAL CARE FESTIVAL? At the beginning of August, The OT Show conducted a survey to over 22’000 of OT professionals to see find out what could be done to help with their continued learning and development in the absence of face-to-face events. Out of those 22’000, a stunning 84% said online webinars would be the most beneficial under the current circumstances. To fulfil the needs of our OT community, we have designed the Virtual Care Festival.

Although the live event can’t go ahead this year, we wanted to organise an event that was safe for both our community of Occupational Therapy professionals and their patients alike. We understand that a great deal of our audience work hard to support and improve the lives of vulnerable people, therefore, we felt it irresponsible to try and run an event in a live setting.

HOW WILL IT LOOK? As a result of COVID-19, a number of physical event spaces have been turned into hospitals. Amongst these are the NEC Birmingham and ExCel London where Care Show and The OT show are run from.

Alongside this, physical events have been unable to continue as a result of the rise in cases and possibility of a second wave. However, there has never been a more important time to provide an opportunity for OT and

SPEAKERS To provide an event that will benefit the education and learning of our community we have talks from some of the top names in the industry, some of which have provided excellent presentations at our live events in the past.

Among these are Dr. Michael Iwama, Dean at MGH Institute of Health Professions, Rt Hon Sir Norman Lamb, Former MP, Chair of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Chair of the Children’s and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, Michael Mandelstam, Legal training in social and health care at Michael Mandelstam Ltd, Debbie Ivanova, Deputy Chief Inspector (DCI) of Adult Social Care at CQC and Nadra Ahmed OBE, Chairman of NCA. The Virtual Care Festival will take place on Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th November 2020 between 09:00 – 17:00. Information on joining the event will be made available upon registering via email.

Secure your free place at: https://www.careshow.co.uk/thecarerUK

Dorset Leader of Multi-Award-Winning Learning Programmes Shortlisted For Care Champion Award Alison Innes-Farquhar, former Director of People Development and Engagement, before her retirement in June 2020 at care provider HC-One, has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Care Champion category at the prestigious National Care Awards 2020.

The shortlisting follows an impressive and successful career spanning 30 years in the health and social care, during which Alison worked for the NHS, a number of health and social care companies and ran her own company project managing multi-award-winning learning programmes for social care providers. Prior to her retirement this year, Alison was the Director of People Development and Engagement at HC-One for nine years.

Alison joined HC-One in 2011, as part of a team of six led by HC-

One’s founder Dr Chai Patel CBE FRCP. Dr Patel is a doctor, entrepreneur and philanthropist, and led the team to form HC-One, rescuing over 200 care homes following the collapse of Southern Cross.

Alison was involved in all aspects of HC-One’s conception, early growth and development, including the company name, values, brand, organisational structure and recruitment. Whilst Alison was in her role at HC-One, she led the people to function with responsibility for the design and delivery of people development projects and oversaw Colleague engagement initiatives.

The National Care Awards 2020 marks 22 years of celebrating the very best people working in the care sector and those who go above and beyond to provide consistent exceptional care. The National Care Awards ceremony will be taking place virtually this year on Wednesday 25th November, when the winners will be announced.

Sir David Behan CBE, HC-One’s Non-Executive Chairman, said: “We are delighted to have eleven HC-One finalists chosen by the judging panels for the National Care Awards, National Dementia Care Awards, Care Heroes Awards, Great British Care Awards and The

Northern Echo County Durham Together Awards this year. This is an amazing achievement, and I am so proud of our finalists. Alison has made an exceptional contribution to the lives of Residents and Colleagues during her career at HC-One. We wish her a well-deserved retirement.

Dr Chai Patel CBE FRCP, Founder of HC-One, who nominated Alison for the award, said: “Alison has made an unparalleled contribution to the development and learning of Colleagues in social care. She has been a life-long pioneering champion in every sense of the words. She embraced technology, fearlessly fought hard to get budgets and developed great passionate teams who single-mindedly broke down the barriers to learning and opened up possibilities for thousands of her Colleagues.”

Alison is one of eleven HC-One finalists that have been shortlisted in the National Care Awards, National Dementia Care Awards, Great British Care Awards, The Northern Echo County Durham Together Awards and the Care Heroes Awards 2020 across a variety of award categories.

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THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 5

Urgent Need To Save Care Providers From Closure

Care providers who look after some of the country’s oldest and most vulnerable people urgently need Government support to survive as they wilt under the pressure of Covid-19.

Representative body The Independent Care Group (ICG) said the danger of losing home care providers as well as those running care and nursing homes grew greater every day.

The group was commenting after a survey of providers who look after people in their own home revealed that more than a quarter of them risked going out of business.

ICG Chair Mike Padgham said: “This confirms what we have feared for a long time, that the social care sector is in extreme danger and that providers and local authorities need urgent help to protect the care of our most vulnerable.

“Covid-19 hit a sector that had seen £8bn cut from its budget since 2010-11, some 1.4m people going without the care they need and 100,000 care vacancies on any one day.

“The brutal impact of coronavirus has exacerbated all of those problems and is leaving a sector on its knees. We need greater government support now and urgent reform of the sector for the future.”

A study for BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours programme found that out of 2,731 home care operators in the UK, 715 were in danger of closing.

The sector has combined debts of £100m.

Mr Padgham said he supported the United Kingdom Homecare Association (UKHCA) in its working, calling for more support for the home care sector and a fairer price for the care it provides.

He said the results echoed the ICG’s own survey of members – who represent both home care providers and the owners of care and nursing

homes – earlier this year.

Then, 45% of those who responded said they envisaged their business being at financial risk because of the ongoing fight against coronavirus.

But Mr Padgham added: “The roots of the current crisis hitting social care providers goes back much further than Covid-19.

“We have suffered many years of neglect – all coronavirus has done has laid that neglect bare and left many providers on the brink of collapse. We need to see urgent action on reform or when we finally get through Covid-19 there won’t be a social care sector left.”

Social care currently looks after 400,000 people in care and nursing homes – that is three times the number in NHS hospital beds. Social care looks after a further 640,000 people in their own homes.

The ICG wants to see: • The total integration of NHS healthcare and social care • Social care free at the point of need, funded through taxation or National Insurance • A commissioner for older people and those with Learning Disabilities in England • A national career pathway and salary framework for care staff • Professional registration for care staff • A properly costed national rate for care fees • Needs-based continuing healthcare (CHC) payments

Government Issues Winter Plan “Guidance” for Residents Visiting Families at Christmas Care home residents over 65 will not be allowed to join loved ones at Christmas, despite an easing of restrictions over the festive period.

Under the government’s Winter plan announced earlier this week families will be allowed to reunite when measures are temporarily eased from 23 to 27 December, allowing three households to form a “Christmas bubble”.

However, government guidance for care homes in England says that outside visits should only be considered for residents of working age, due to the increased risk of exposure to coronavirus.

The guidance on care homes applies to England states that: Visits out of care homes should only be considered for care home residents of working age. Residents, their families and care homes should very carefully consider whether this is the right thing to do, or whether visiting at the care home would provide meaningful contact in a safer way.

Some residents of working age may be able to leave their care home to form a bubble, in agreement with the home and subject to

individual risk assessments. A care home resident may form a bubble with one other household, and should not form a three-household Christmas bubble at any point.

If a care home resident does join a household for Christmas they should maintain social distance, wash hands regularly, and let plenty of fresh air into rooms by opening windows and doors.

Others in the household should take steps to minimise the risk to the care home resident and others in the care home, recognising that introducing coronavirus to a care home puts all those who live and work there at risk. All members of the bubble should: • take steps to minimise their potential exposure to coronavirus by limiting the number of people they meet for two weeks prior to allowing a care home resident into their household • talk to the care home about getting tested prior to meeting the care home resident outside the care home. In order to safely return to the care home, the resident will need to be tested and isolated. We will provide further details shortly through the publication of relevant guidance.

In order to safely return to the care home, the resident will need to be tested and isolated. We will provide further details shortly through the publication of relevant guidance.

Gavin Terry, head of policy at Alzheimer’s Society, said thousands of relatives would be in “complete despair” at the guidelines and called for a national rollout of visits to “keep the spirit of Christmas alive”.

“After eight harrowing months filled with devastation and tragic loss of life, the announcement that many care home residents will be facing Christmas alone is just heartbreaking,” he said.

“Every day we hear from families who would give anything to see their loved ones, and we know there will be thousands of people in complete despair at this announcement.

“We have to put a stop to people with dementia tragically dying from loneliness and urgently need to see a national rollout of testing and visits to care homes, to keep the spirit of Christmas alive for people with dementia.”

PAGE 6 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

Prepare Now for Tougher Inspections Ahead, Care Homes Warned Care homes owners across the country need to start planning now for tougher CQC inspection criteria, a leading law expert from Preston has warned.

Rachel Adamson, from Adkirk Law, says that the impact of Covid-19 on the sector could lead to stricter requirements in the near future.

With the latest government figures showing over 20,000 deaths involving Covid-19 involved care home residents, Rachel says it is inevitable that any future inquiry will suggest even stricter enforcement from the inspection body.

She said: “We’re sitting on the edge of another cliff face for care home owners. Not only are we expecting significantly more people to require social care support over the next twenty years,

but Covid-19 has exposed some vulnerabilities that the Government can’t ignore.

“I think any inquiry into these care home deaths will undoubtedly lead to tougher inspection criteria beyond the main five questions, and potentially stricter criminal and civil enforcement.

“For care home owners, protecting their residents is always priority number one, but they can only do that by protecting their business. Making sure that they are ready for future inspections means being able to retrospectively answer questions on their approach to the pandemic and being prepared to make the necessary changes quickly to protect their reputation and rating.

“While the frequency of inspections has slowed due to the pandemic, care home owners

should not rest on their laurels. In the near future the enforcement action for a failing home could be come even more serious and those homes which prepare for that now will be in the best place to look after their residents and their business.”

Adkirk Law is a leading UK Law firm offering a niche practice with expertise in regulatory law.

Rachel Adamson and her team have successfully challenged the CQC for many years. Rachel instinctively understands the challenges care providers are facing and has extensive experience in representing organisations and individuals facing enforcement procedures; poor inspection reports and other compliance action being taken by the CQC.

Celebration of Surrey Social Care Sees Celebrities Line Up to Praise Care Workers A virtual event celebrating social care in Surrey saw celebrities line-up to praise the hard work of care sector workers during the pandemic, applauding them for going above and beyond to help those in need.

The likes of Piers Morgan, David Walliams, Charlotte Hawkins, Andi Peters, Katherine Kelly and Nadia Sawalha produced personal videos for the event where they thanked staff across the county for their continued endeavours throughout the coronavirus crisis.

Taking place online via Zoom on Friday evening, 20th November, the event, which was hosted by the Surrey Care Association, paid tribute to the incredible efforts undertaken by the sector’s workforce – and was held in place of the association’s traditional awards night, which normally pays tribute to those carers who go over and above. This year though, it was deemed that that applies to everyone in care – so a celebration of all was held instead.

The night featured speeches from the board of directors of the Surrey Care Association who were all dressed in celebratory black tie in honour of the occasion. These were interspersed with clips that served to showcase the best of the sector, using videos sent in from Surrey care providers to create a positive, vibrant array, while the celebrity endorsements added another layer of glamour to the affair.

Piers Morgan’s contribution saw him bring up his Surrey roots, before saying: “I want to thank all the carers in Surrey. What an amazing job you’ve been doing this year, helping so many hundreds, thousands of people in one of their darkest times. Thank you, keep up the great work. It’s going to be another tough few months coming up but I’m sure you’ll be up to the challenge – so on behalf of everyone like me, born in Surrey, thank you to the carers.”

Charlotte Hawkins echoed these sentiments, saying: “I wanted to give a message to all the care workers of Surrey and everyone at the Surrey Care Association to say a big thank you for everything that you’re doing. I live in Surrey and I wanted you to know how appreciated you are locally. Thank you for all the hard work and dedication that you’ve shown, particularly throughout the last few months with the pandemic, because I’m sure that must have been working in incredibly difficult and challenging circumstances, so a big round of applause from me.”

The event lasted for almost an hour and a half, with several hundred care workers registering to watch the occasion from the comfort of their own homes. Making the most of Zoom’s chat function, the event even allowed attendees to network remotely with other care workers from across the county. In keeping with the spirit of the evening, participants took the opportunity to show support for and celebrate each other’s successes, whilst sharing ideas for future collaboration.

Erica Lockhart, CEO of the Surrey Care Association, said: “Care workers in Surrey have faced tremendous challenges throughout 2020, but they’ve risen to the task magnificently and are continuing to do so. We wanted to host an occasion that would help to convey the enormous gratitude that people have for their efforts, while also giving them a chance to reflect on what they do, recognising that they’re a much-valued workforce, doing incredible things for the most vulnerable. A huge well done to all social care workers, not just in Surrey but beyond, and a big thank you to all who contributed to the event.”

See a video celebrating the event at https://vimeo.com/483093966/5be1a3b7f9

THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 7

Age UK Research Estimates That One In Seven Older People Have Had Care Reduced New Age UK research estimates that one in seven older people who received social care prior to the pandemic have had their support reduced Age UK calls for an immediate funding increase to support social care in the forthcoming Spending Review Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, 210,000 people over the age of 65 – one in seven of those receiving care before the pandemic – have seen a reduction in the care they have received, according to new Age UK estimates.

Of the 13% (1.4 million) of the population in England aged over 65 who were receiving care before the pandemic began: • 8% are receiving less care (112,000 people) • 7% are no longer receiving any care (98,000 people) • i.e. a total of 15% (one in seven) of those who had been receiving care have seen a reduction in the care they received (210,000 people).

This worrying finding needs to be considered against a context in which out of the 2.7 million people aged 65+ in England who said they had care needs, a million (38%) said these needs were not always being met.

Age UK has also recently carried out polling[ii] on how the pandemic is impacting on older people who need help with the ‘activities of daily living’ – one of the principal ways in which the need for social care is judged. This found: • 33% of older people who were already struggling to get up and down the stairs say this is now much more difficult or more difficult • 39% who already found it hard to walk short distances outside say this is much more difficult/ more difficult • 40% of people who already found it difficult to shower, wash, or have a bath say this is now much more difficult/ more difficult • 43% of people who already found it hard to clean/ tidy their house say this is now more difficult/ much more difficult.

It seems that as medical experts predicted would occur, being shut away at home for long periods during this health emergency is leaving significant numbers of older people with reduced mobility and experiencing what clinicians call ‘deconditioning’ – a loss of physical capacity due to muscle weakness, as well as joint pain. Ordinary activities, such as going upstairs or washing, have therefore become difficult, and previously independent older people have become reliant on walking aids to move short distances, which they used to manage with ease.

The Charity says that among older people there is a strong relationship between having significant long term health problems, like heart disease and diabetes, and developing a need for care. Not only have these older people with long-term health conditions had reduced access to their usual health care during the pandemic, their coping methods, such as physi-

cal exercise, support groups, or even day-to-day routines, have been disrupted. On top of this, the stress and anxiety caused by the pandemic has often had a knock-on effect on their health.

The Charity says that when you put these findings together they show that the need for social care is certain to be increasing during the pandemic but, worryingly, that fewer older people are actually receiving the help they need, compared to before.

If older people have to struggle without adequate social care support this undermines their resilience and makes them more susceptible to falls, and to illnesses. This in turn is likely to increase pressure on the NHS, at a time when it already under immense stress because of the pandemic.

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK said: “Unfortunately, our new findings show these key trends in social care are going in the wrong direction: our older population’s need for care will be increasing due to this health emergency, but one in seven older people have told us that they are actually receiving less help than they did before the pandemic began.

“Without the support they need there’s a very real risk of older people experiencing falls they might otherwise have avoided, and of generally becoming more susceptible to illnesses of all kinds. If you step back and look at health and care in the round it’s obvious that investment in social care pays dividends for the NHS as well – and as they battle COVID-19 our health services clearly need all the help they can get.

“The fact is that social care was in no position to withstand the battering it has received from COVID19 and, despite everyone’s best efforts, the system is struggling to respond. Social care was grossly underfunded before the pandemic and the Government’s emergency injection of funds helped but was simply not enough. As a result, social care staff and the services they deliver are being stretched appallingly thin and, as ever, older and disabled people, and their families, are being left to pay the price.

“The Government keeps saying it is committed to ‘fixing social care’ but every day it seems they announce new money for one highly deserving initiative or another – and care always misses out. After the tens of thousands of deaths in care homes during the first wave it’s only right that this vital public service gets the financial support it requires. If not now, when?

“As an institution the Treasury has the reputation for turning a deaf ear to any and every call to put more money into social care, but this Spending Review is Chancellor Sunak’s opportunity to show he is bigger and better than that. We are calling on him to invest several extra billion into social care right now, and to give us all hope that later this year, the Government really will issue a funded plan for transforming social care for the better, once and for all.”

Helping the Community at Coventry Care Home Residents and Colleagues at HC One’s Brandon House care home have been getting involved with the shoebox appeal.

A number of the Residents at the Coventry care home have been helping the staff to put together shoe boxes filled with items.

The homes wellbeing coordinator Ree Bolton saw the appeal mentioned on Facebook and told others at the home and everyone wanted to get involved.

Overall the home has now put together 43 boxes for the Coventry Carries of Hope charity, who will deliver the boxes to children of

all ages at Christmas who have very little.

It’s been a hard year this year for everyone, and the home really wanted to do all they could to give back to the community and help others. They want to make sure that children receive presents this year that might not have.

Christmas is a time for giving and joy, and hopefully these shoeboxes will help to spread some festive cheer.

Sheryl Davis, the home manager, said “my team have come up with this and all pulled together to help the children in our community, it’s brilliant.”

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PAGE 8 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

New Analysis Reveals the Gender Disparity for Business Owners in The Residential Care Sector Equal Pay Day 2020 – the day in the year when women effectively, on average, stop earning relative to men – fell on Friday 20th November.

Sarah Young, VP of Member Engagement at Tide, commented that “Equal Pay Day highlights pay discrimination, which is one of the contributing factors encouraging many women to take the plunge and start a business of their own”.

To discover the industry hotspots specifically for female-owned businesses, Tide collaborated with DueDil to analyse directors’ data for businesses formed in the last 5 years. By comparing those with maleonly directors, female-only directors, and mixed-directors, the research uncovered that, across the majority of industries, new companies (<5 years) with male-only directors far outweigh those with mixed genders or female-only directors.

Justin Fitzpatrick, co-founder and CEO at DueDil, added that “last year’s Rose Report highlighted that if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men it would add £250m to the UK economy. With male businesses outnumbering female businesses by a factor of roughly 3 to 1, there’s still a long way to go. Equal Pay Day is an important effort to correct a clear injustice that drags on our economy and impacts everyone, not just women”.

However, the research also revealed the handful of industries where businesses are most likely to have female-only directors. For new companies formed within the last 5 years, these included those related to

residential care activities were the 15th most common industry for businesses with female-only directors – 5,096 business in this SIC code were formed with female-only directors in the last 5 years, 3,633 of which were formed within the last 12 months.

Sarah Young continued, mentioning that “Tide is committed to supporting business owners from a diverse range of backgrounds, so we hope this advice gives prospective businesswomen the inspiration and encouragement to start their own ventures. By the end of 2022 we will help at least 50,000 women and 20,000 people from BAME backgrounds get started on their entrepreneurial journey. With Tide, business owners can register a limited company and open a business account, all in one go, for free. It takes minutes to apply, and you can have your certificate of incorporation within hours*. We even pay the £12 incorporation fee on your behalf”.

Justin Fitzpatrick added that “we’re proud to be partnering with Tide to make the account opening process as seamless as possible and supsocial work activities without accommodation, veterinary activities, human health activities, and activities of households as employers of domestic personnel.

For businesses formed in the last 12 months, businesses related to residential care activities also featured in this list. Businesses related to

port more underrepresented entrepreneurs to realize their dreams”.

To find out how to register a new limited company, visit: https://www.tide.co/company-registration/ To read the full study, visit: https://www.tide.co/blog/tide-update/equal-pay-day/

Survey Reveals Less Than One In Four Providers Receive COVID Test Results In 48 Hours A survey conducted by the National Care Forum (NCF) has revealed that just 24% of care providers are receiving COVID test results within 48 hours.

A survey of members conducted in October revealed that “very high levels” of whole home testing compliance (99%) with only 2% of tests returned to retest and 1.2% not returned.

During a press briefing on November 19, led by NCF’s Vic Rayner, with guest speakers Jane Ashcroft CBE from Anchor Hanover, Zoe McCallum from Brendoncare and Phil Orton from Making Space, Ms Rayner said testing was “hugely better” and the sector was “in a different place” to a month ago but the speed of obtaining test results remained an issue.

The survey was completed by care providers operating 1,240 care and support services throughout England, employing 35,124 staff and supporting 28,810 residents/clients. The data looked at the period 1st – 31st October 2020 and used key themes to provide a snapshot of some of the issues affecting care providers, including whole home testing, access and supply of PPE, care home visiting, the care workforce and impact on provider finances. The results of the survey provided a mixed picture, showing some areas of positive achievements and also identified key issues to be resolved.

Christmas countdown. This is an ambitious goal and one that urgently needs a clear, deliverable timetable with sufficient funding to support care providers to make meaningful visits a reality.

PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) The supply and access to personal protective equipment (PPE) gives a mixed picture. On the one hand 100% of NCF respondents who are eligible to register on the PPE Portal have registered and were predominately using this method to source PPE, however, the survey found that the allocation of PPE through the Portal was only meeting an average of 48% of the providers’ COVID-19 PPE needs and responsibilities. 99.9% of respondents were having to purchase additional PPE themselves in order to meet their requirements. Providers are unable to stockpile to create a buffer in the case of an emergency and the zero rate VAT on PPE was removed at the end of October thereby exacerbating the financial pressures of accessing PPE to providers.

The NCF is calling on the government to build on the success of the whole home testing initiative in care homes and to widen the rollout of testing across other care settings, to include supported living and extra care housing. Improvements are still needed to increase the speed of getting back test results to make sure testing remains an essential part of the fight against COVID-19.

WHOLE HOME TESTING

CARE HOME VISITING

The findings showed that there had been very high levels of compliance by NCF respondents who provide residential care homes with COVID-19 whole home testing across services, with 99% of care homes taking part in this programme when eligible. Of the providers responding to the survey there is a low incidence of testing failure with only 2% of tests returned for retest and 1.2% not returned.

Importantly, the speed of obtaining test results remains an issue, with only 24% of the providers in the survey receiving test results within 48 hours. However, tainting these positive results is the shocking evidence that only 1.3% of supported living services or extra care housing schemes operated by NCF members responding to the survey are getting access to the single round of testing promised by the government.

Despite the guidance on visiting in care homes only being issued a few weeks ago, the survey highlights the commitment of not-for-profit care providers in uniting residents of care homes with their relatives and loved ones. NCF respondents reported that 94% of their care home services are actively taking steps to facilitate family and friends visits during the period of the survey by using a variety of different initiatives to make visits possible. On average, our respondents are spending around £4,000 per care home to make visits possible. This is an additional cost that is currently being covered by care providers as the Infection Control Fund is not sufficient to meet the demands currently placed on the fund.

The NCF said that they welcomed the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s commitment this week to facilitate family visits in the

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THE CARE WORKFORCE Between the period 1st – 31st October, the average level of vacancies reported by NCF respondents is 10% and the average absence rate is 7%. The data also shows that 9% of their staff currently work in other care or health care settings. The government consultation on regulating to restrict the movement of staff raises a number of concerns. Care workers are already low paid with limited terms and conditions and any measure that sets to penalise care workers fails to understand the seriousness of the issue. Given that the country is experiencing a second wave of COVID -19 and the current vacancy and absence levels reported here and the fact that 9% of staff also work in other care or health settings, proposals to regulate and enforce measures relating to staff movement seem very ill-timed.

FUNDING – OCCUPANCY 95% of respondents thought there would be an impact to their financial performance in the next financial year 2021-2022, with over 80% forecasting a decline in revenue and almost 95% forecasting an increase in costs. Furthermore, care home providers had seen a decrease in occupancy to an average of 85% from an industry average of 89% – 90% in 2019.

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THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 9

Death Rise is Stark Covid-19 Reminder Another rise in Covid-19 care and nursing home deaths provides a stark warning that the virus hasn’t gone and is still claiming the lives of loved ones, carers have said.

The Independent Care Group (ICG) said the country couldn’t afford to get carried away and complacent after a further 425 people in homes died.

ICG Chair Mike Padgham said: “With all the positive talk of vaccines and Christmas get-togethers, it is tempting to think that Covid-19 is going away, but that isn’t the case.

“Today’s ONS figures bring us down to earth. It is another significant increase, and our hearts go out to those who have lost loved ones.

“As Churchill put it, ‘This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning’.”

Latest figures show that 425 people died from Covid-19 in care and nursing homes in the week up to 13th November – a jump from 280 the previous week. Some 16,849 people died from Covid19 in care and nursing

homes between 28 December and 13 November.

Mr Padgham added: “We haven’t got the vaccine yet and this fight isn’t won. Looking forward yes, there is much to be positive about but in the meantime, we must step up our efforts to protect each other and particularly protect the most vulnerable.

“There is much talk of get-togethers at Christmas, but we must proceed with caution. Nothing has changed, older and vulnerable people are still the most susceptible to Covid-19 and it is still spreading.”

The ICG represents care providers who look after people in their own homes, in care and nursing homes and extra care housing as well as providing day care and support for those with learning disabilities and mental health problems.

It says it is vital people follow the lockdown rules and that the Government supported care and nursing homes.

Care Home Operators Demonstrate Resilient Performance Despite The Challenges Of COVID-19 The UK care home sector has adapted immensely well to the challenges posed by COVID-19, resulting in a resilient trading performance, despite the continued challenges around staffing, according to the latest UK Care Homes Trading Performance Review 2020 by leading global property adviser Knight Frank.

The Knight Frank care home index, which collects data from corporate care home providers across the UK, encompassing 112,000 beds across 819 towns and cities, reveals that despite the challenges of the pandemic, care providers have remained incredibly resilient. Although occupancy fell by 8.5% during Q2 2020, recovery has already begun with the occupancy rate up by 1.2% in the third quarter, and rigid testing procedures in place mean that operators are well prepared in the event of a second wave.

Staffing issues continue to be the most critical challenge for care home operators both in terms of cost and recruitment. This has been exacerbated by COVID-19, with staff costs increasing by 3.7% among other growing costs. The cost burden has resulted in average weekly care home fees rising 6% in the last 12 months, adding to the trend seen in the last decade.

Many providers continue to see staffing as a major area of concern and staff costs represented 58% of income in the 2019/20 financial year. This is particularly acute given the social care funding crisis, however the Adult Social Care Infection Control Fund, which was introduced to support infection control and related costs, is set to last until March 2021 and is providing a buffer for operators.

There has been a limited impact on care home profitability thus far in the pandemic, with EBITDARM having declined only by 0.6% so far in 2020. This is as a result of the care operators and the social care workforce who have rallied to protect residents, support the wider healthcare system, and made significant personal sacrifices in the process.

Julian Evans, Head of Healthcare, Knight Frank, said: “This crisis has demonstrated the resilience and capability of our residential care sector and shown the outstanding collaboration between the private sector, social care sector and NHS at this time of need. Undoubtedly, the pandemic has tested and will continue to test operators financially well into next year, but it’s critical that we continue to champion the incredible performance of care home operators and their workforces during the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Unfortunately, the pandemic has also highlighted the lack of investment by successive governments into the sector, and therefore the urgent need to prioritise preventative and crisis funding. COVID-19 has merely accelerated trends to scrutinise those buildings that are not fit for purpose whilst emphasising the insufficient funding available for

reinvestment into existing care homes, which has therefore expedited the number of potential care home closures.

“Looking forward, group operators are now in a much stronger position and demand for elderly care beds remains incredibly robust in the UK, however staffing and ongoing funding continue to be the most critical areas of concern in the industry, with many providers affected by the social care funding crisis. A comprehensive solution is needed to address this and increase the number of registered nurses available to the care sector.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed additional pressures on the care home market which had already seen closures due to a range of factors including the continued impact of the National Living Wage affecting an already constrained labour market and ongoing staffing challenges, with an acute shortage of qualified nurses, combined with restrained care home development owing to building material inflation costs.

COVID-19 has also highlighted the need for investment and innovation in the UK healthcare property sector, having accelerated trends that will lead to closures of care homes, that are no longer fit for purpose, resulting in a significant national shortfall of bed provision. Knight Frank predicts that care home design will adapt to meet future virus experience and that care homes will need to innovate their operational procedures post COVID-19, including an increased use of telemedicine.

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PAGE 10 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

Christmas Is A Time For Singing, Say Care Organisations A group of sector leaders in music and care is helping care settings to keep singing as a part of their Christmas 2020 activities.

The collaborative group has published a leaflet which draws together current guidance, research, and safe practice consideration and resources to help keep singing and music going. This includes ‘suggested principles of safer singing’ Public Health England Guidance, published on Friday 20th November.

The group is led by the Musical Care Taskforce, co-convened by Music for Dementia and Live Music now, working in partnership with National Care Forum, National Activity Providers Association (NAPA) and Care England.

‘Keeping singing in tune with COVID-19 restrictions’ will help carers and care providers decide whether and how to lead singing and music activities over the Christmas period and beyond, as well as setting out steps in planning and risk assessing a session.

The leaflet highlights why singing is important, especially during current times, and stresses that it’s not about how well you can do it, it’s about having a go, joining in and having fun.

Grace Meadows, Programme Director for Music for Dementia, said: “Christmas and singing are synonymous, and we want everyone - carers and residents alike - to be able to experience that uplifting feeling of

joining in with familiar festive songs and carols in a COVID-safe way.”

Nina Swann, Acting Executive Director, Live Music Now, commented: "We are delighted to be supporting music and care professionals to work together to keep person-centred, meaningful music going in the current challenging and difficult circumstances."

Martin Green, Chief Executive of Care England, said: “Singing and music are so important to people’s wellbeing, and I am so pleased that this document will help care homes to be able to continue to bring the joy of singing and music to their residents.“ Vic Rayner, Executive Director, National Care Forum, commented: “At NCF we think that music is absolutely at the heart of great care. Being able to sing together brings communities together -and never has it been more important to have that sense of connection. We hope that this resource will support organisations to once more raise the rafters as they begin that all important countdown to Christmas.”

Hilary Woodhead, Executive Director, NAPA, said: “Creating connections through song and singing is an integral part of activity and engagement and supports wellbeing. If anyone would like to discuss how to introduce the approaches included in the leaflet – please call the Free NAPA helpline on 0800 1585503 or email helpline@napa-activities.co.uk.”

Local Care Home Apprentice Wins Regional Apprenticeship Award A catering assistant from a care home in Walsall has received praise for winning the Apprentice of the Year, West Midlands Region, of the National Apprenticeship Awards for 2020.

John Brookes, 18, who started working at Anchor’s Harden Hall in Coalpool Lane in October 2018, won the award while attending the virtual regional finals for the National Apprenticeship Awards on zoom on Friday 6 November.

John, who recently won Anchor Hanover’s internal Apprenticeship of the year Award, will now be entered into the National Finals to win the National Apprentice of the Year.

John said he was delighted to have won the regional final and was honoured to be considered for the national award but said it had only been possible thanks to the support from other members of staff at Harden Hall.

He said: “I’m proud to have won the regional final, it was an honour just to be nominated! I joined up as an apprentice in a care home because I wanted to give something back to the older generation who have done so much

for this country. I wanted to take good care of them so their families knew they were in good hands.

“I really enjoy my job and working as an apprentice has taught me so much. I’m just glad that Anchor and Harden Hall have encouraged me to do what I love. This wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for such a great team that have pushed me to be my very best from the very start.”

Paula Borland, Anchor’s Leadership and Talent Manager, praised John for all his work.

She said: “John has shown commitment and dedication not only to his learning journey as an apprentice, but to his colleagues and more importantly our residents. He really does think of how he can use his skills and talents to benefit them.

“One thing that stood out in his application was that although ideas and tasks are carried out by John, he always refers to the success as a team effort.

SmartSpaces Work with St Teresa's Care Home and Opens ‘Garden Room’ To Support Covid-Safe Visiting

St Teresa's care home in Wimbledon, which provides high quality nursing & residential care to up to 28 people, is proudly announcing the opening of its temporary ‘garden visiting room’. SmartSpaces are proud to work with the Care Home to provide this much needed family support for both the residents and family members. SmartSpaces offers a bespoke design service for their garden rooms so made sure the design meets all the requirements.

The purpose-built wooden cabin is situated in the communal garden at the Home and provides a safe space for relatives to visit residents whilst Covid-19 continues to pose a risk. SmartSpaces designed this build to have a seperate access for the resident and also for the family members.

The Home has implemented a wide range of health and safety measures since the pandemic outbreak was declared, which has involved stopping all external visits from the beginning of lockdown, to limited, socially distant visits wearing PPE. The team has been keen to find a way to make visiting more comfortable for residents and their loved ones so has created the temporary garden room. SmartSpaces designed a bespoke space which was both suitable for the residents and family in this testing time. Equipped with a Perspex screen to separate visitors from residents, an intercom to make communicating easyandthe room enables loved ones to get together without increased worry. The room is well insulated andappropriately heated.

Home Manager Chris Glynn said; “At a time of great uncertainty we all look to our families for support and lockdown has prevented this personal contact. Technical solutions only have a moderate benefit for our Residents, so we needed something that would provide a more personal experience for Residents & families, plus a solution to an ever changing set of rules.

With Smartspaces we were able to design a bespoke space that addressed the unique needs of a Covid secure visit. Visits are now safe-

ly conducted in a warm and comfortable environment, that allow Residents & families to relax, enjoying their time together. It has made the world of difference to our Residents & families, a visible difference to their well-being.”

For more information on how SmartSpaces can create a covid safe visiting room, get in touch www.smartspaces.co.uk, info@smartspaces.co.uk. or call 0800 6345223

THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 11

Stopping Movement Of Staff Between Care Settings 'Challenging' According to Care England The government’s proposals to ban the movement of social care workers between care homes will be difficult to implement in practice, according to Care England.

The representative body said in its response to the Department of Health and Social Care’s [DHSC] consultation on the proposals that the implementation of the regulation is likely to create “risks” in specialised services such as those for people with learning disabilities and/or autism.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, says: “Although the proposed regulation is aimed at minimising the risk of infection of Covid-19, many care providers already have clear procedures and processes to manage safe staffing levels and staff movement which are regularly reviewed. This is simply another bureaucratic hoop for adult social care providers to jump through. The real answer to managing infection prevention and control in adult social care settings is testing. If staff were able to access a greater frequency and efficacy of test prior to a shift, there would be less need to limit staff movement”.

The consultation, found at GOV.UK, was launched to seek the views of the adult social care sector in rela-

tion to the introduction of regulations that create a requirement on residential and nursing care home providers in England to restrict the movement of staff providing personal care or nursing care in their services.

Care England’s response details why this proposed policy will struggle to work in practice across all residential or nursing care settings, focusing on the following areas: • The implementation of the regulation is likely to create specific risks in specialised services, for example those supporting individuals with learning disabilities and/or autism.

• There will be a significant impact on low-paid staff.

• There will likely be a consequence on staff mental health and levels of fatigue.

• A greater degree of clarity is required around what role CQC will play in this policy. A consistent and proportionate approach is necessary.

• It is worrying that these regulations will converge with the UK’s departure from the European Union. The failure of the Immigration Act to appropriately support the adult social care sector will adversely affect the sector.

• The Infection Control Fund [ICF] is simply not enough to cover compensating both staff and other employers when a member of staff is asked only to work for one employe Martin Green continues: “We are at a loss to understand why if these measures are to be introduced across adult social care settings, the movement of NHS staff between NHS settings is not being subjected to the same regulation. The difference in the treatment of the adult social care sector and the NHS seems to be disproportionate and unjustified.”

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PAGE 12 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

Balancing the Risk of COVID-19 with Visits to Residents

By Mary - Teresa Deignan, barrister at Temple Garden Chambers (www,tgchambers.com)

A care home is a complex environment - meeting the holistic needs of residents and providing a safe working environment for staff is challenging. The impact of COVID-19 on care homes, including on visits to residents, has been widely reported, including, in some cases, no visits taking place causing hardship to residents and those wishing to visit them.

Matters may appear to have been made more complex following the release of new government guidance to be used whilst national restric-

tions are in place from 5th November 2020. This guidance can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visiting-care-homesduring-coronavirus. It has been suggested in some quarters that the guidance could lead to what has been called a ‘post code lottery’ if some Directors of Health ‘permit’ visits to residents in care homes whilst others don’t.

No guidance changes the duty of employers to comply with health and safety legislation.

So what are the fundamentals of health and safety legalisation for care homes?

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 sets out the framework for managing workplace health and safety in the UK. The Act sets out the duties of employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees, clients, visitors and members of the public.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 make more explicit what employers are required to do to manage health and safety under the Act. A key provision of the 1999 regulations is a suitable and sufficient risk assessment and to record the significant findings of the risk assessment.

COVID-19 risk assessments will need to look at what activities or situations might cause a risk of transmission of the virus, identify who could

be at risk, consider what actions could be taken to remove the risks, or, if this is not possible, to consider what actions could be taken control the risk.

One of the areas of activity that care homes will be required to assess, particularly with the approach of Christmas, is visits to residents in the home. The generality of the above applies but will have to be particularised for visits. For example, do particular areas of the home/rooms require a risk assessment; does an individual resident require a risk assessment; does a particular activity eg entering and leaving the home require a risk assessment? The Health and Safety Executive provides some general advice eg on social distancing and hand hygiene, but this does not displace the obligation of employers to undertake suitable and sufficient risk assessments.

All risk assessments, including those for visits, are to be monitored and records made to assess their effectiveness and be regularly reviewed and updated.

Every care home is a unique environment and each resident themselves unique whose needs may change; all risk assessments will have to be undertaken and reviewed bearing these factors in mind together with the continuing and rapid developments in COVID-19.

Mary-Teresa Deignan is a barrister at Temple Garden Chambers

1000-mile Drive for Dementia Road Trip raises £3000 for Alzheimer’s Society A convoy of modern classic cars that toured England, Wales and Scotland has raised £3000 for Alzheimer’s Society.

The ‘Drive for Dementia’ campaign was the brainchild of friends Pete Shergill, Craig Johnson, and Harj Sadhra who all work in the UK’s care and care home sectors.

The fundraiser combined their love of modern classic cars with their quest to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s and dementia, which currently affects 885,000 people in the UK, and around 70% of people living in care homes.

The trio drove 1000 miles over four days, making scheduled, socially distanced stops at care homes and home care providers in Uttoxeter, North Wales, Lockerbie, Wetherby, Leeds, and Burton Upon Trent.

Pete Shergill is UK Director of PainChek,® the company behind the world’s first intelligent pain assessment tool that uses artificial intelligence via a mobile device to detect micro-expressions in the face that indicate pain. Pete drove his Ford Focus ST, Harj Sadhra his BMW Z3 convertible, and engineer Craig Johnson the support vehicle.

Pete says: “Alzheimer’s Society is transforming the landscape of dementia forever, and now more than ever, needs financial support so it is able to maintain its vital support and specialist services for people living with dementia and those caring for them. Driving for Dementia is our way of supporting Alzheimer’s Society and we are delighted to have hit our £3000 fundraising target.”

Ryan Stanley, Community Fundraiser for Alzheimer’s Society West Midlands says: “We are extremely grateful to Pete, Craig and Harj for raising £3000 with their Drive for Dementia fundraiser. It is an incredible achievement in the current climate and will go a huge way in making a difference to people whose lives are affected by dementia.

“Over the last 7 months, demand for our services has increased, and people living with dementia are being disproportionately affected by COVID-19, with 1 in every 4 deaths relating to coronavirus being someone living with dementia. During this time, we are also expecting to lose between 30-40% of our income due to cancelled fundraising events, which is why every supporter means so much to us, and we can’t thank Pete, Craig and Harj enough for their support.”

PainChek,® which was founded on research from Curtin University in Western Australia, is currently used in 25% of the country’s aged care facilities, benefitting around 50,000 people living with dementia, and launched in the UK earlier this year.

Pete adds: “About half of people living with dementia suffer from pain, but they are often unable to verbalise they have pain, and sadly, it goes unmanaged and untreated.

Dementia does not cause pain, but a person with dementia is more susceptible to increased levels of pain compared to others as they have a higher risk of falls, accidents and injury.

“PainChek is a CE-marked pain assessment tool, powered by AI, available as a point-of-care app on mobile devices, which takes a three-second video of a person’s face and applies AI to identify facial micro-expressions indicative of pain. This information is then automatically combined with other non-facial indicators of pain, recorded by a carer on a digital checklist, and an overall pain score generated.”

PainChek® is available for download – subject to a user enterprise licence - on the Apple App Store and Google Play, and can be operated via any compatible smart device at the point of care. To further information, email: info@painchek.com or visit: https://painchek.com/uk/

Bucks Care Worker Surprised Residents And Penguins with Special Award to Waddle For Children In Need Celebrate 40 Years of Service

Residents and staff at Old Milton Road, a supported housing service for people with learning disabilities in New Milton, have been on a penguin-themed waddle in aid of Children in Need.

Residents at Old Milton Road learning disability service, part of Sanctuary Supported Living, initially struggled to understand social distancing.

Inspired by one resident’s love of penguins and the film ‘Madagascar’, Local Service Manager, Alison Notman, began to encourage residents to follow the Madagascar penguins’ catchphrase and just ‘Smile and Wave’ when greeting people.

Since then, staff and residents have created large cut-out penguins, called Smiley and Wavy, who have lots of adventures, including helping residents to feel comfortable wearing masks.

They even feature on their own YouTube channel!

Wanting to give something back to others after a difficult year, the residents recently decided to

take Smiley, Wavy and all their social distancing penguin pals on a week-long sponsored waddle around New Milton, to raise money for Children in Need. Thanks to the generosity of the team at their local Lidl store, the residents had a trolley to transport them all in, as penguin feet are only small and get tired easily.

Alison Notman said: “I’m so proud of all the residents, staff and penguins who took part, they’ve done a great job waddling around town for Children in Need. I’d also like to say a big thank you to our local community too. Everyone who saw us was so supportive and joined in with the smiling and waving – we even got some people doing their own penguin impressions – and I’m really pleased that we were able to bring a smile to so many people’s faces. Thanks to their kind and generous donations, we’ve so far raised over £350 for a great cause.”

Brenda Dawson has worked for charity care provider Ambient Support and its predecessors for 40 years as a care worker, a milestone celebrated with a surprise presentation by the charities’ CEO Mark Milton, via video call.

Brenda, from Little Horwood, near Winslow began her career in care in 1980, at ‘Swanbourne’ care home.

Swan House care home was built some years later to replace Swanbourne, and Brenda along with 16 residents moved into the new home. Brenda has been their supporting residents at the home ever since.

Speaking of how things have changed over the years, Brenda says: “Care has changed considerably over the 40 years. Nowadays, there is lots of training

and support – which is fantastic. Things have definitely changed for the better, for both the care workers and residents as care is much more person-centered with people treated as individuals, just as they should be.”

Swan House supports older people including those living with dementia and home manager Denise Curtis, added: “Brenda is one of the most patient and kind people you could hope to meet. Nothing is ever too much for her and she always goes the extra mile to make sure residents with even the most complex needs are happy and supported. She really doesn’t like a fuss, but we wanted to do something special to mark her incredible career with us.”

Mark Milton, CEO, was delighted to mark this special milestone, saying: “I wanted to personally thank Brenda for her years of service at Swan House and let her know how appreciative we are for the huge difference she makes to the people she cares for each and every day. It really does demonstrate that people can enjoy a full and fulfilling career in a caring role. She is one of a number of employees at Ambient that are celebrating long-service awards with us this year.”

Brenda, who is 69 years young and past the age of retirement, has no intention of stopping, added: “It feels quite strange and I’m amazed that 40 years has passed! I feel incredibly lucky to have a job that I love.

My children keep telling me that I should stop work, but I’m not ready to stop yet!

THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 13

Wales To Introduce Visitor Testing and Free Care Home Visiting Pods break. Since August, guidance has supported the reintroduction of indoor visits where possible with a designated indoor visitor.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething said: “We all know how difficult recent months have been for people living in care homes and their loved ones, however ensuring the safety of our most vulnerable has always been paramount.”

“We recognise both the distress and sadness that has been experienced since March, but also the desire from care homes to facilitate visits before and during Christmas as well as throughout the winter. Having engaged with key stakeholders, we are confident these units are a way to enable meaningful visits to take place.”

“The pilot scheme will help us to understand whether visiting pods are an effective and practical way of supporting meaningful visits. We will use this learning to determine whether we should consider commissioning a bespoke Wales-based solution in future if the course of the pandemic means this is required.”

Temporary ‘pods’ are being provided to care homes across Wales to better facilitate visits over Christmas and the winter months, the Health Minister has announced.

The £3million pilot will cover the procurement, installation and lease of 100 units, with an initial 30 being installed and ready to use before Christmas.

The semi-permanent units will be available for a period of 6 months, whilst longer-term solutions are sourced and put in place.

This also includes £1million for plans to support providers who prefer to make their own arrangements on a similar basis.

Expanding capacity within care homes will help to better support riskassessed visiting during the winter months as some care providers have found it difficult to support socially distanced visits due to a lack of internal visiting space.

Visiting restrictions for care homes were eased as wider lockdown restrictions were lifted in the summer, and again following the fire-

Quantum Care Homes Recognised for Their Outstanding Achievement Staff in Quantum Care homes across Hertfordshire were delighted to receive Outstanding Achievement Awards at the Hertfordshire Care Providers Association Awards ceremony which took place on Friday 20th November.

Each home received a trophy in recognition of their outstanding care and support for residents during the Coronavirus pandemic.

The annual ceremony is hosted by the local Association, which represents Hertfordshire care providers from across the social care sector. It is usually held at Knebworth House, but this year was replaced with a virtual awards ceremony

hosted on YouTube.

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The evening featured photos and videos from organisations across the county, as well as messages from a range of celebrities including Bill Roach, Cheryl Baker and Shania Twain.

Chief Executive Maria Ball said “It means so much to all of our teams to receive these awards. They have been working tirelessly throughout the pandemic to ensure our residents have received the highest standards of care in the most difficult of circumstances. I am truly proud of the exceptional lengths our teams have gone to, each and every day, and am absolutely delighted that they have been

THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 15

First Stage Of Legal Challenge Over “Failure To Protect” Care Homes From Covid Cleared A woman whose father was a resident in a care and died with Covid in April this year has won the first stage of a legal challenge over measures taken to protect those living in care homes from the pandemic.

Dr Gardner’s father, Michael Gibson died in the care home where he was a resident after it re-admitted without Covid testing a former resident who had been in hospital. Mr Gibson’s death was recorded as “probable Covid”, according to documents before the court.

In her challenge Dr Cathy Gardner, from Sidmouth in Devon, claims there was a failure to implement “adequate” measures to protect residents and argues that the treatment of care homes up to and during the pandemic was unlawful, including guidelines allowing Covid-19 patients to be discharged from hospitals into care homes untested.

Dr Gardner, who is bringing her case with another individual, Fay Harris, alleges the measures breached human rights and equality laws.

Dr Gardner said: “This is for the thousands of families affected by the loss of loved ones in care homes since March.”

Jason Coppel QC alleged in written documents presented to the court that “Between March and June 2020, more than 20,000 vulnerable care home residents in England and Wales, including the fathers of both of the claimants, died from COVID-19.

“The defendants’ failure to implement timely, adequate measures to protect vulnerable care home residents from the ravages of Covid represents one of the most egregious and devastating policy failures of recent times.”

Representing the government Sir James Eadie QC said the challenge was “unarguable” at Thursday’s hearing.

He said that in the early weeks of the pandemic, the focus was on ensuring the NHS was not overwhelmed and “that means at the

sharpest point that was ensuring capacity in intensive care units to deal with the most severely affected cases” Mr Justice Linden granted permission for a full hearing of the challenge against the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and Public Health England by Dr. Cathy Gardner, whose 88 year-old father died in an Oxfordshire care home on 3 April.

Mr Justice Linden said at a remote hearing she should be given permission to pursue her case on all grounds saying it “crossed the threshold of arguability”.

“I consider it in the interests of justice for the claim to be heard,” he added.

DHSC, NHS England and Public Health England oppose Dr. Gardner’s challenge and asked the judge to dismiss the case.

Newcastle-Under-Lyme Care Home Coordinator Wins Dignity In Care Award Anna extended to her concern for the wellbeing of residents’ relatives too. She understood how difficult it was for families to be unable to see their loved one in person, so she personally provided them with updates and photographs to keep them informed.

On being named a Champion, Anna said: “The dignity and wellbeing of the residents I support is my priority, so I’m humbled and proud to receive this award. It’s a heartwarming reminder to our entire team that we really are making a positive difference to people’s lives.”

Mahesh Patel, CEO at Minster Care Group which runs Abbeywell Court, said: “As a national care home provider, Anna’s achievement is an inspiration to us all. The welldeserved recognition she has received for going above and beyond to deliver care with patience, compassion and empathy to all of our residents is a testament to our values. We are incredibly proud of her.”

The Activities Coordinator at Abbeywell Court Care Home has been named as a Residential/Nursing Care Home Champion in the Dignity in Care Awards 2020.

Anna Majkut was announced as a winner in a digital ceremony that took place on 11 November, having been nominated by the relative of one of the residents she cares for.

The nomination explained that Anna goes out of her way to keep residents happy and entertained through activities such as karaoke, arts and crafts, trips to local venues and garden parties in warmer weather, as well as boosting their confidence with personal care – assisting ladies with anything from manicures to hairstyles and fashion. Anna was recommended for always putting residents first, with their dignity being her main concern.

In a year where in-person visits at care homes have been restricted, the praise for

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PAGE 16 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

Is Your Care Home Throwing Away Money Unnecessarily?

It’s The Big Waste Question – Part 1

By Graham Flynn, MD of Anenta (www.anentawaste.com)

You may be surprised, or more worryingly not, to hear that up to 90% of clinical waste and 35% of offensive waste produced in care homes is contaminated with recyclable materials. Big deal! So what, right?

Well, the big deal is that putting recyclables into the most expensive waste stream is costing care homes dearly. The good news is that there are simple solutions that can save your care home thousands of pounds each and every year, at the same time as enabling you to comply with legislation. Graham Flynn, Managing Director of healthcare waste management specialist Anenta explains how in this two-part article.

So, what does it cost your care home to be non-waste compliant?

What’s the impact on your staff? How is it affecting your bottom line?

Are you meeting regulatory requirements? And what’s the consequence of a poor waste management policy on your waste collection providers?

These may well be questions that you’ve not considered too deeply given the pressures of running a care home, but I’m willing to wager that’s all about to change.

Here are a few facts that should make you sit up and think. If you’re not waste compliant – and by that I mean your staff either don’t under-

stand what waste should go into which waste stream, or worse, they don’t care – you could be paying £650-£850 per tonne for waste collection when you could be paying £150-£300 per tonne. That’s an eyewatering difference, right?

It’s a stark example, but if you find that your staff put items into orange clinical waste bags, which should go into other more cost-effective waste streams, that’s exactly what it could be costing you. Items that are not recyclable, which could go into domestic waste, or items that should be in the offensive waste stream - such as heavy incontinent pads - are all too frequently found in the wrong waste stream.

Having proper segregation of waste matters; and not just in terms of cost. Covid-19 has put the subject of proper waste management processes into sharp relief. It’s also led to an accentuation of the problem as items that can and should go into different streams wind up in orange waste bags due to confusion or concern about potential coronavirus contamination.

There’s no doubt about it. Having an ambiguous waste policy is costly on many levels. Audits regularly show that 70% of waste is consistently put in the wrong waste channels within the care home sector. Now, while that might not be costing you £850 per tonne, it will be costing you. The question is how much?

So, what’s the answer to this thorny issue? If you don’t have proper training and a consistent waste management policy in place, nine times out of ten, you’ll find that staff put waste into the closest waste bin to them to save time. If that happens to be the offensive waste bag, that will be costing you £300-£500 per tonne. Granted, that’s not as bad as heavy offensive waste going into clinical waste bags, but it’s still the equivalent of sand through your fingers, and expensive sand at that.

The other way to look at this is that if the 70% of incorrect items were placed in the correct steams, you’ll be making a 70% saving on what your inefficient waste disposal footprint is currently costing you.

To overcome this issue, you first need to understand just how bad the problem is in your care home or care home group. Undertaking an independent audit will help you establish that. It should cover analysis of policies, training and compliance with legislation, and include composi-

tional analysis of waste in a series of spot-checks. To ensure consistency of approach, especially where multiple care homes in different geographic locations are concerned, it should also be undertaken by the same auditor.

Based on feedback from the audits, you can start to resolve many issues at hand. It’s the first step on the path to ensuring that you have a good waste management process in place. It’s a process that will facilitate improvements that are helpful both to the business and to your staff. It will also enable consistency of approach, aiding training, making colleague’s lives easier.

However, it goes deeper than that, and in the second part of this series I’ll explain not only how waste audits keep you compliant - ensuring that hazardous waste can continue to be collected by your waste contractor - but how they enable you to negotiate contracts more costeffectively, potentially saving your business thousands of pounds each year.

For more information about Anenta, visit www.anentawaste.com or call 033 0122 2143.

Read part 2 in next week's Carer Digital.

Resident Who Celebrated 104th Birthday at Hertfordshire Care Home Imparts Cheeky Advice for Younger Generations A resident who celebrated her 104th birthday at a Hertfordshire care home has shared some words of wisdom to the younger generations; ‘Life is short, so make the most of it!’

When asked what the secret was to living a long and healthy life on Saturday November 21st, birthday girl Joyce Birrell playfully told staff and fellow residents at Foxholes Care Home, near Hitchin, not to take life for granted, as even after surpassing a century in age, she felt time had flown by.

Although the current national lockdown and Foxholes’ stringent infection control protocols prevented what would usually be a big celebration involving family and friends from the community, the home worked tirelessly to still throw a birthday party, albeit socially distanced, to mark the occasion. The highlight of which included an emotional surprise visit from her son and close family members, who wore PPE and kept a safe distance.

Surrounded by birthday decorations, Joyce, who shares a 100-year age gap with her great grandson, was treated to gifts, a buffet spread of nibbles and a special singalong to some of her favourite songs from years gone by. Joyce also received a large birthday card full of messages from the Foxholes team, who plan to frame it for Joyce so she can see all her birthday wishes from those close to her on display.

Foxholes’ Neeti Gandecha and Adele Querele, who helped organise the party, said: “We may have to alter the way we celebrate special occasions due to the current climate, but that didn’t stop Joyce, her family and the residents and staff from having a great time. Joyce is an incredible personality to have around the home and her positivity is

absorbed by all those around her.”

Born in Bicester in 1916, Joyce grew up in Hendon, north London, being the youngest of three sisters. Her father was a works manager at London’s Sunbeam Cars where he worked on Henry Seagrave’s world land speed record motor, which clocked over 200mph in 1927.

Growing up, Joyce and her family enjoyed trips to the south coast, where she was often found playing on a beached First World War German submarine.

Joyce attended London’s Kingsbury County School before getting a job at Heinz while training as a chemist, which ultimately led to her working at the Indestructible Paint Company, in Park Royal. It was there that she met her future husband Morris, who worked in the same laboratory testing paints.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Morris left to join the RAF and served in Coastal Command, primarily in what is today Sri Lanka.

During the war years, Joyce was a first aid ‘first responder’ and, when bombs rained down on Park Royal factories, she was one of the first to pull the injured out of destroyed buildings.

After the war, Joyce and Morris married and moved to Weybridge before settling in Stanmore, where, after losing a first son, they had Michael. Morris was promoted as a Director of Reckitt’s in Hull and the couple moved to live near Beverley, where they travelled the world well into retirement, before Morris sadly passed away in 1997.

A ferociously independent woman, Joyce delivered ‘meals on wheels’ to people in the area until everyone she was delivering to was younger than her! She even renewed her driving license online at the age of 95, before finally moving into Foxholes seven years later.

Michael said: “To me, mum was one of the unsung heroes of the Second World War. She always put others before her own safety and undoubtedly saved many lives. My mother has always had a very positive outlook on life and always has a smile. She’s lived an incredible life and when she moved into Foxholes, she was greeted with a warm welcome and was very happy and appreciative of the kind care of staff.”

Ixworth Care Home Unveils New Visitor Pod A care home in Ixworth has introduced a new visiting pod to allow residents and their loved ones to meet indoors this winter, as the Covid-19 pandemic continues.

Over the last few months, residents at The Beeches Residential Home has been enjoying socially distanced garden visits with their family and friends, but with the winter fast approaching concerns were raised as to how these visits could continue through the colder months.

The visiting pod will allow for only two people in the room at once and includes Perspex that will sit in between individuals and hand sanitiser stations.

The Beeches is maintaining their strict safety procedures inline with Public Health England, maintaining social distancing within the visiting pod to ensure it is Covid-secure for visitors.

Bev Shave, deputy home manager at The Beeches, said: “We are delighted to debut our new visitor pod. This has been a much-welcomed development in unprecedented times, and we are very happy to be able to give the gift of time and space for our residents and their loved ones.

“We’re all looking forward to the day when they can hug each other, but until then, we hope that our new secure visitor pod will make it a bit easier for our residents and their families.”

DO YOU HAVE A CHRISTMAS UNSUNG HERO? Regular readers will know we here at the Carer have been awarding an Unsung Hero each Christmas since 2016!

In these unprecedented and testing times we are looking for care homes to nominate a Christmas Unsung Hero!

Somebody you think deserves recognition for going that “extra mile” during this challenging year.

A luxury Christmas hamper overflowing with choice items will find its way to the lucky winner in time for Christmas!

Say hello to some previous winners!

Care Home urst of Cloverfield Marion Brockleh

Home ktree Court Care Tracey James of Oa

Debbie Day of Cedars Care Home

Tina Higginson of Sam brook care home

A no-frills, no glitz or glamour competition - all we ask is for you to send us a paragraph or two nominating your Unsung Hero from any department with a brief description of how they've gone that extra mile and deserve to be recognised.

✓ Do you know our next Unsung Hero?

Email your nomination to us today at nominate@thecareruk.com ENTRIES CLOSE at 5PM on 16th DECEMBER 2020

PAGE 18 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

Top Tips for Healthy Skin When Living with Incontinence Healthy skin is a physical barrier against the external environment.

The pH balance of skin should be between 4.5 and 5.5 to discourage bacterial growth.

HOW TO ACHIEVE AND MAINTAIN A NORMAL pH BALANCE: • Prevent changes to normal skin pH by cleaning up quickly after each episode of urine loss.

• Choose mild skin cleansers, moisturisers and sealants.

• Be aware that perspiration, in combination with continence pads and briefs, creates an extra risk factor for skin problems.

HEALTHY SKIN PROTOCOL

• CLEANSE Use pH-neutral soaps and avoid creams that can irritate the skin.

• MOISTURISE Apply moisturiser regularly to soften the skin, do not use excessive amounts.

• PROTECT Use barrier creams to keep fluid away from the skin.

DO’S AND DON’TS WHEN CARING FOR YOUR SKIN DO • Always use the pads prescribed for you and make sure that they are fitted correctly • Tell your nurse if your skin is wet when you change your incontinence pad • Tell your nurse if you have eczema or psoriasis or are prone to other conditions that affect your skin

• Note the condition of your skin whilst using incontinence pads • Tell your nurse if there are any changes to your skin.

This would include if your skin becomes red, sore or broken.

• Tell your nurse if you are using any ointments or creams • Wash your hands before and after changing your pad DON'T • Don’t apply ointments or creams unless prescribed by your doctor or nurse.

• Always make sure you carefully follow the instructions.

• Don’t use talcum powder on your bottom or groin area. It can cause friction which may damage the skin and also affect how well your pad works.

• Don’t wear more than one pad at a time

IMPORTANT ADVICE Oil based barrier creams may reduce the performance of the pads. If barrier creams must be used, they should be applied sparingly and only on areas that require treatment. Used products should be disposed of in the appropriate manner, they cannot be flushed down the toilet.

The iD range of products is available to buy from www.id-direct.com or via Ontex. Please see the advert on page 5.

Colten Care Helps Food Banks Battle Surge in Demand who are contributing a range of tinned and dry foods.

Colten Care Hotel Services Manager Fergus Davitt said: “We thank all those suppliers who are supporting us in our food bank initiative. Together we can really make a difference to the lives of families in the communities around our homes.”

Oliver Stanley, chairman of the Lymington-based New Forest Basics Bank, said: “We are bowled over and very grateful to Colten Care for their support.

“They are such a well-known and respected name in and around Lymington and we’re thrilled they have joined forces with us.

“We have a continual need to source food. We’re currently working with around 100 families a week, providing them with enough food to see them through.

“Food banks here in the New Forest and elsewhere are seeing a surge in demand due to the impact of ongoing lockdown restrictions, rising mass unemployment and household financial crises.”

The Trussell Trust, another of the food bank networks being supported by Colten Care, recently released a report about the impact of coronavirus on the use of food banks nationally.

It showed families with children had been hardest hit by food poverty since the start of the pandemic.

The Trust forecasts a 61% increase in demand this winter, with six emergency parcels needing to be given out every minute across the UK.

A south coast care home provider has joined forces with local food banks to help families and individuals in desperate need this winter.

Colten Care is inviting donors to drop off food in collection boxes at all 21 of its homes in Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and West Sussex, and its Colten House head office in Ringwood.

The donations will be distributed to food banks battling to meet a surge in demand from families facing financial hardship and food poverty.

Mark Aitchison, Colten Care’s Chief Executive, said: “One consequence of Covid19 and lockdowns has been that many food banks have seen a drop in donations while need has increased.

“We have therefore decided that in the run-up to Christmas, our homes will be helping to collect donations on behalf of their local food banks.

“People can simply come with food items and put them in a collection box near our reception or front door.

“We will gather and take the items to the local food bank who will then include them in the food parcels they provide to their clients.

“This initiative is a way we can support vulnerable families and individuals in the communities we serve during the pandemic.”

As well as providing collection boxes, Colten Care is donating food directly and inviting its regular suppliers to do the same.

The first to come on board is the Downton, Wiltshire-based wholesaler Bidfood

A Person-Centred Approach to Mobility and Hygiene Maintaining a level of independence and involvement in activities of daily living for those in your care can be a challenge.

Using the Mobility Gallery™ assessment tool (figure 1) allows you to understand a person’s functional mobility, the level of assistance required, the risk to the caregiver and the importance to stimulate functional mobility.

Figure 1 © 2020 Arjo

Person centred care places the resident at the centre of all we do. This assessment tool helps to optimise the mobility of the resident, improve dignified care and reduces the risk of injury to both the resident and the

caregiver. Promoting mobility is the driving force behind The Positive Eight™ philosophy shown in figure 2.

When looking at specific hygiene tasks, needs differ significantly across care settings and need to encompass both physical and cognitive capabilities determined through individual assessment. Assisted hygiene solutions are designed to allow you to work in an ergonomically sound position, to reduce the risk of injury, whilst supporting a beneficial interaction with your resident.

Caregiver safety is paramount, and factors, which affect the risk of musculoskeletal injury, should be considered, such as: • The number, type and functional mobility levels of residents being transferred or participating in hygiene routines • The inadequacy (or absence) of suitable

Don’t Delay Combi-Cleaning, Warns Rational Rational is warning that it’s essential for kitchen staff to follow the cleaning procedures recommended by their machine’s manufacturer in order to keep combi steamers operating safely and efficiently. The marketleader says that, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, some operators are choosing to delay cleaning in order to save money. “We are already seeing an increase in service call-outs arising from this,” says Trevor Lath, national service director of Rational UK. “It’s a problem that will be affecting all combi steamer brands,” he adds.

Typically combi steamers should be cleaned every day as part of the kitchen routine. Most quality machines have self-cleaning programs that make what would be a time consuming and unpleasant chore effortless. On Rational’s new iCombi Pro the iCareSystem tells operators when they need to run the programme to clean the combi, so it minimises the use of chemicals – because it only asks for a clean when it’s necessary.

The iCareSystem also deals with scale, so there’s no need for a separate water treatment system, or for expensive professional descaling. “The problem is that some operators are ignoring the iCareSystem’s alerts, on the assumption that delaying a clean and descale will save them money and won’t really do any harm,” says Lath. “This is not the case.”

Deferring cleaning routines will lead to the build-up of dirt and scale, which may compromise cooking results, increase energy consumption and running costs and ulti-

equipment • Restricted spaces • Lack of education and training for care skills To mitigate these risks, evidence has demonstrated that education alone is insufficient. Use of the right equipment improves caregiver safety and reduces injury-related costs for the organisation.

Understanding functional mobility, combined with selection of appropriate equipment to support your resident and caregiver can assist in addressing this challenge.

To learn more about Arjo's solution contact 08457 342000 or see the advert on the facing page.

Figure 2 © 2020 Arjo

ISO/TR 12296:2012 Ergonomics — Manual Handling of People in the Healthcare Sector, 2012 Matz M, 2019. Patient Handling and Mobility Assessments: A White Paper Second Edition

mately lead to equipment breakdown. If a descale becomes necessary it could cost hundreds of pounds.

There are additional risks: the Rational detergent cleaning tablets don’t just clean and descale the machine, they also break down fats and grease, preventing drains from blocking and subsequent kitchen floods.

“At the very least, you’re looking at unwanted costs and unwanted downtime,” says Lath. “Worst case scenario, you could block drains, flood the kitchen and damage the appliance permanently.”

By making the equipment unsafe, not cleaning the combi may even compromise HACCP. “The answer is simple,” says Lath. “Follow the machine’s alerts, or the manufacturer’s guidelines, and run the cleaning program when it’s required.”

HACCP data available from the iCombi Pro combi-steamer and via Rational’s ConnectedCooking platform will give the operator a comprehensive summary of the combi steamer’s daily operation, including the number of cleaning programs that have been run during a specified period.

RATIONAL is the leading provider in hot food preparation equipment and, with the iVario multifunctional cooking system and the iCombi Pro combi steamer, the company delivers 95% of all conventional cooking applications. Rational’s ConnectedCooking allows operators to monitor, manage and update their Rational appliances remotely, from a PC, tablet or smartphone. iKitchen is the combination of the iCombi Pro, iVario Pro and ConnectedCooking – iKitchen delivers the best kitchen management and the best cooking solutions.

For information and brochures, or to find out about free Rational Live online demonstrations and webinars, call +44 (0)1582 480388, freephone 0800 389 2944 or visit www.rational-online.com

PAGE 20 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

Cost of Constipation Still Rising in Most English Regions, Reveals New Report from the Independent Bowel Interest Group • Only 6 out of 42 regions (STPs or ICSs as applicable) in England have seen a decrease in the number and/or cost of avoidable emergency admissions for constipation.

Some leading NHS Trusts in England have established formal Bowel Management Pathways and these pioneering initiatives are starting to offer empirical proof of their value, both in transforming patients’ lives and reducing the cost burden on the NHS. The Bowel Interest Group publicises clinical best practice on its website, and further information from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence also offers further guidance for practitioners[1].

Dr Ben Disney, Consultant Gastroenterologist at Coventry and Warwickshire University Hospitals Trust and Bowel Interest Group board member, comments, “This latest output from the Bowel Interest Group should make everyone sit up and take notice. Not only does chronic constipation ruin people’s lives, it also is causing the NHS unnecessary costs, largely because dedicated Bowel Management Pathways are not yet standard best practice.

Pioneering work in this area has clearly shown a strong return on investment from such pathways, both in terms of patient outcomes and cost reduction. At a time when our NHS is under such pressure, failing to establish these pathways would seem poor practice. Modern healthcare is not simply about treating the escalating rise in chronic conditions, but also taking pre-emptive action to create more ‘well societies’. Effective bowel management is just one of the initiatives that help foster healthier populations that consume less healthcare.”

The Bowel Interest Group is an independent multidisciplinary organisation dedicated to improving bowel care for patients.

You can download the full report free of charge by visiting: www.bowelinterestgroup.co.uk/resources/cost-of-constipation-report2020/

Newly released data from the Bowel Interest Group – published in the 2020 edition of its Cost of Constipation report – has revealed that the cost of avoidable emergency admissions to hospital because of constipation is rising year-on-year in most regions of England. Just six regions have seen a drop in the cost and/or number of admissions for constipation compared to two years prior. This comes at a time when the NHS is already under stress and is dealing with the backlog of patients with chronic conditions who have had their treatments delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Cost of Constipation report reveals the impact that constipation has on patients’ quality of life, the significant cost of constipation to the NHS as well as how this varies by region. Nationally, the cost per 100,000 population of avoidable constipation-related emergency admissions was over £158,000 in 2018/19. This represents a 15% rise compared with 2016/17 (around £137,000). Regional variations were marked, ranging from around £106,000 per 100,000 in Bristol, North Somerset & South Gloucestershire, through to £244,000 per 100,000 in Humber, Coast & Vale. This level of variation underlines the importance of establishing and implementing best practice bowel management across the country.

At a national level, the report shows that poor bowel health and chronic constipation, which are debilitating for hundreds and thousands of people in the UK, cost the NHS £81 million per year in admissions to A&E for constipation. This cost is likely to be much higher when GP visits, home visits and over the counter laxatives are taken into account. Other key figures include: • £168 million was spent treating constipation in 2018/19. This includes avoidable admissions to A&E for constipation (£81 million) and prescription laxative costs (£87 million).

• The cost of treating constipation in 2018/19 is equivalent to funding 7,304 newly-qualified nurses for a year.

CQC Reports On The Findings Of Its COVID-19 Inpatient Experience Survey The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published the results of CQC’s coronavirus (COVID-19) inpatient survey.

The report: ‘How care homes managed infection prevention and control during the coronavirus pandemic 2020’ details what the Care Quality Commission have witnessed in care homes and hears from care providers on what has worked and what has proved a challenge.

During August 2020, the CQC carried out a special programme of infection Prevention Control (IPC) inspections in 301 care homes selected as potential examples of where IPC was being done well. The CQC have also reviewed IPC in 139 ‘risked-based’ inspections between 1 August and 4 September, which were carried out in response to concerns about safety and quality. During these inspections, the CQC reviewed how well staff and people living in care homes were protected by IPC measures, looking at assurance overall and across ‘eight ticks The report revealed that most people were positive about the care and treatment they received in hospital during the first wave of the pandemic But those diagnosed with coronavirus had poorer experiences than those without the virus – particularly in relation to: • discharge from hospital and • knowing what would happen next with their care.

The results also reveal some concerns that certain groups found some aspects of their hospital stay more difficult, such as: • people with dementia or Alzheimer’s • those with a mental health condition.

The survey captured the views of more than 10,000 adults who were discharged from hospital during April and May 2020. We carried it out to gather feedback to help services and local systems plan for and improve future coronavirus care.

The sample of patients surveyed included people admitted with confirmed or suspected coronavirus. It also included those admitted for unrelated reasons.

The survey asked people to give their opinions on the care they received, including: • quality of information and interaction with staff • how well they were able to communicate with family and friends • the cleanliness of the hospital environment • their discharge arrangements.

The results reveal some notable trends, including:

FEELING SAFE FROM RISK Most patients (83%) said they felt safe from the risk of catching coronavirus in hospital: • those diagnosed while in hospital felt least safe (68%) • compared with those who did not receive a coronavirus diagnosis (84%).

Confidence and trust in staff Over 8 in ten people surveyed (83%) said they ‘always’ had confi-

COMMUNICATING WITH STAFF

dence and trust in the staff treating them: • 77% said they were involved ‘a great deal’ or ‘a fair amount’ in the decisions made about their treatment • 70% felt they ‘always’ received enough emotional support from staff during their stay.

OVERALL EXPERIENCES Patients with a coronavirus diagnosis reported poorer experiences than people who did not have the virus. Particularly in relation to discharge and accessing support after leaving hospital.

LEAVING HOSPITAL Around a third of people with coronavirus (32%) did not know what would happen next with their care when leaving hospital. This compared with 18% of people without coronavirus.

Three in 10 (29%) diagnosed with coronavirus felt help from health and social care services would have been ‘useful’ after leaving hospital but did not get any.

CLEANLINESS The majority of respondents (80%) said that their room or ward was ‘very clean’.

Most also recalled seeing a range of infection control measures.

This included staff wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), handwashing, and cleaning of surfaces.

But fewer people saw social distancing measures such as markers on the floor or signage.

KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS Seventy-five per cent of people said they were ‘often’ able to keep in touch with their family and friends during the pandemic. But, 13% said they did not receive the help they needed to do so.

Older patients, patients with a sensory impairment and people with a learning disability, a mental health condition or neurological condition were less likely to feel they were able to keep in touch with family and friends.

Certain groups of patients found communicating with staff who were wearing PPE especially difficult. Those aged 85 and over were less likely to always understand what they were being told. As were: • patients with Autism, dementia or Alzheimer’s disease • patients who were deaf or hard of hearing • patients with Learning Disabilities.

Kate Terroni, Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care said, ‘We’re committed to ensuring safe, effective, compassionate and high-quality care and are working with the Department of Health and Social Care and others to support the care system through winter.

‘As this report shows most care providers that we have inspected have shown they are responding to the challenges of infection prevention control well, under these extraordinary circumstances. We have seen some providers using innovative and exciting practices to keep people safe. They have been supported by staff who have gone the extra mile to keep the people in their care healthy, stimulated, and as independent as possible, while keeping family members and carers informed and engaged.

‘By continuing to monitor and inspect these care locations we have and will continue to take action to protect people, share best practice and support providers to protect against the spread of COVID in care homes.

Professor Ted Baker, Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said: “The positive experience reported by many people surveyed reflects the tremendous efforts of hospital staff at a time of unprecedented pressure.

“As winter approaches and the ongoing challenge of coronavirus remains, it is crucial that we use the results to identify any action that can be taken to help maintain safety, drive improvements in care, and tackle inequalities going forward.

“Disappointingly, the results show that for some people the process of leaving hospital and accessing support after was not good enough, particularly for those in hospital with coronavirus. This mirrors the findings of a recent report by Healthwatch England and The British Red Cross.

“Previous CQC inpatient surveys have repeatedly shown discharge and access to onward services as an area where greater improvement is needed. The increased pressures that responding to the pandemic has placed on health and social care has brought the issue into sharp focus.

“More needs to be done to ensure people are fully supported when leaving hospital and when they return home with a clear join up between hospital, community and primary care. This can only be achieved if all parts of the health and care system come together and local leaders support services to work collaboratively to build capacity to respond to the needs of their area.”

PAGE 22 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

Breaking the Menopause Taboo in the Workplace

By Vanessa Pritchard-Wilkes, Head of Strategic Engagement at Housing 21(www.housing21.org.uk)

In the UK, there are around 3.5 million women over 50 currently in employment, 25% of whom suffer severe menopause symptoms. It’s been estimated that around 10% of this number will stop work altogether because of menopausal symptoms, which represents a lot of lost labour, skill and knowledge.

Just recently, the British Medical Association found a strong pattern of highly experienced women leaving GP partnerships, ending their posi-

tions as clinical leaders and directors and leaving medicine early, because they were struggling to cope with menopause symptoms with no support from management or peers.

There has also been a recent shift in perceptions as employees are having to wear masks for long shifts, enhancing and aggravating menopause symptoms. I realised this first-hand during a presentation to care workers about the strategic direction of the organisation. There was a scramble to sit by the window, followed by impromptu fans made out of the literature I’d put on chairs.

The truth is, who could concentrate and take in what was being said when they were so physically uncomfortable? This is what prompted me to start our work around the menopause. Over 40% of our staff are women over the age of 50 and, after a little fact finding through a survey, we realised many of them are experiencing symptoms of the menopause which are impacting them physically, emotionally and psychologically.

So, we now have a menopause policy which whilst giving guidance also helps affected staff start what was once a taboo conversation.

There is a budget for staff to buy fans (whilst recognising that hot flushes are only one symptom), a dedicated section of our intranet for resources, and #menovists - staff who proactively speak about the menopause and can signpost people. I think we are making a difference to the experience of menopausal women.

We have also developed training materials and guidance for managers which have really impacted the business. Recently, a Housing and Care Manager contacted me to ask for some resources around the

menopause – a couple of strong, longstanding members of his team suddenly changed their behaviours and attitude towards work and he couldn’t understand why.

Only after having proper conversations did he discover they were really struggling with symptoms of the menopause. He was signposted to resources which he has now used to create a menopause wall in his wellbeing suite, and staff were also given support by one of our #menovists.

A member of his staff who is going through the menopause mentioned that the new menopause policy takes away the isolation.

Colleagues know that they are not alone; others are going, or have already been, through this normal change in their lives.

Implementing a policy that addresses their concerns, creates a friendly and welcoming environment where menopausal women are not afraid to have real conversations. Staff also know that they can speak about it knowing that it will be taken seriously by their line managers and the organisation.

Care workers have continued to give their everything to the people they care for throughout these challenging times, while many are experiencing monumental changes in their lives. Being afraid of talking about menopause in the workplace should be the least of their worries.

Workplaces in the UK should see the menopause just as naturally as they see maternity. As women spend a great proportion of their life, and working life, during menopause, there are clear business reasons for proactively managing an age-diverse workforce, recognising the effects of the menopause and providing the appropriate support.

ADASS Releases Autumn Survey Report 2020 An Autumn Survey of over 100 councils by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) provides some of the first hard evidence of the devastating effects of the COVID-19 emergency on society.

The survey reveals that tens of thousands of people are turning to social services for urgent help because of the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on families and individuals with support needs, who are unable to cope any further on their own or whose usual arrangements have broken down.

A survey of councils across England has found sharp increases in requests for help from people being discharged from hospital, fleeing from domestic abuse, or losing their regular support from unpaid carers who are themselves at breaking point.

The survey of more than 100 councils by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) offers some of the first hard evidence of the debilitating effects of the Covid-19 emergency on society. Many councils are reporting unprecedented demand for help.

James Bullion, ADASS President, said: “This report paints a stark picture of how the pandemic has affected millions of us who have care and support needs, or who care for a family member who does. For the first time, we have hard evidence of the scale and breadth of the impact of Covid-19 on those of us who are working-age disabled people, older people, family members, and carers.”

ADASS is warning that unless adult social care is prioritised in the government spending review on Wednesday, millions of people could be at risk of receiving no care or support as the crisis continues and its impact becomes ever starker.

Its survey shows that: • 82% of adult social services directors report rising demand for help from people being discharged from hospital; • 69% report an increase in cases of domestic abuse and safeguarding of vulnerable adults; • 63% report growing numbers of people seeking help because of the

breakdown of unpaid carer arrangements through sickness or unavailability.

James Bullion said: “This should be a wake-up call for the government, and it must respond. The risk is that unless adult social care is prioritised in the Spending Review, the caring arrangements that millions of us rely upon will break down and the cost will the paid by society and the economy.

“This is an opportunity to send a clear signal that working-age disabled people, older people and carers are recognised, valued, and protected. Failure to invest now will also make the goal of long-term reform so much harder to achieve”.

ADASS is seeking a package in the Spending Review that would stabilise the adult social care system next year, meet all Covid-19 costs and offer some certainty for the longer term including multi-year funding settlements.

Hospice Takes Retail Online To Ensure Air Pollution Linked with Brain Support During Second Lockdown Shrinkage in Older Women As the nation is plunged into another lockdown and uncertainty about when shops can open again, Lincoln-based St Barnabas Hospice has taken steps to allow supporters to carry on helping.

The Hospice, which has had to close its 26 charity shops, has switched gears and is now focusing on selling both new and used items online.Emma-Jayne Parker, New Goods and E-commerce Manager at St Barnabas Hospice, said: “The coronavirus pandemic has caused so many problems for businesses and charities, but we are determined to carry on raising money to support some of the most vulnerable people in Lincolnshire.

“By selling some of our items online during the November lockdown and beyond, it gives our supporters a chance to pick up some bargains before Christmas, and it opens a whole new way of working for the Shops department. We have seen fantastic uptake in both groups already and would love everyone to join and invite their friends and family members.

Thank you so much to those who have already made purchases – you really are helping to keep the Hospice going through difficult times.”

The Hospice’s retail teams are running two Facebook groups, a pre-loved furniture and homeware group and a brand-new group selling designer goods including Karen Millen and Coast products.

Supporters can join both the Pre-Loved group and the Brand New Facebook group where they will find items for sale, or bid on items the Hospice has for sale on eBay. There is a selection of Christmas cards and diaries available on the eBay site already and a selection of

Christmas and gift ideas on the pre-loved group.

Those who wish to purchase items can use Paypal or pay with card over the phone. Instructions will be sent after purchase. The Hospice is also maintaining social distancing for item collection and is offering P&P and free local delivery on large items.

Lucy Dawson, St Barnabas Hospice supporter, said: “I had a limited budget to buy furniture for my first home when I left university, so buying preloved items from St Barnabas was a huge help to me. I even found some matching pieces! It’s amazing that I can support such a worthy charity whilst at the same time helping the planet by recycling furniture. I’m so pleased to hear that St Barnabas will keep on selling their items during the most recent lockdown.”

Care Campaign for the Vulnerable (CCTV) is calling for an independent review on all care home evictions served to vulnerable elderly, as well as wells as help for families left without support.

The campaign group says that over 150 care home residents have been evicted from care homes following disputes over visiting.

Speaking this week to a daily newspaper the campaign group said that the number of evictions was possibly the “tip of the iceberg” with “hundreds of families in similar positions afraid to speak out”.

Many families say evictions are served when care complaints are raised and not addressed.

Soon after, a shock 28 days notice period would be sent without prior warning and the reason given would be the care home ‘can no longer meet care needs.

The campaign group said that they are currently ” Supporting families where elderly living with Alzheimer’s/dementia have been given only SEVEN days to vacate their care home and families are shocked evictions can be served during the coronavirus pandemic placing vulnerable elderly at high risk.”

Meetings held with care providers, safeguarding and families CCTV say is often served in the best interest of the resident especially when care needs have increased and staff can no longer deliver the care needed, however, they say they are seeing a worrying trend in what is they say’revenge’ evictions. One care provider stated in an

email one family member had ‘broken lock down rules” as the reason for serving an eviction on an elderly resident with dementia. Families have reported providers not being ‘open and transparent and elderly residents have no rights or support when faced with ”revenge” evictions.

CCFTV founder and director Jayne Connery said: “Families say some homes don’t facilitate visits, even at a closed window. Some haven’t seen loved ones for six months. Evicting an elderly person from a care home can bring severe decline physically and emotionally.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “People in care homes and their families rightly expect the highest standards of care and it is completely unacceptable for anyone to be forced to leave unfairly. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published guidance last year to help care homes understand and comply with their responsibilities under consumer law, and they will crack down on unfair practices where necessary.

“We understand the pain and the very real consequences of loved ones being separated and we must get the balance right between reuniting families and ensuring care staff and residents are safe and preventing the transmission of from COVID-19.

“We are beginning a trial of testing visitors to care homes in the coming days to give families more opportunities to reunite with relatives.”

THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 23

Carers Worried Over 'Mountain Of Work' To Come Over-stretched are providers are calling for urgent help as they face a mountain of work to enable visiting to resume and the vaccination programme to begin.

The Independent Care Group (ICG) which represents providers, says Health Secretary Matt Hancock underestimates the reality of introducing testing across homes.

And it has also warned of huge extra pressure on homes when the vaccination pro-

gramme begins next month.

It has called on the Government to provide greater financial support to help care and nursing homes to cope.

It has also criticised the Government for hastily introducing legislation to prevent staff moving between care homes.

The Government has said care and nursing homes will welcome up to two visits per resident for twice-weekly tested visits. The health secretary said there would be no need for more staff to cope with the new visiting regime.

But ICG Chair Mike Padgham said: “Everyone is delighted to be reintroducing visiting again as residents and their families and friends have

been apart too long.

“But to suggest this will be easy and won’t entail care and nursing homes needing more staff is wide of the mark and out of touch.

“The National Care Forum* estimates that the average 50-bed care home will need to carry out an additional 1,350 tests on residents, staff and visitors under the new proposals, on top of the 450 a month already being undertaken and all, according to Mr Hancock, without needing any more staff.

“Spread across the sector that is 11m tests and 3.6m hours of testing every month, time that, without extra staff, will be taken away from providing care.

“Care providers want to do it and will do it, but they will have to find extra staff resources and for many that will be extremely tough.

“If Mr Hancock knows social care as he claims he does, he should know the extra resources this will need and would fight for greater financial support for the sector. We invite him to visit a care home on the frontline to see for himself the impact these new tests will have.”

The ICG is also concerned that a huge logistical operation to give residents and staff the vaccine is only days away.

“The vaccine is wonderful news and we cannot wait to protect our residents. But there will be a huge logistical and administrative burden on care staff to help carry out the vaccination of residents and staff.

“With the new visitor testing regime coming in and very soon the vaccination programme, care and nursing homes are going to be at full stretch and many are worried about how they are going to cope,” Mr Padgham added.

The ICG was also angry that the Government rushed through legislation to prevent care and nursing staff from moving between homes during the pandemic, from the end of the year. It announced that the legislation was going through just three hours after consultation into the proposal ended.

“This shows how much interest there was in the consultation and how much understanding of the impact it would have on the ability of care and nursing homes to keep staffing levels up during Covid-19.

“We understand the thinking behind this but we already have 100,000 care vacancies on any one day in the sector, are struggling with staff absences due to coronavirus and now won’t be able to move staff between homes or use agency staff as easily. It feels like we have been fighting Covid-19 with one arm behind our backs and now they are wanting to take away the other arm too.

“It is also interesting to see how quickly the Government can move in pushing through legislation when it wants to but when it comes to supporting social care, like indemnifying providers for example, there is very little action.

“Care and nursing homes are at full stretch caring for their residents in the midst of the second wave of Covid-19. If we are to manage this new visiting regime and the vaccinations on top of that, we are going to need some help, and some help right now.” *Read more details from the National Care Forum in Executive Director Vic Rayner’s latest blog here: https://www.nationalcareforum.org.uk/blog/covid-19-winter-plan-score-card-science-10-maths0/

Heanor Park Care Home - Winner of Client of the Year at the Lux Awards* 2020

The Circadian Plus solution includes bespoke lighting design, smart lighting software and spectrum-controlled lights – creating a truly revolutionary solution that has resident health and wellbeing at the forefront.

The impact of the lighting at Heanor Park has significantly reduced resident falls, increased engagement, and has improved sleep-wake cycles. Check out our case study video to understand more at www.circadianplus.com/heanor-park-case-study The term Circadian Lighting is defined as lighting that replicates natural light (as closely as possible) to support human circadian rhythms, otherwise known as our internal body clock. We are all governed, to

some degree, by our internal body clock - the timing, intensity and colour of light are key factors in regulating our sleep and wake patterns.

Disturbances in the circadian rhythm can have a physiological and mental impact, and often causes poor sleep patterns.

Many factors can influence our circadian rhythms, such as exercise/movement and food intake.

However, by combining them with new interactions with our non-image forming light receptors, we can achieve excellent results in the care home setting where residents tend to struggle to spend time outdoor where they can be exposed to the benefits of natural light.

Some of the main benefits of circadian lighting are: • Improved sleep • Improved mood • Less risk of developing certain mental and physical health conditions • Reduction in errors and accidents • Faster cognitive processing • Increased alertness at the right times of day • Can aid with the rehabilitation of certain medical conditions e.g. brain injuries • Can be beneficial for elderly residents and people with Alzheimer’s disease To understand more about the importance of care home lighting visit www.circadianplus.com/news/care-home-lighting

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‘We’re seeing a greater level of engagement from the residents during the day because the lighting is helping their body clock become alert and ready for the day…we’re not seeing people falling asleep in their chair or not wanting to engage in activities’.

- David Poxton,

Managing Director of Heanor Park Care Home * The Lux Awards are designed to celebrate and reward both creativity and sustainability, recognising clients and end-users that have used lighting in exceptional ways to improve their lit environment, reduce energy and achieve business objectives.

PAGE 24 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES Why Specify a Yeoman Shield Fire Rated Door Edge Protector?

When specifying for a structure, it’s important to be aware of the level of wear and tear a door can be exposed to in a public building.

Door edges, in particular, can be easily damaged or worn down by regular use – which can then render them non-compliant for fire safety regulations. To ensure that a project remains compliant, an architect can specify durable door edge protectors to add durability and longevity to doors.

Not only will specifying edge protectors increase the longevity of doors, they will enhance the cost efficiency of a project by reducing maintenance demands and the possibility of having to replace unsafe fire doors.

Yeoman Shield fire rated Door Edge Protectors are unique with a 2.0 mm Vinylac outer and a specially formulated 9mm PVCu reinforced core. They are FD30 (1/2 hour) and FD60 (1 hour) rated

with intumescent seals that are in accordance to the fire door’s specification. Fire rated Door Edge Protectors are suitable for commercial applications such as residential blocks, schools and hospitals etc.

Door Edge Protectors can also be specified with different fire seals, from a plain intumescent fire seal to a brush, fire and smoke variant.

Of course, for doors that are non-fire rated in an architect’s project Yeoman Shield also provide quality edge protectors without seals to enhance durability and reduce wear.

Source a full range of door protection panels and kick plates from a single supplier by choosing Yeoman Shield. Our door protection panels and kick plates offer the same lasting durability and quality as our door edge protectors.

See page 12 or visit www.yeomanshield.com for details.

Care sector employers looking to reward hard working staff for their efforts during lockdown have helped double new business at one of the UK’s leading gifting and engagement companies.

Appreciate Group saw the sharp rise in demand from new clients between April and August as firms looked to thank employee efforts during the pandemic.

The year-on-year increase was particularly high in the care sector – where many employees remained in the workplace throughout lockdown.

Appreciate Group’s business products include Love2shop gift cards, e-gift cards and vouchers all of which companies can use to reward their employees and customers. Love2shop can be redeemed with many of the nation’s leading retailers and leisure providers.

Frank Creighton, Director of Business Development at Appreciate Group said: “Employees up and down the country have needed to adapt to new and different ways of working during these challenging times, be

that working from home or abiding by social distancing rules in the workplace.

“These challenges have also led to an increasing number of employers finding new ways to say thank you to colleagues for their efforts during lockdown, including digital rewards.”

“Recognition gestures such as gift cards can go a long way in making staff feel that their employer values their commitment. Many companies will need these hard-working employees as they continue to deal with, and emerge from, the challenges of COVID-19.”

Employers are able to use the tax-free Trivial Benefits Allowance to reward staff with gift cards up to the value of £50.

For more information on tax-free gifting for employees, visit: www.appreciate.co.uk/tax-free-gifts-foremployees/ or email Alex Speed, Head of Business Development, at Appreciate Group alex.speed@appreciategroup.co.uk.

CareZips Dignity Trousers ™

CareZips™ preserve dignity and privacy of people receiving care during diaper changes.

CareZips™ make diaper changes easier and faster, reducing workload, saving efforts, and saving time!

CareZips™ help to deliver better standards of care!

Fitted with unique 3-zip fastening system, the CareZips™ make changing of incontinence diapers more dignified and comfortable for the patients and easier and faster for the carers.

CareZips™ feature 3 strategically positioned zips, 2 of which run from the waist to the knees on both sides of the body. The 3rd zip goes from the inside of one knee up to the crotch and down to the second knee on the inside of the other leg. This zip facilitates total opening of the trousers at the crotch during diaper changes. The 3-zip system ensures fast and easy access to the abdomen and crotch without having to undress the patients or pull their trousers down.

CareZips™ are suitable for men and women. They are available in 7 sizes for perfect fit. CareZips™ are soft and wrinkle resistant with stretch and give for extra comfort.

Practical, durable, washable and non-iron, the CareZips™ trousers are the perfect choice for daily use.

Contact Win Health Medical Ltd - 01835 864866 www.win-health.com or see the advert on page 3.

New Scale for Mobility-Impaired Residents Could Reduce ‘Risk of Injury to Staff and Demand From Care Sector Firms Rewarding Staff In Residents’ and ‘Costs to Healthcare’ Lockdown Drives Surge In Recognition Products

Euroservice Trolley Manufacturers celebrating 40 years of experience in the sale and manufacture of wooden trolleys for the catering trade, Euroservice trolley manufacturers have now acquired a worldwide reputation and still offer an extensive /comprehensive range of top quality wooden trolleys manufactured in the UK. Top quality is a priority in the production of all of our products and Euroservice are specialists in the manufacture of sturdy and beautiful looking trolleys which will grace any environment from the small privately owned restaurant to the splendid 3 to 5

star hotels, resorts and Residential homes.

Euroservice’s excellence in the manufacture of wooden trolleys is backed by a personal, efficient and friendly service second to none. We are always busy researching the needs of the market and launch new ranges according to market demands. Whatever your needs you can be assured that Euroservice can cater for them and we look forward to your call.

Freephone: 0800 917 7943 www.euroservice-uk.com sales@euroservice-uk.com

C & S Seating Postural Management C & S Seating has been providing postural control equipment to hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and medical equipment services nationwide since 1991.

With 9 different sizes of T-Rolls and Log Rolls in a removable and machine washable, waterproof Titex or Soft Knit material. These rolls are used to control posture and position of the body in either supine or side lying. Our Knee & Leg support wedges are available in 2 sizes.

C & S Seating is the sole manufacturer of the Alternative Positioning Support (APS) system. Ideal when more control of the abducted lower limb is required (See photo) which has

removable side cushions and middle pommel; this is available in small or large.

Our popular range of Soft Knit covers in a choice of 5 vibrant colours provide a softer alternative that fit easily over our standard waterproof rolls.

It is recommended you seek professional advice to select the correct product depending on your needs.

Contact us on 01424 853331 or visit us at www.cands-seating.co.uk to request or download a brochure, pricelist or order form, request an individualised quotation, speak to an advisor or to place an order.

See the advert on page 10.

A new chair scale with a lifting seat, believed to be the first of its kind, will ‘reduce risk of injury to residents’ and ‘support the musculoskeletal health of staff’ when weighing individuals with limited mobility.

By making the weighing process easier, the new device could also ‘reduce costs to healthcare’’ according to the manufacturer.

The M-250, available now from scale manufacturer Marsden, is a chair scale that features a seat that rises and lowers to help a resident get into, and out of, a sitting position. Marsden says it has been introduced in response to requests from customers for easier ways to weigh residents who cannot stand unaided.

The tilting seat base, operated by a handheld remote control, rises to the resident and then gently lowers them into the seat. Once weighing is complete, it rises slowly to assist them from sitting to a near-standing position.

The new weighing scale is Class III Approved, meaning it is legally suitable for weighing individuals for medical purposes. It provides an accurate weight reading to the nearest 100g, and has a capacity of 250kg.

The seat is slightly wider than standard chair scales, meaning it can accommodate larger residents.

Development of the new weighing scale began in 2017, with input provided by care homes, back care specialists and other industry experts, including medical device design house PD-M. The scale was developed alongside the Patient Transfer Scale, Marsden’s transfer board with built-in weighing scale that was launched in late 2018.

“The M-250 is designed to make weighing residents with limited mobility more comfortable, less stressful, and potentially even reduce the time and number of staff it typically takes to weigh these individuals,” said Dave Smith, Marketing Director at Marsden.

“We want to see it reducing costs to healthcare too, through quicker, easier weighing processes and less risk of injury to care staff.”

Mark Coates, Operations Director at Marsden, said: “The biggest challenge of weighing residents with limited mobility is the time it takes, the stress on the individual and the amount of effort required by staff.

“When developing the scale we had to consider the benefit to the resident and the member of staff. What’s safest and easiest for the healthcare professional without compromising comfort for the resident?

“Our finished product has been tested by individuals with varying levels of mobility, and with both one and two members of staff. Through this testing we found that effort required by staff to help the resident out of the seat was greatly reduced compared to a standard chair scale or wheelchair.

“Plus, we’ve focused on reducing risk of injury to residents as well as supporting the musculoskeletal health of healthcare staff when weighing those with limited mobility.”

“We’re looking forward to seeing the M-250 make a real difference in care homes in the UK, and around the world.”

The M-250 Chair Scale with Stand Assist is available to order now on the Marsden website. www.marsdenweighing.co.uk or email sales@marsdengroup.co.uk

NEW Adaptawear Clothing Website Helping Independent & Assisted Dressing Adaptawear has recently launched their NEW and improved website making it even easier for customers to browse, buy and shop online.

Benefits of New Website • New Adaptawear logo – easier and cleaner to read • Faster and simpler to buy online through your mobile, tablet or PC • Improved navigation to relevant collections & categories: ladies wear, menswear and lifestyle and comfort • Updated and enhanced product photography • Easier & additional payment opportunities: • Secure & reliable • Ability for customers to set up account online so you can track orders and make it easier for repeat or new orders • Improved order tracking functionality • Integrated customer reviews Adaptawear provides adaptive clothing that are specially designed to making dressing easier and the elderly and disabled; both for independent dressing and assisted dressing. Adaptawear clothes are ideal for arthritis, stroke, Parkinson, incontinence and dementia

sufferers as well as people of all ages who struggle with fastenings, buttons and zips.

If you are a healthcare or care home worker or Occupational Therapist and struggling to dress your patients during this Covid-19 pandemic; then take a look at our range of Adaptawear adapted clothing for both men and women CARER OFFER: SAVE 10% Do go and visit online at www.adaptawear.com to buy adapted clothing online. Carer readers please quote CR10 for 10% discount off your first order.

Antimicrobial Contract Fabrics for Added Reassurance Skopos has recently launched a new sub-brand, Skopos Pro-tect Plus, as a marker for all Skopos products offered with an antimicrobial finish. Skopos has been offering antimicrobial fabrics for over 15 years, however the new sub-brand helps to clearly identify this offer to our customers, at a time where extra reassurance within contract interiors has never been more relevant. Within Pro-tect Plus Skopos customers have a choice of fabrics for different end uses; Antimicrobial drapery fabrics, Antimicrobial woven upholstery fabrics, Antimicrobial faux leather and vinyls. The upholstery fabrics offer includes luxury velvet, printed fabrics, vinyls and a large range of woven collections, mostly waterproof, soil and stain resist, perfect for caring interiors.

Many of our drapery and bedding fabrics can be finished with an antimicrobial treatment, so

please ask. Choices include print basecloths, plain and woven designs. All antimicrobial fabrics are flame retardant and tested to the high standards required for contract interiors.

Skopos antimicrobial fabrics have bacteriostatic, viral-reducing and anti-fungal properties.

Fabrics are not seen as a beneficial host for Sars Cov-2 even without antimicrobial treatment, however including this extra benefit viruses and bacteria are greatly reduced.

Free samples of our fabrics are available online or via our customer services team: sales@skopos.co.uk. www.skoposfabrics.com

THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 25

CATERING FOR CARE

Addressing Challenges to Eating with Dementia By dietitian Jane Clarke BSc (Hons) SRD DSc, founder of Nourish by Jane Clarke (www.nourishbyjaneclarke.com) CHALLENGES TO EATING WITH DEMENTIA IN A CARE SETTING • Memory loss and confusion that mean some people don’t eat • The ability to judge temperature can disappear, so if food is served too hot it can burn the lips or throat • Physical skills such as keeping the mouth closed while food is inside, to help with chewing and swallowing, can become difficult • Depression, low mood and lack of energy • Constipation through lack of fluid and fibre, or as a side-effect of drug treatment, leading to discomfort and loss of appetite • Aggression and resistance to eating.

CALMING ROUTINES

I have supported many individuals living with dementia, their families and carers, in my work as a nutritionist running a clinical practice and working with care homes to advance the nourishment of their residents. But I also have personal experience of the eating, nutritional and emotional challenges this condition can bring, as my amazing dad has fronto-temporal lobe dementia and it affects how, when and what he wants to eat.

Dad’s lunch has to be at one o’clock; there is no flexibility, otherwise his anxiety levels and confusion rise. The clock dictates our lives to an obsessive degree, but it’s worth it for the comfort his routine provides him. My dad also needs to know before he starts eating that there will be some pudding to follow, otherwise he can get upset and confused. At the moment we are noticing that my dad’s sweet cravings are getting a lot stronger, which is so often the case with people living with this progressive disease.

Dementia can affect desire and ability to eat in many ways and not everyone experiences the same challenges. Use these simple strategies to help prompt a poor appetite and develop calming mealtime routines.

A regular routine is reassuring for someone living with dementia – eating 10 minutes later, sitting at a different table, or with fellow residents they don’t usually sit at the table with, can throw them. The need to work to a regular rhythm is one of the advantages of a care setting, but where possible, it’s important to flex to fit with the individual needs of those you look after. If mealtimes are challenging, are you able to offer two sittings or separate tables, so that those who need variety and diversity get to switch tables and companions, while those who need consistency have the familiarity of a regular routine?

MAKING FOOD THE FOCUS Mealtimes can be time-consuming and challenging – but they can also be highlights of the day that nourish with sociability and fun, as well as food. So, while you may have set up an efficient system of cooking, serving and clearing away dishes, don’t forget to focus on the important bit, eating together.

• Try to slow down. We juggle so many tasks when caring for someone that it can be tempting to hurry meals, which only increases the likelihood of upset and for very little food to get eaten.

• Minimise distractions. While the person is focusing on swallowing or getting the food from fork to mouth, it helps not to have the radio or the TV on to distract them.

• Take a timeout. If a meal is becoming challenging, it can help to step back for a minute and give both you and the person you are caring for a chance

Taking Combi Steamer Productivity To The Max One of the stars of Rational’s new iCombi Pro combi steamer is an advanced feature called iProductionManager which, the company says, not only increases productivity but also adds enormous flexibility to production schedules. At the same time it reduces running costs.

The option of cooking different products at the same time in a combi steamer isn’t new, but iProductionManager takes the whole concept to a higher level. As well as telling you what products can be cooked together, it allows chefs to select whether they want all the food to be ready at the same time, or if they want it all to be cooked as quickly as possible, or if they want it cooked as energy efficiently as possible.

Depending on the choice, iProductionManager then automatically prepares the optimum schedule. For example, suppose a full breakfast is being cooked where everything is wanted at the same

time. The system will inform the chef when to load the eggs, the bacon, the tomatoes, and so on, staggering the start times so that the hash browns are perfectly cooked at exactly the same moment as the mushrooms – and all the other breakfast components.

On the other hand, chefs may want each food cooked as quickly as possible. In this case, food is loaded onto the different shelves and iProductionManager simply lets staff know when each shelf’s load is ready.

As one shelf’s food is being taken out, iProductionManager automatically compensates for the loss of temperature due to the door opening, and recalculates the cooking times for food on all the other shelves.

Energy efficiency is increasingly important and iProductionManager can help here, too, by creating the most energy efficient schedule for multiple different foods.

The iCombi control panel makes every-

to calm down and regroup.

• Take off the pressure. If the person you’re looking after is getting frustrated at not being able to eat when the sole focus is on doing so, sitting in front of the TV with a plate of something easy to nibble, such as sandwiches or cutup soft fruits, could mean they eat while being distracted by the programme.

So, experiment with both scenarios.

• Wait for a better time. If they’re drowsy and not very responsive, feeding can cause choking – so try to leave a bit of time before you try again. And do seek medical advice if they’re overly drowsy, as it could be that a change in some of the medication they’re taking could give you a better window of opportunity for helping them to eat.

MANAGING CHANGES As dementia progresses it’s highly likely that appetite and ability to eat will change. These shifts are not always down to the disease itself – sometimes medication can put a person off their food, causing weight loss. Or a new drug may interfere with hunger messages in the brain, so they don’t register feeling full and stop eating. They may also forget that they have eaten and say they want more food when they don’t physically need it. Or they may crave sweet foods. Weight gain will cause physical challenges and additional health risks, so while occasional treats are fine, try to keep to the basic structure of an overall nourishing diet.

POOR APPETITE • Practical issues Do they have a sore mouth, badly fitted dentures, or is the effort of preparing food (if their dementia isn’t that advanced) or chewing and swallowing (if it’s more severe) preventing them from eating?

• Monitor their eating What we do know about a poor appetite is that the less we eat, often the less we fancy eating. Malnutrition can kick in, and problems such as pressure sores, poor wound healing and depression start occurring. If you suspect a resident isn’t eating enough, keep a diary of what they manage at mealtimes to help you create a care plan for them.

• Create a food mood board Often, memories are linked to foods we loved eating at a precise moment. A personal food mood board made out of photos of favourite dishes, people and places can be a great way to communicate and also stimulate a jaded appetite and it can be a lovely ‘memory activity’ for residents living with dementia. thing simple. Once the chefs have selected what type of schedule they want – synchronised, speedy or efficient – they simply drag the relevant icon, such as sausages, onto the appropriate shelf on the panel, so the system knows which food is where and can monitor it accordingly. With iProductionManager chefs can even split shelves, so that two different foods can be cooked on the same shelf, with the system monitoring each to ensure they are perfectly cooked.

“The new normal is already creating new challenges for chefs,” says Simon Lohse, managing director of Rational UK. “Consumers want more flexibility in terms of when they eat – all day eateries are going to be more common; many kitchens may have fewer staff; and every operator will have the overriding need to reduce running costs. More efficient management of the production process will provide solutions in all these areas – and iProductionManager delivers the most advanced, easy to use and practical technology available.” iProductionManager is one of a suite of new, advanced intelligent features on Rational’s iCombi Pro combi steamer.

RATIONAL is the leading provider in hot food preparation equipment and, with the iVario multifunctional cooking system and the iCombi Pro combi steamer, the company delivers all a commercial kitchen’s thermal cooking requirements. Together, the two appliances offer the best cooking solutions. For information and brochures, or to find out about free Rational Live online demonstrations and webinars, call +44 (0)1582 480388, freephone 0800 389 2944 or visit www.rational-online.com

EF Group Launches CaterCloud - The Secret Ingredient for Menu Management Success Manchester-based, EF Group has announced it is offering free for life access to its new cloud-based, menu management platform, CaterCloud, which launched this week.

The easy-to-use, next generation allergen, nutrition, menu planning and costing system offers a wealth of enhanced functionality to help caterers gain significant efficiencies in their operations, to control costs and increase profits.

CaterCloud helps businesses ensure food safety remains a key focus.

With food labelling regulations set to change in October 2021, as a result of Natasha’s Law, all England-based businesses working in the food industry will be required to clearly label all foods produced and packed on their premises with a full list of ingredients detailing the full allergen profile.

Designed to help businesses prepare for this upcoming regulation, CaterCloud provides sub-allergen information and tagging; QR Code scanning for live allergen and nutritional information, along with the ability to print Natasha’s Law compliant food labels. CaterCloud also offers customers access to a range of accredited training for allergen awareness and food safety.

CaterCloud’s innovative functionality also boasts many other benefits to enable simple menu management for caterers across the hospitality, healthcare, education and retail sectors. It offers effective menu planning with dish and menu costings; access to a nutritional database with 1,000s of ingredients and customisable dashboards to record KPIs. Users of CaterCloud can also join the e-foods’ Buyers’ Club and benefit from its substantial buying power. The Buyers’ Club is made up of a net-

work of trusted accredited suppliers across the UK. Users can purchase food and non-food goods from these suppliers with savings of between 5 to 10%.

Paul Mizen, Chief Executive, EF Group said: “The service industries are

moving at pace towards technology to help meet their stock ordering, menu planning and compliance challenges. Our experience shows that there is increasing demand for more advanced dish and menu costing tools, as well as detailed, easy to use product data.

“Catering managers require their menu management software to seamlessly integrate with their ordering systems and demand best value from their food suppliers. With CaterCloud, we will remain at the forefront of delivering the innovative features the industry needs.

“The entire catering industry has been heavily impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic and as businesses work hard to recover, we are providing CaterCloud for free to help maximise efficiencies and reduce costs.

This is our way of giving something back to the industry upon which our business is founded.”

CaterCloud is a web-based menu planning, nutrition, allergen and costing system which is part of the E-F Group. CaterCloud helps hundreds of hospitality businesses deliver performance and control costs while reducing food safety risks. CaterCloud is committed to innovation in food management, its leading-edge platform helps to manage food offerings from front desk to kitchens, with the aim of improving efficiency in catering operations. Live menu costings help businesses to see how their business is performing every day, enabling them to focus on producing quality food and increasing profitability. CaterCloud’s clients are mainly in the following sectors: healthcare, education, hospitality and retail.

For more information, see the advert on page 22 or visit www.CaterCloudCare.com

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PAGE 30 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

DYSPHAGIA myAko Develops Dysphagia Online Courses For Carers Swallowing difficulties are common in people residing in care homes. Early identification, assessment and management by care home staff may result in a decrease in the incidence of pneumonia and death. Therefore, it is important for staff to be aware of the signs of dysphagia and what to do in order to prevent further deterioration in a resident’s condition.

Dr. Elizabeth Boaden is a fellow of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and has spent over 30 years working to improve the quality of life of those living with dysphagia.

Dr. Boaden has created a set of courses on dysphagia.

These courses have been researched and developed for the benefit of all healthcare workers and nurses, and are due to be available on myAko.com.

WHAT IS DYSPHAGIA? Dysphagia is the term used to describe difficulties swallowing. Difficulties may range from a decrease in chewing ability to food and drinks going onto the lungs causing aspiration pneumonia and death.

Dysphagia is a common feature of many congenital and acquired structural and neurological difficulties. It is not possible to provide accurate figures regarding the prevalence of dysphagia, as it is often unrecognised and underdiagnosed. Dysphagia affects approximately 8% of the global population. Although swallowing difficulties are seen in the paediatric population, the greater incidence is in adult client group. The incidence of

commonly occuring elderly neurological diseases in the older population are stroke (45-78%), Parkinson’s disease (75-100%) and Alzeimer’s disease (90%).

Swallowing involves six cranial nerves and over 26 pairs of muscles, with the oesophagus opening within a fraction of a second of airway closure. It is therefore unsurprising that everyone has experienced at least one incident where just a slight incoordination of the swallow has caused coughing and choking as food and drink enter the airway. It is therefore to be expected that dysphagia occurs in approximately 35% of the normal aging elderly population owing to weakness in the muscles for swallowing. Furthermore, it has been reported that up to 74% of residents in care homes will present with swallowing difficulties of some description.

AWARENESS AND EDUCATION The training, available on myAko.com, helps healthcare workers to better understand the impact of dysphagia and how to help those in their care. The nurses training helps them support Speech and Language Therapists with remote dysphagia assessments, without the need for face-to-face visits. Utilising remote teleswallowing techniques helps to reduce current NHS waiting lists and nurses and carers are able to improve early diagnosis and treatment of dysphagia.

MOVING FORWARD It is imperative for care staff to be able to quickly and effectively screen for dysphagia, as a delay in doing so may have devastating effects. It is a care worker’s duty to ease the struggle presented by dysphagia; not only to avoid the possibility of death, but to simply ensure that a resident’s later life and emotional well-being is as comfortable and content as possible.

Visit www.myako.com, email help@myako.com or call 01202 283383 for further details.

Are You in Need of Dysphagia Training ? *

*This training is intended for healthcare professionals only.

Did you know that between 50-75% of nursing home residents suffer from dysphagia1? Nutricia has a training solution for you, a FREE e-learning covering the fundamentals of dysphagia management using Nutilis Clear.

The training is divided into 4 sections and has been specially designed for busy health and social care staff caring for people living with dysphagia. It takes 60 minutes in total to complete, however you can complete one section at a time.

How can this training help you?

• Easy & convenient online solution to dysphagia training • Visibility to track progress in your care home • Raise the quality standard of dysphagia care in a consistent way The quality standards aim is for all new health and social care staff members caring

for patients with Dysphagia to complete the modules as part of their induction programme. Existing health and social care staff members should also complete the learning to support their continuing professional development.

There is a certificate that can be downloaded once the training has been successfully completed.

Use the camera on your phone to scan the QR code to access the e-learning and get started!

For any questions contact your local Nutricia sales representative or our Resource Centre at resourcecentre@nutricia.com.

Nutilis Clear is a Food for Special Medical Purposes for the dietary management of dysphagia and must be used under medical supervision.

Reference: 1. O’Loughlin G, Shanley C. Swallowing problems in the nursing home: a novel training response. Dysphagia 1998; 13, 172-183.( https://www.rcslt.org/speech-and-language-therapy/clinical-information/dysphagia)

PAGE 32 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

TRAINING Free 30 Day No-Obligation Trial Access to Our High Speed Training Endorsed By Skills for Care ESS Care Industry-Leading TENDERTRACKER 100’s of Care Funding Opportunities When you subscribe we will give you a free no-obligation one-month trial of the ESS TENDERTRACKER. PLUS Free access to accredited online Level 2 CARE CERTIFICATE COURSES plus many others once your full membership is confirmed at the end of your 30 day Free Trial Period.

Monthly Subscribers access to 5 Free courses at ESS Online Learning worth a minimum of £210 Annual Subscribers access to 10 Free courses at ESS Online Learning worth a minimum of £420 And remember our online learning offer includes 25+ courses which count towards the Level 2 Care Certificate.

ESS Online Learning: https://essassist.co.uk/online-learning/

PLUS • Weekly priority notifications of tenders and funding opportunities • Daily notifications of your tender interest requests sent directly to your inbox • Access to supply chain funding opportunities • Access to the ESS Care bid writing team with in excess of over £350m bid wins Commercial Care Providers - We offer special discounted commercial rates for all our ESS Online Learning Courses enquire at: email.essassist.co.uk For further details, please email us at care@essassist.co.uk or call 01977 705203.

Register on the ESS Care TENDERTRACKER for further details essassist.co.uk/care/tendertracker-opportunities/

Engage With Your Residents - In-House Practical Training Workshop Scripts Bring About Happy Days Happy Days Dementia Activities & Design has created a new range of engagement training scripts for residential care and dementia homes. The workshops are designed to be presented in-house, saving time and costs.

Easy to follow training scripts are practical in nature and help care teams engage with elderly and people living with dementia. Through activity, discussions, roleplay and practise with nostalgic materials, carers can feel more equipped to engage and enrich social care.

Packages include demonstration materials to use during your workshop. Training Scripts and engagement materials can be created to suit your organisation, care team requirements and resident interests.

Ideal for home care services too - Help your carers engage

and create meaningful moments during visits.

With Covid19’s restrictions and safety procedures, it makes sense to train your care teams on site. ‘Bringing your care teams together can build carer confidence, boost morale and uplift mood. If a carer feels good, this will reflect on the the person being cared for’ says Gillian Hesketh, MD of Happy Days Dementia Activities & Design.

Passionate about helping people living with dementia to live well, Happy Days also supplies nostalgic displays, reminiscence baskets, conversation prompts and more - See The Carer front page or Shop Online: www.dementiaworkshop.co.uk We accept NHS purchase order numbers and care home accounts. Phone Gillian direct on: 07971-953620 or see the advert on page 1.

High Speed Training is proud to announce that we’re a Skills for Care endorsed training provider!

This means our online training courses make a significant difference, not only to the learner but also to the person accessing care and support.

Skills for Care Endorsed Provider What Does it Mean for High Speed Training Learners?

Our mission has always been to deliver training that helps people to be engaged, effective and safe in the career they’ve chosen. We work tirelessly to ensure all our online courses are relevant and meaningful to a variety of sectors and roles.

Skills for Care endorsement is a trusted quality mark only awarded to the best learning and development providers within the social care sector.

We welcome High Speed Training to Skills for Care

endorsement. They’ve demonstrated dedicated commitment to the core requirements, such as effective leadership and management, robust quality assurance, equal opportunities for staff development as well as keeping learners central to all learning and development. We look forward to working with High Speed Training in the future.

Receiving Skills for Care endorsement is highly significant for our learners who work in social care and demonstrates our commitment to constantly providing the best training and support we possibly can.

Businesses all over the world have been using their resources to help during the COVID-19 pandemic wherever they can.

We worked hard to develop a course that would inform people how to use PPE safely. This information was so important that we gave the course away for free to those who work in front line healthcare. To this date, we have trained over 6,000 people in safe PPE practices for free.

For more information and guidance related to COVID19, simply visit www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/ covid-19-courses-resources/

Care Certificate by Laser Learning During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees were furloughed, whilst others (such as those in Care Homes and the NHS) bravely worked on the frontline and continue to do so. Here at Laser Learning, we are proud to have supported both of these groups, in different ways. This was achieved through the Laser Care Certificate course and CPD short courses.

The Laser Care Certificate course provides knowledge to cover every standard included in the official Skills for Care specification. Every lesson includes bespoke video tutorials specifically for the Care Certificate course, as well as reading materials and good practice examples. Furthermore, a mandatory quiz at the end of each lesson (which requires a 100% pass mark) ensures both competence and confidence. Managers are able to create their own accounts to enrol staff on the course and track their progress. All of the content is accessible remotely via computer, smartphone or tablet, enabling

care professionals to make progress towards the certificate in a way that suits their circumstances.

Additionally, Laser delivers CPD short courses to help the ongoing development of skills and expertise of both furloughed staff, who had the silver lining of time on their side, as well as those working through the pandemic amidst concerns of job security. Two courses in particular – ‘Causes and Spread of Infection’ and ‘Infection Control and Prevention’ – were especially popular during this period. Unlimited use subscriptions are available at affordable rates, for organisations wishing to take advantage of a large number of short courses.

Whether you are an owner, manager or independent learner, please don't hesitate to get in touch for a free demo of the Care Certificate course platform, and/or the CPD short course offering. The Laser Learning team can be contacted on info@lasersys.co.uk or +44 (0)1753 584 112.

See the advert on this page for further details.

PAGE 34 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

LAUNDRY SOLUTIONS JLA's Ozone Washing System Proven To Remove All Traces of Coronavirus in University Study of Infected Laundry

Treating coronavirus-infected laundry with a professional ozone washing system could have major implications for the future of infection control for the care sector, according to new research.

The in-depth study carried out at De Montfort University in Leicester found that the OTEX washing system, which uses ozone to kill bacteria even at low temperatures, completely removes all traces of coronavirus (OC43), a model virus for SARS-CoV-2.

The system, created by JLA (the UK’s leading supplier of commercial laundry equipment) was tested by a research team overseen by Dr Katie Laird, Reader in Microbiology and Head of the Infectious Disease Research Group, and expert virologist Dr Maitreyi Shivkumar, Lecturer in Molecular Biology. The research found that cleaning with the OTEX technology completely removed the coronavirus, even in large washing loads.

Additional testing also proved that the virus was not transferred to other textiles in the wash.

Believed to be one of the first studies of its kind, the research proves that coronavirus-infected laundry can be cleaned even at low temperatures, allowing heat sensitive items such as personal clothing, hospital mattress covers, emergency rescue wear and microfibre items to be cleaned effectively.

Dr Laird and her team are now completing the next stage of their research, looking at the rate at which the virus is inactivated in the cleaning process to give more data on the length of time and quantities of ozone required for the virus to be eliminated.

Dr Laird comments, “A key element of tackling the spread of COVID-19 is to understand how effective infec-

tion control can be implemented in real world settings.

There are a variety of situations in which textiles potentially carrying the virus need to be cleaned, such as care homes, hospitals and hotels.

“Until now we have had little data about how the virus responded to different types of cleaning. These initial results demonstrate that cleaning with ozone, as in the OTEX system, completely removes the model coronavirus.

“This held true even when treating larger loads of washing, as is likely to be the case in a real laundry setting. This result can give reassurance that such cleaning is effective .”

The implications of these findings are hugely significant for the healthcare sector in the fight against COVID19 and the protection of both service users and staff. The financial and environmental benefits are equally as impressive. Research shows that over the average sevenyear lifespan of a standard 30kg thermal disinfection cycle, using OTEX can reduce operating costs by over £130,000, whilst also reducing the businesses total carbon footprint by over 400 tonnes.

Helen Ashton, CEO from JLA commented “I am really excited about the results of these tests as here at JLA we play our part in eradicating this terrible virus. We have been developing and refining the OTEX laundry system for over fifteen years and its benefits to our customers are clear - full eradication of disease, including coronavirus, even at low temperatures and a significant reduction in operational cost coupled with a meaningful benefit to the environment.

“The system has been designed to be easy to use with real time verification of the disinfection process on every wash which provides a unique audit trail of full compliance to regulatory standards.”

This is the latest accolade for JLA’s innovative OTEX system, having been previously recognised by the NHS Rapid Review Panel in 2009 set up by the government to fast track new technology to address hospital acquired infections, achieving the highest grade (level 1) for infection control products. More recently, assessment of compliance with current Public Health England HTM01-04 guidelines for the decontamination of healthcare linen.

The OTEX ozone system is also fully supported in line with the EU Biocidal Products Regulation.

For more information about OTEX by JLA, please visit: https://jla.com/otex or see the advert on the facing page.

Forbes Professional Helps the Care Industry Adhere to Stringent Laundry Regulations For a care home, their laundry operation is always a central part of the infection control that has never been more pressing than today. The Department of Health’s CFPP 01-14 guidelines state that each wash cycle must provide the requisite disinfection.

Machines must be also approved to WRAS category 5 due to elevated risks of contamination. In order to meet stringent laundry hygiene standards, PPE is essential as are established processes to enable efficient transportation and procedural segregation of clean and soiled items. As standard, CFPP 01-04 requires that laundry is washed in a commercial washing machine at the highest possible temperature.

For enhanced hygiene requirements, all washing cycles must have a thermal disinfection cycle that reaches 71°C for at least three minutes, or 65°C for at least ten minutes.

Forbes is proud to be partnered with Miele which enables us to provide highly efficient commercial laundry solutions to care homes and the NHS. The new, highly programmable and user-friendly Little Giant range from Miele provides thermal disinfection at 85°C for 15 minutes to kill viruses and bacteria. It is

also WRAS approved to category 5 and delivers faster wash cycles and impressively low energy consumption, making it an ideal choice for any care environment. Our laundry solutions include a complementary site survey, free installation, commissioning and user training as well as a first-class service support, at no extra cost for the life of the contract.

Contact www.forbespro.co.uk, call 0345 070 2335 or see the advert on page 37.

5 Reasons Why You Should Choose LaundryTec Chester based LaundryTec since its foundation in early 2016 has become one of Alliance Internationals major UK distributers. Founded by Jeremy Hartigan, the team of industry professionals with the backing of the Alliance Lavamac brand and supported by its service partner PDS Laundry based in Nuneaton. They supply a significant number of the UK’s leading health care operators with equipment, installation and after sale support.

The LaundryTec designs offer not only washing, drying and ironing equipment but a full range of handling, distribution, folding and identification systems, to create a fully functioning laundry complete with all items necessary for efficient operation. Every LaundryTec machine includes full installation options, including the removal and disposal of an existing machine. A training program and a minimum of 24

0151 317 3127

www.laundrytec.com

months part and labour warranty.

The environment is at the forefront of every operator’s mind. Standard specification on a Lavamac machine includes functions that automatically weigh and control the energy input into the machine and store the data in the machines memory. Our LS range of electric heat pump dryers require no ventilation or gas services and operates at 3kw per hour.

5 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE LAUNDRYTEC 1. Cost 2. Efficiency 3. Service 4. Design 5. Innovation Telephone 0151 317 3127 Web www..laundrytec.com

info@laundrytec.com

5 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE LAUNDRYTEC 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Washer Extractors

Tumble Dryers

Cost Quality Service Design Innovation

Flatwork Ironers

Other Equipment

PAGE 36 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

HYGIENE & INFECTION CONTROL New Covid-19 App Enables Care Homes and Primary Care Providers Comply with Hazardous Waste Audit Requirements Remotely A new app, which gives Care Homes and primary care providers the ability to conduct compulsory clinical waste pre-acceptance and duty of care audits without the need for third-party on-site visits, has been launched by leading independent healthcare waste management company Anenta.

Designed to provide a Covid-19 compliant solution that ends the need for on-site reviews by external bodies, the app simplifies the process, saves time and dramatically cuts the cost of audits required by producers of healthcare waste in order to operate.

The app, which can be operated from a desktop as well as a range of mobile devices, takes the user through the audit process, covering duty of care and waste pre-acceptance in one go. Taking around 40 minutes to complete, the app streamlines a process that can take up to six days - including expensive on-site visits - consuming the valuable time of staff and management.

Costing just £200 per site, the Anenta audit app saves between £300 and £800 on physical audits. It identifies and records details of training undertaken linked to duty of care, keeping a record for compliance purposes. It also identifies if the correct waste management policies are in place and records details for assessment, including whether hazardous consignment notes are kept for three years – a compliance requirement - and in what format.

The app enables details of all internal waste containers to be recorded, including their location and content, and whether these are correctly labeled. Images are uploaded as a point of reference using mobile devices, enabling multiple site assessments to be undertaken; col-

leagues can be emailed with a link to the section of the waste management audit that they need to complete.

Once done, Anenta assesses the audit and provides a report with advisory notes and actions to be taken covering: missing policies, segregation requirements, and areas where action needs to be taken to comply with regulations; be that in terms of duty of care or the clinical waste pre-acceptance audit process. This enables clients to quickly and easily

address aspects of the audit that will enable them to continue operating.

Graham Flynn, Managing Director of Anenta, commented on the app launch, saying: “Business operating in the healthcare sector have a duty of care to their staff within the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

“Those that fail to demonstrate proper measures face potential enforcement action by the Care Quality Commission. Those same organisations also have an obligation to complete clinical waste preacceptance audits, without which hazardous waste including healthcare items cannot legally be removed from site. Without this being in place, care homes could face the prospect of being temporarily closed until the audit is completed.”

“Understandably, many care home producers of clinical waste are looking to avoid third parties from coming on site during the current pandemic, yet they still have audit responsibilities. It is for this reason that we have developed the Anenta audit app, allowing healthcare settings to fulfill their duties faster and more cost-effectively than has previously been possible, so that they can continue operating unincumbered. We view this as a win, win solution for all concerned and a transformational development for the care home and healthcare sector.”

All audits undertaken using the Anenta app are stored electronically, are readily accessible by the user and can be used to track remediable actions providing a breadcrumb trail for compliance purposes and CQC checks. To gain access to the Audit app, healthcare settings need to set up an account with Anenta: visit www.anentawaste.com or call 03301222143.

Staysafe Visor - CE-Certified PPE Manufactured in the UK Staysafe Visor is a subsidiary of 1st Packaging Ltd, a leading specialist UK plastics manufacturer founded in 2002. Used in a wide range of health and commercial settings, our high-quality recyclable CE-certified face shields offer protection against liquid droplets, sprays and splashes. Our visors are comfortable to wear for extended periods of time, are anti-fog and easy to assemble.

As a long-established UK company, we have been able to step up our manufacture of PPE to meet high

demand during the current unprecedented circumstances. Our facilities enable us to produce well in excess of 200,000 items per week.

At Staysafe Visor our experienced team takes very seriously its role in supporting the health of the community by helping to maintain a safer environment.

Availability and affordability are the cornerstones of our operation. Because we sell directly to businesses, organisations and the general public, we are able to remove the need for intermediaries and keep costs

low. We believe that we offer the most competitive rates on the market for this type of CE-certified PPE. Our high-quality products are helping to better protect employees in the NHS, care homes, education, transport, manufacturing and a host of other workplace settings. For further details about our range of visors please do not hesitate to contact our friendly expert team.

See page 4 for details or visit www.staysafevisor.co.uk

THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 37

HYGIENE & INFECTION CONTROL Greyland Spray and Wipe Ultra Disinfectant Has ‘Huge Impact on Cleaning Industry’ In this statement from Richard Dyson, MD of Greyland, “From not existing, the new Greyland Spray and Wipe Ultra Disinfectant has had huge impact on the Cleaning industry since its launch in early March 2020.

“Trading patterns are very hit and miss at the moment, with different pressures hitting UK Cleaning chemical manufacturers on a daily basis.

“One thing that has been consistent, is the weekly sales growth for the new Spray and Wipe Ultra Disinfectant, with just a 1 minute anti-coronavirus contact time, the product available in both 750ml ready to use Trigger Spray and top up refill 5L, has very quickly become Greyland’s number 1 best seller.”

Luckily, the Greyland factory in Manchester has been

purpose-built for both volume capacity and versatility, in order to quickly and readily switch production focus with minimum fuss. Expansion to capacity at any time has also been planned in from the start, with continual investment and upgrades to production equipment, and increased staff.

Richard Dyson continues: “After the initial March and April early reactions to the pandemic, we have coped with everything thrown at us, and right now in mid June our production flow and renowned industry order-to-delivery lead time is pretty much back to normal.”

Contact the company now: T. 0161 343 3830 E. sales@greyland.co.uk W. www.greyland.co.uk

MAG Launches Ozone Generator Proven To Kill Covid–19

One of the UK’s leading suppliers of commercial laundry solutions, MAG Laundry Equipment, can now offer a generator that has been proven to kill the Covid–19 coronavirus.

In a ground-breaking study conducted by Nara Medical University, it was confirmed that ozone gas can effectively inactivate the virus up to 1 / 10,000 CT (cycle threshold). In real conditions, it shows that Covid–19 can be inactivated on all surfaces and that ozone can be used in the sanitisation of all environments.

Putting the new discovery into the practise, the MAG Ozone Generator emits ozone through the air to sanitise surfaces and kill bacteria, microorganisms and viruses including Covid–19, while permanently eliminating unpleasant odours. Proven to eliminate SARS coronavirus, norovirus, E.coli, salmonella and more than 99% of harmful bacteria and viruses, ozone is recognised as the strongest and fastest method of destroy-

ing microorganisms.

With cycle times from 15 minutes to 72 hours, the generator is suitable for quick cleans and full airregeneration projects and can be used across all business sectors.

Commenting on the new product, Mark Dennis, managing director of MAG Laundry Equipment said: “The ability to offer a product that has been proven to kill the Covid–19 coronavirus is a real triumph for us as a business.

“With the UK economy now officially in a recession, it’s important that the Government and businesses look at how people can return to work safely, protect jobs and keep the economy moving. The ozone generator could be a key part in that, with the ability to sterilize office spaces, hotel rooms or hospitality venues quickly and effectively.”

More information on MAG Laundry Equipment is available at https://maglaundryequipment.co.uk/.

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THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 39

HYGIENE & INFECTION CONTROL Why Care Homes Need Change from Traditional Toxic Cleaning Products to a More Sustainable, Safe and Low-Cost Alternative

By Chris Speak, Managing Director, Purozo Limited (www.purozo.co.uk) If we took the time to analyse our present cleaning regimes, it would unearth some startling facts.

Firstly, the huge cost and quantity being spent in our homes on a range of cleaning and sanitising products is adding pressure to budgets which are already over stretched, as well as putting more strain on our wonderful care staff. Secondly, the extra storage you need for multiple chemicals, the plastic waste they produce and the worry of running out of stock also presents additional challenges.

THE PROBLEM WITH CHEMICALS

Aside from all of the challenges listed above, there are unfortunately much more worrying aspects to a home full of chemical cleaning products that we need to consider - especially when it comes to the safety of our precious residents and dedicated staff.

In an enclosed environment within a care home, what effect can these toxic chemicals have on an already fragile community? We already know that harmful side effects of chemicals can include

aggravating chest conditions, skin issues, and allergies for both staff and residents. Although we try to eliminate these possibilities with COSHH training, it still does not remove the danger.

In this new dawn of environmental awareness, we still continue to pump all these toxic chemicals down our drains and into our rivers, lakes and coastline, and for what reason?

THE SOLUTION

Can we do something about it? Of course we can.

Joining many care homes from across the UK in switching from toxic chemicals to the chemical-free Tersnao Lotus Pro will create a more sustainable, toxin free home, which is safe for your residents and staff – and at a fraction of your current cost. There is also no requirement for COSHH training and you will be creating a fresh, clean and sanitised home. Why wouldn’t you want to change?

For more information please visit our website www.purozo.co.uk or contact us on 01594 546250 |

New DePuro Pro Air Purifier In Use In Two NHS Hospitals The new DePuro Pro air purifier has been successfully installed in two NHS hospitals in Essex as part of their fight against the spread of Covid-19. The twelve units have been installed in three dental rooms and nine treatment rooms in a project to improve the air quality in the hospitals and increase patient turnaround in a clean and safe environment.

The DePuro Pro unit comes in two sizes, it is a plug and play set up and uses two HEPA 14 filters which retain up to 99.995% of particulates including virus, bacteria and droplets within the air.

Dean Hill and Mark Coutts from Essex based contractors TH Electrical said: “We worked alongside VORTICE to specify the DePuro Pro to effectively clean and purify the air in these hospitals. As we know from the science, good indoor air quality is vital to the fight against the spread of Covid19 and we’re delighted that these units are already starting to make a difference after only two weeks of being used.”

For more information about the DePuro Pro and other products from VORTICE visit www.vortice.ltd.uk

Clinical Waste Management Cromwell Polythene’s Sansafe® and clinical waste management ranges are designed to support the care sector in their infection prevention and control procedures, for washroom, sanitary and clinical waste.

Special consideration is needed when dealing with clinical waste, which requires different treatment and disposal methods appropriate to the hazard it may present. Our range includes refuse sacks, wheeled bin liners, tiger stripe sacks for deep landfill of offensive/hygiene waste, yellow sacks certified to UN standards for incineration of hazardous waste and orange UN standard sacks for alternative treatment of infectious and potentially infectious waste at a licensed or permitted facility The most recent addition to the Sansafe® range is tiger stripe sacks incorporating Biomaster silver antimicrobial technology, added during the film extrusion process. This inhibits the growth of harmful bac-

teria, including E. coli and Legionella. Pine Scentmaster® fragrance helps mask unpleasant odours.

These features eliminate the need to add separate antimicrobial products and intoxicating fragrances.

The tiger stripe sacks are designed for the collection and disposal of offensive/hygiene waste collection, which can be disposed of through Energy from Waste (EFW), incineration or deep landfill. Typical examples of this type of waste include non-infectious used gloves, masks, dressings, incontinence waste, and sanitary products.

Any liner used in a care setting – whether for hazardous, sanitary, or general waste – should have been independently tested to prove its effectiveness and safety. Check for recognised quality standards including the Cleaning and Hygiene Suppliers Association (CHSA) certification mark for refuse sacks and EN and ISO standards.

Visit www.cromwellpolythene.co.uk

Unigloves Expands Its PPE Range Hand protection specialist Unigloves is expanding its product portfolio with the launch of a range of sanitising hand gels and facemasks.

Added to its range to help in the fight against Covid19, the new products complement Unigloves’ range of disposable gloves designed for use across a wide range of industrial sectors including healthcare and care homes.

Available in 480ml and 200ml pump dispenser and 50ml flip top sizes, the new 70% alcohol hand gel with added Vitamin E kills 99.9% of all bacteria. Fast-drying, leaving the hands feeling soft and smooth, the new gel also moisturises the hands, making it ideal for the healthcare sector and high use environments.

Joining the hand gels is Unigloves’ Profil facemasks.

Available in boxes of 50, the 3 ply, pleated Type II facemasks have a Bacterial Filtration Efficiency (BFE) of 98%.

Tested to EN14683 the facemasks are manufactured from soft, non-

woven fabric with integrated noseband and soft ear loops for a comfortable, secure fit.

“Our hand gels and facemasks are part of our global response to the Covid-19 outbreak, which has seen us manufacturing for the NHS and a wide range of healthcare-associated settings both in the UK and internationally.

“In tandem with our extensive gloves range, the combination of hand protection and respiratory protection, provides companies with an effective solution to the increased focus on hygiene protocols,” said Unigloves’ Marketing Director, Donald Gillespie.

For more information on the range of hand gels and facemasks from Unigloves, visit https://unigloves.co.uk/products-by-category/disinfectants/hand-gel-with-vitamin-e and https://unigloves.co.uk/products-by-category/facemasks/profil-face-mask .

PAGE 40 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

HYGIENE & INFECTION CONTROL CTU Services' Thermal Access System With the introduction of various measures to constrain and manage the emergency of COVID-19 in the UK, CTU Services Thermal Access System presents the ideal solution. To address the challenge of social distancing many public places are implementing restrictions on customer flow. This includes locations such as the hospitality industry and the retail sector.

CTU Services perfectly resolves the problem of "how to accurately and efficiently control customer flow in a premises" Their system detects how many people are present in the targeted area and display the figure in real-time. If the capacity is reached the system's display immediately indicates no more people should enter.

The two systems that CTU Services supply can be merged together to give you more security and social distancing. The Thermal camera can be wall mounted or comes on a sleek stand. It will also notify

any number of members of staff of any issues with potential clients entering the premisses via text or email.

• Facial recognition is fully integrated with body temperature monitoring. This means no additional staff are required.

• The solution is contactless, reducing the risk of cross infection.

• Extensive storage of facial images and temperature information enabling easy historical access.

• Fast facial recognition and temperature monitoring reducing access congestion. In Scotland will detect if you are or are not wearing a mask / face covering.

• Integration with third party products such as turnstiles and VMS. See a demonstration of the system at https://youtu.be/lcQllOytA7Y For further information, see the advert this page, call 01257 477060 or visit www.ctuservices.com

Sheffcare Teams Up with Haigh Sheffcare continue to stay at the forefront of resident health, safety, and care. With ten homes across the city of Sheffield, Sheffcare a leading care charity, serves the needs of more than 500 older people and is strongly committed to providing high quality, compassionate care which enhances quality of life.

Like a clean kitchen, often the most important aspects of infection prevention are out of sight. Best in class providers continue to invest in their facilities, ever-improving client health and experience. Most recently, Sheffcare has upgraded its waste management to Haigh's disposal units. These allow the hygienic disposal of disposable toileting items, simplifying and improving a challenging task for staff, reducing cross infection risks, and helping drive down long-term costs.

Sheffcare noted "Investments like this are taken only once we have strong evidence. We trialled the

Please Please mention mentionTHE THE CARER CARER when when responding responding to to advertising. advertising.

Haigh Quattro and Haigh Incomaster at several of our sites. The improvement was noticeable, improving resident experience and for our care staff."

Haigh has been designing bed pan disposers since the 1950s, supporting hospitals across the UK and worldwide, while investing in the UK economy.

For further information, visit www.haighmed.com

THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 41

HYGIENE & INFECTION CONTROL Electrox Sterilising Water Electrox Sterilising Water is an ecological disinfectant that kills viruses, bacteria, spores and fungi significantly faster than bleach and other traditional disinfectants. It is 80 x more effective than bleach, no alcohol, non corrosive, pH neutral and hypoallergenic. The active substance in Electrox is hypochlorous acid, which has been successfully tested for full virucidal activity as defined in EN14476:2013, and has activity against all viruses. This includes all coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2.

When used with fogging machines, Electrox can sanitise care homes rapidly, with minimal disruption and without the harsh chemicals found in traditional disinfectants.

Electrox customer Eddy Pyatt, Director of Platinum Care Homes

says “We’re using Electrox Sterilising Water and the fogging machine in four of our Care Homes and have found it provides real peace of mind and assurance to our residents and their visitors. We are fogging communal areas, outdoor visiting areas in between visits and resident’s rooms within our care homes to make sure we’re providing a sanitised environment for our staff, residents and their visitors alike. We wanted a sanitising product that didn’t involve large amounts of chemicals and found Electrox to be the most cost effective of all the solutions we looked at.”

Contact Electrox today: www.electroxwater.co.uk 0117 318 0830 sales@electroxwater.co.uk

Sanozone. The Easy Way To Sanitise Your Indoor Spaces SANOZONE, which delivers the most efficient sanitisation performance in indoor spaces, is now available from Barbel.

Manufactured by Vitaeco S.r.l., the world famous manufacturer of the highly regarded HotmixPro thermal blender range, SANOZONE sanitises rooms of many sizes in enclosed HRC sites, hotels, restaurants, bars, conference rooms and similar establishments where totally reliable and regular sanitisation is needed.

SANOZONE is particularly suitable for hospitals and care home areas, where absolute cleanliness is mandatory, and in areas where it is difficult or impossible to deliver effective sanitisation throughout.

The SANOZONE range of

machines use Ozone (O3) technology, a gaseous form of Ozone that fills the room, reaching every corner of the space, santising surfaces and critical hard-toreach corners homogenously, consistently and safely.

The SANOZONE range of sanitisation machines are all equipped with the latest technology and customised disinfection programmes to suit your specific requirements.

The running costs are considerably lower than any traditional disinfecting programmes and most importantly, there is no manual labour involved.

For further information about the SANOZONE range, please contact Barbel on 01629 705110, email info@barbel.net, or visit the website at www.barbel.net

Elgin Bay Offer The Mac500 Proven Solution to Combating Coronavirus panies and individuals in the fight against the spread of coronavirus. We have not invented a miracle cure for coronavirus that can stand alone, but we may have one of the weapons needed to reduce the infection”, explains Michael Kløcker, JIMCO A/S. Elgin Bay are the UK suppliers of Jimco UVC and Ozone technology. The Mac500 is an air purifier developed and manufactured in Denmark by Jimco, that reduces viruses in the air. With the air purifier the reduction of viruses is both fast and significant, achieving 99.99% reduction within 3 hours.

A study from a technological institute in Denmark states that The MAC500 effectively reduces viruses from the air.

In rooms where the air purifier is in use, The study documents that the MAC500 reduces viruses in the air by 89 percent in one hour. After two hours, the virus is reduced by 99 percent, and after three hours, the reduction is 99.9 percent.

“We have tested the air purifier on a virus that is 7-10 times more resistant to UV light than coronavirus. The results of this study are very uplifting right now, because we are all trying our best to avoid infections”, says Michael Kløcker, business unit manager at JIMCO A/S. The MAC500 air purifier works partly by burning harmful particles such as viruses with the help of UV-C rays, and partly by letting out a small amount of ozone, which can destroy bacteria and viruses. The amount of ozone is equal to the amount occurring in nature by the Sun. “You can use the air purifier everywhere, and our greatest customer segments are businesses and industries where it is difficult to keep distance or where customers are at a greater risk”. “It is very common to use air purifiers in Care Homes, Hospitals, Dentists and in private homes where you feel extra exposed”. “The aim is to strengthen the indoor climate as well as limiting the spread of viruses through the air”, Matthew Cove, MD at Elgin Bay explains.

“We are very happy that we are able to offer a product that can help both com-

About MAC500:

The MAC500 air purifier has been on the market for nearly 20 years and is already operating in many homes and workplaces around the world.

Other benefits include: • Reduction in Virus/Bacteria/Fungi • Reduction in Odour within the room • Reduces indoor air pollution and eliminates the sources of headaches, respiratory problems (COPD/Asthma) For further information, please contact Matthew Cove on 07920 254379 or matthewcove@elginbay.co.uk The report can be requested by contacting matthewcove@elginbay.co.uk or downloaded here: https://jimco.dk/CustomerData/Files/Folders/5ppdf/ 2407_ms2-test.pdf

PAGE 42 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

HYGIENE & INFECTION CONTROL AtmoSan Supports Safety at Avery Care Homes In a further step to ensure that its care homes continue to be some of the safest places to live, Avery Healthcare has deployed AtmoSan systems to all of its services. As a part of its comprehensive approach to hygiene and sanitisation, supported by extensive staff training, it is now using AtmoSan Fogging machines, a ULV ultra-fine droplet cold fogging system, to provide complete room decontamination, prior to a new resident moving in and for regular cleaning and virus prevention.

AtmoSan is a specialist manufacturer of decontamination solutions

against surface and airborne pathogens, and its advanced Biocide is completely natural, 100% safe and non-toxic to humans, animals and plants.

Accredited and approved to multiple European and British Standards sanitisation standards, it kills 99.999% of all known pathogens, including viruses such as norovirus, MS2 and the coronavirus, bacteria such as Campylobacter, fungi, spores and moulds.

Coronaviruses are enveloped viruses, meaning they are one of the easiest types of viruses to kill with an appropriate disinfectant product. Biocide Regulatory Agencies such as the USA Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) employ a ‘hierarchy-based’

approach for new virus strains, meaning a product such as Biocide that is found to be effective against harder-to-kill viruses is likely to kill a virus such as COVID-19.

Tony Devenish from AtmoSan was thrilled at the agreement; “We are delighted to partner with Avery Healthcare in providing an effective aerial and surface disinfection solution for their 56 care homes nationwide. It is a privilege to work with such a proactive care group and to be able to contribute towards increased resident safety and providing peace of mind for their families in these difficult times.”

Director of Care and Quality for the Avery Group, Julie Spencer, was similarly enthusiastic with the project roll-out: “After testing and a pilot phase, we are confidently deploying the AtmoSan systems to all our homes as part of the fight against the coronavirus and other health risks. It’s a great addition to our other protocols and will help keep our residents, staff and their respective families safe when in an Avery environment.”

Find out more at www.atmosan.co.uk

Angloplas Dispensers Help Reduce the Risk of Cross Infection Angloplas are a UK manufacturer who specialise in producing dispensers for the health and hygiene industry. Although these are designed to keep the workplace tidy and uncluttered they are, more importantly, built knowing the control of healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) are a priority for healthcare providers, and who are employing a combination of infection prevention and control strategies, including hand hygiene, cleaning, training and the adoption of new technologies, to tackle the problem.

As a result, a wide range of infection control products and technologies are emerging on the market, including antimicrobial technology. Angloplas’ range of dispensers are produced in the world’s first proven Antimicrobial PVC with silver ion technology and which is

Clean Air Solutions There are a lot of cost-effective equipment that could be put in place quickly and easily to actively assist in lowering or eliminating the virus contaminated particles of any room helping eliminate the spread of viruses.

Air and Surface Treatments are the most effective method for treating all manner of smells, viruses, volatile organic compounds and all other airborne and surface contaminants.

These type of unit utilise either O³ (Ozone) or OH (Hydroxyl) Ozone is created when the kind of oxygen we breathe O² is split apart into single oxygen atoms. Single oxygen atoms can re-join to make O², or they can join with O² molecules to make ozone (O³) when the energy is available to do so. Ozone breaks down when it reacts with other compounds, harmful viruses included.

exclusive to Angloplas. This helps reduce the risk of cross infection by stopping the growth of bacteria and mould and works continuously for the lifetime of the product, reducing levels of bacteria such as MRSA, E Coli, Legionella, Salmonella and mould by up to 99.99%.

For non-clinical environments Angloplas has recently launched its new Budget Range of products which are made to the same exacting standards as the antimicrobial protected ones but with lower price tags.

You can order Angloplas products directly from its website by going to www.angloplas.co.uk and clicking Hospital, Health and Hygiene or by using the Quick Response code.

The machines that produce Ozone in higher effective concentrations must be used in unoccupied spaces, high concentrations of Ozone can cause issues with the respiratory system, with this said they are extremely effective at sanitising a space (airborne and surfaces) after a manual clean down.

Hydroxyl machines are by far the most user friendly, firstly because they’re more adaptable and easily integrate into our normal daily lives.

Much like the Ozone units, a volatile OH compound is produced which reacts with all airborne contaminants. The OH compound reacts by oxidizing and this cascade reaction will continue until the area is free of contaminants, the OH particles will then simply become H²O once there is nothing left to react with.

Hydroxyl units are safe for use in constantly occupied rooms and will provide the constant decontamination required in a busy office.

For more information please contact Axair Fans to discuss your requirements. www.axaironline.co.uk sales@axair-fans.co.uk 01782 349439

PAGE 44 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

HYGIENE & INFECTION CONTROL

Germgard from Fireco With the outbreak of COVID-19, good hygiene practice has become more important than ever before.

Fireco has recently released its newest innovation, Germgard, a smart sanitiser combined with digital signage. Germgard has been designed to promote awareness of the importance of hand sanitisation to all building users. It can also be tailored to suit individual business needs, helping as a building management tool. Some examples of potential messaging includes instructing users to follow your one-way system or putting on a mask before entering.

Germgard is a smart sanitising station which monitors people passing through your chosen doorways. A PIR sensor will detect someone approaching and a screen will show your personalised message.

Germgard can also be combined with a range of door systems so that the use of hand sanitiser is a requirement before gaining entry. Integration options include electronic door locks, automatic doors, and access control systems.

James Wheeler, Chief Commercial Officer at Fireco says, “Our customers require visual, physical products as evidence in promoting their return to work strategy to their workforce.

Germgard meets those requirements, ensuring best practice, encouraging occupants to self-police when moving around the building.”

GERMGARD HELPS BUSINESSES REOPEN SAFELY

As lockdown restrictions started lifting in July, businesses had

to plan their back to work strategy in line with the Government’s Health & Safety Executive COVID-19 Risk Assessment guidelines.

Staff and members are detected when entering the building, they are presented with a digital display asking them to sanitise their hands. Castle Snooker & Sports Bar chose to connect their Germgard system with their electronic door lock, meaning that the door will only unlock for people who have used the sanitiser unit.

This reduces the possibility of human error when controlling the transfer of germs.

“Germgard has played a vital role in making our COVID Secure Strategy strikingly obvious to our customers. We wanted to ease anxiety and make sure our members feel safe when returning to the new normal.”

“I would recommend Fireco. They have helped us to reopen our business safely.”

Fireco manufactures wireless fire door closers and retainers, notification systems, disability aid products and hygiene equipment, all designed to provide simple solutions to a range of needs: fire safety, compliance, access, ventilation and hygiene.

Fireco’s operations are in alignment with International Standard ISO 9001:2015. All of our products meet relevant British and European fire safety standards. With some products gaining primary test evidence with fire door manufacturers.

For more information about Germgard or how Fireco solutions can assist with COVID-secure strategies, visit www.fireco.uk or call the Fireco team today 01273 320650.

Antimicrobial Handle Helps Boost Care Homes’ Active Protection Methods Against Bacteria Care homes can now help to reduce the spread of bacteria using a maintenancefree, antimicrobial surface for door hardware.

HOPPE has developed SecuSan®, an antibacterial and antimicrobial surface for door and window handles, to help ensure high hygiene standards wherever people are present in large numbers.

SecuSan® immediately suppresses the growth of pathogens on the handle on a lasting basis. Independent tests have proved that SecuSan® reduces microbial growth by more than 99%.

Andy Matthews, head of sales at HOPPE (UK), said: “SecuSan® is ideal for facilities managers trying to take care of high traffic buildings. In these types of buildings where there is so much to monitor and keep clean, SecuSan® helps to maintain high hygiene standards. It actively fights bacteria and fungi from the moment it is installed and is wear-free on a long term basis. This is particularly important in care homes where residents are much more vulnerable.”

Protecting Staff And Residents with Continual Airborne Sanitisation The COVID-19 pandemic raises particular challenges for care home residents, their families and the staff that look after them. With no end in sight and millions of pounds being spent every day on cleaning and sanitisation methods that are costly and labour intensive. SOH Group has a revolutionary new product ‘SOH Pure’ that is already helping thousands of people and businesses by continuously sanitising their premises.

The SOH Pure systems work in a similar way to that of a fogger but is an ‘always on’ solution that continually sanitises an area of up to 80m2. Achieved by cold air diffusion technology liquid is turned into a vapour the is lighter than air. This vapour

cleans and sanitises the air whilst airborne and then sanitises all surfaces when it falls creating a unique dual action air and surface approach.

Using the SOH Pure system will help reduce the amount of time that is required cleaning and will help re continually sanitise high traffic areas, such as staff gathering hot spots building entrances , lobbies and delivery zones and more.

Let us help you today give your staff and residents that extra piece of mind!

Get in touch for more details and other environmentally friendly products 02037276400, info@sunglobalsupplies.com or www.sunglobalavf.com

The surface can be applied to a wide range of popular HOPPE handle designs including the Amsterdam and Paris series, all available in aluminium silver and stainless steel. It is also covered by HOPPE’s 10-year operational guarantee that applies to all HOPPE door and window handles.

For more information on SecuSan®, please contact Andy on Andy.Matthews@hoppe.com or 01902 484 400. www.hoppe.com

THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 45

HYGIENE & INFECTION CONTROL

Care Homes at Risk of Prosecution If They Fall Foul of Covid-19 Infection Control Checks Care home operators are “under pressure like never before” trying to meet the many challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has resumed its regular rating inspections as well as separate infection prevention and control inspections.

Failure to meet the requirements of the infection prevention and control inspections could, in the most serious cases, lead to a care home owner or operator being prosecuted.

The rigorous inspections scrutinise a range of areas including use of PPE, testing, the safety of premises and visitor and shielding protocols and admission procedures for new residents.

Maxine Parry, Regional Director of Caresolve, one of the UK’s leading care home consultancies, said: “The CQC or local authority can turn up at a home without any warning to check on measures and whether they are robust enough.

“Some homes have already been pulled up because they hadn’t put the

correct procedures in place for infection control.

“There are so many important aspects for operators and managers to think about. One of the biggest areas is around PPE and whether the equipment chosen is properly certified. Staff need to evidence that they are coming into work in their own clothes before getting changed, while daily temperature checks also need to be conducted.

“Smaller operators are under the greatest pressure as they often don’t have the resources they need or up-to-date policies and procedures and guidance around Covid-19.

“The implications of being found to be in breach of infection control are severe especially if operators could be seen to be wilfully neglecting their infection control and putting residents and staff at an increased Covid-19 risk.

Should people die as a result, they could be open to prosecution.”

Alongside the challenges of keeping a care home safe, operators face escalating financial pressures.

Maxine said: “Good financial management has to go hand in hand with good infection control management.

“The pandemic has put significant financial pressures on many homes.

Even allowing for Government support, homes are facing increased costs in many areas.

“If Covid-19 gets into a home and staff must isolate, there is a need to pay for agency cover. You also need to ensure that agency staff are not also working in other homes. Contingency planning around staffing and PPE is vital.

“We have seen from cases during recent months that it is 90% luck if Covid-19 doesn’t get into a home. You can put the best possible measures in place and tick every box, but the nature of the virus means you are still at

risk.

“But an operator gives themselves the best chance of avoiding a serious issue by ensuring they have put all the right policies and procedures in place.

“Caresolve has been working with several operators throughout the crisis, giving them the practical advice and peace of mind that they are doing everything they can to stay on top of Covid-19.

“We keep homes informed and up to date with the latest guidance and ensure best practice has been implemented when we go into homes to support them. In some cases, we are providing hands-on management in the home.

“In one instance, the manager and both deputies had to isolate at the same time.

“A lot of care home owners and operators are extremely stressed as the pressure on them is immense.

“We have had providers telling us they couldn’t have coped without our support.”

Caresolve was established in 2011 by experienced care sector professionals Ben Challinor and James Parkin. Richard Shore joined as Finance Director in 2016.

The company provides strategic and operational support to care home operators and their investors including undertaking management contracts.

The team also has extensive experience in achieving the successful turnaround of numerous care homes.

Caresolve also has a dedicated financial arm, Caresolve Financial, headed up by Richard Shore, providing financial reviews and management services and Finance Director support.

For further information please visit www.caresolve.org.uk

Infection Control Lessons Learnt From The First Peak of COVID-19

By Tautvydas Karitonas, Head of Research and Development for Inivos (www.hygiene-solutions.co.uk) The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on care facilities in the UK has been significant. To mitigate against the same situation reoccurring, here, Tautvydas Karitonas, Head of Research and Development for Inivos, outlines the infection control lessons care home staff can draw on from the first wave of the pandemic to ensure they are prepared for a second wave.

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed over forty-three thousand lives in the UK, with over 19,394 of these being care home residents.* With cases rising again and threats of a second peak looming, it is vital that care home managers and their employees establish new infection control measures to help prevent and control any further outbreaks.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) is a novel virus, which means it is difficult to predict how a second peak would develop and to what degree measures would need to be put into place. Therefore, as cases in care homes have already begun to rise, it is important to follow the infection control lessons learnt from the first peak to try to contain any further outbreaks.

ADOPT SAFER DECONTAMINATION STANDARDS At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, manual deep cleaning was the recommended method to help control the spread of the virus. While it is still essential for care homes and hospitals to thoroughly deep clean rooms by hand, it has become increasingly apparent that manual cleaning alone can leave dangerous traces of the virus behind through unavoidable human error. Such errors can be avoided through the use of high-tech decontamination devices such those using hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV) and ultraviolet-C (UV-C).

A group of care homes in Salisbury became the first in the sector to utilise UV-C decontamination technology to ensure patient areas were a safe space for residents. Specialist decontamination devices which use UV-C technology or HPV are frequently used already by over 40% of NHS Trusts as they are known to decontaminate spaces and reduce pathogens by up to 99.9999% - also known as >log 6 reduction.

The coronavirus pandemic has now begun to accelerate the adoption of these technologies into more care homes across the country, with many recognising the benefits of such technologies to create a safe

environment for residents and their loved ones.

ENSURE SUFFICIENT LEVELS OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) During the first wave of the pandemic, many care homes struggled to provide sufficient PPE for their healthcare workers as stock was prioritised for hospital staff. This meant that nurses and carers were expected to look after some of the UK’s most vulnerable patients without efficient PPE to protect both them and their patient.

To ensure care homes are prepared in the event of a second peak, it is vital that health and social care workers plan-ahead and ensure PPE stocks will not run out.

A central part of the government’s coronavirus strategy is the test and trace system, where a person’s symptoms should be tested and their recent contacts traced, making it easier to control the virus. Nurses are not considered a close contact if they are wearing PPE therefore it is vital that any personal protective equipment is thoroughly decontaminated after each use to avoid the virus being passed on from nurse to patient or vice-versa.

HPV can effectively decontaminate micro-organisms on PPE that are significantly more resistant than COVID-19, without damaging the equipment.

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust tested the feasibility of decontaminating used PPE gowns in a trial at the height of the pandemic. Inivos used HPV and applied this to laundered gowns to test its effectiveness in decontaminating single-use PPE for re-use. The result was that the process achieved satisfactory results of decontamination to enable thoroughly decontaminated PPE to be re-used.

Although it’s always important to have stocks of new, single-use PPE, to help prepare for a second peak, and in the case of PPE shortages, care homes should consider regularly decontaminating their PPE, like in hospitals, to ensure residents and staff are properly protected. * Data obtained from the Office For National Statistics

Tautvydas Karitonas is a leading expert in harnessing decontamination technology to eliminate viruses, bacteria and other contaminants from hospitals, care homes and public spaces. In his role as Head of Research & Development, Tautvydas has led research and development into numerous pioneering solutions for virus outbreaks, including isolation pods, automated hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV) and ultraviolet-C (UV-C) systems and decontamination wipes.

Antimicrobial Contract Fabrics for Added Reassurance Skopos has recently launched a new sub-brand, Skopos Pro-tect Plus, as a mark-

antimicrobial treatment, so please ask. Choices include print basecloths, plain and

er for all Skopos products offered with an antimicrobial finish. Skopos has been

woven designs. All antimicrobial fabrics are flame retardant and tested to the high

offering antimicrobial fabrics for over 15 years, however the new sub-brand helps to

standards required for contract interiors.

clearly identify this offer to our customers, at a time where extra reassurance within contract interiors has never been more relevant. Within Pro-tect Plus Skopos cus-

Skopos antimicrobial fabrics have bacteriostatic, viral-reducing and anti-fungal properties. Fabrics are not seen as a beneficial host for Sars Cov-2 even without

tomers have a choice of fabrics for different end uses; Antimicrobial drapery fabrics,

antimicrobial treatment, however including this extra benefit viruses and bacteria

Antimicrobial woven upholstery fabrics, Antimicrobial faux leather and vinyls. The

are greatly reduced.

upholstery fabrics offer includes luxury velvet, printed fabrics, vinyls and a large range of woven collections, mostly waterproof, soil and stain resist, perfect for caring interiors. Many of our drapery and bedding fabrics can be finished with an

Free samples of our fabrics are available online or via our customer services team: sales@skopos.co.uk. www.skoposfabrics.com

PAGE 46 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

TECHNOLOGY & SOFTWARE CARE VISION Friends of the Elderly Selects Softworks Software

At Care Vision we believe care may never be the same again. Outstanding care truly is at the heart of everything we do, with a clear purpose of Less Admin, More Care.

Growing up and working in a family owned care home, Rishi Jawaheer saw at first hand the main needs in the care sector; to cut down on the burden of manual paperwork while maintaining good practice and to encourage people to become more involved in care.

Using his experience as a registered manager, with some of the smartest minds in tech, Rishi was driven to create Care Vision, an all in one cloudbased care management, system incorporating all your care and admin into one easy to use system.

Presently the care industry has our work cut out to keep in line with statutory and legislative compliance in addition to the essential everyday tasks of looking after our clients.

Care Vision acts as a bridge which uses technology that organises care work, ensures a safer, better and more intimate experience for every member of the community, from administration, the carer to family, friends and the people we care for.

Care Vision provides An easy to use system for carers, managers, relatives; bringing care and admin into one platform; to manage time, attendance, rota, HR, housekeeping, maintenance and much more An E-mar system, fully compliant with NICE, reducing medication errors and keeping people safe An intuative daily notes section that can be completed at the point of service quickly and accurately A pictorial food order system that allows the individual to choose from a menu even if they forgot what a meal looks like Daily reminders in the form of care routines which reminds staff of key aspects of care for the individual

Care Plans / Risk assessments/ Life stories which allows you to customise care plans to specifically suit the person’s needs. Reminding all about one’s history and who Is important in one’s life A family app that allows families to keep track of their loved one’s wellbeing through videos and pictures, which has been essential during the pandemic.

Care Vision gives you the freedom to access it using mobile, tablet, laptop, or pc in real time whilst safely securing and storing data. within the platform.

Built flexibly to adapt to services of any size, large or small, Care Vision’s structured, interactive features engage carers in sharing information with the end-user and their family.

Registered manager and director of Summerhayes Care says “The carers have taken to Care Vision like a duck to water and the information that we are gathering is streets ahead of the previous system we used we are very impressed. They make it easy to understand and nothing is any trouble.

I highly recommend taking a look at this system if you are wanting to meet your quality standards and CQC requirements”.

Nationally our data has shown that working with homes Care Vision can save 2-4 hours every week per carer by reducing tasks that could be better spent with the people we care for.

As both carers and developers, we are unique in our focus on developing software that benefits the care sector.

This allows us to continually develop and update software for our clients.

The Care Vision team would love to talk to you about what the system can do for you, come and join us, we believe the future of Social care is in good hands with “Care vision” Contact us at info@care-vision.co.uk or call 0208 768 9809

Friends of the Elderly has been supporting and caring for older people since 1905.Their Care Homes provide residential, dementia, nursing and respite care dedicated to providing quality care with dignity. The organisation is passionate about its work and strives to provide quality care while continually evolving. As part of this ethos the organisation went to market looking for a solution to help transform and improve Employee Time, Attendance, Rostering and Skills Management within their network of Care Homes and after an extensive selection process selected Softworks.

Commenting on the selection Sharon Nunn, Group Financial Controller of Friends of the Elderly said “Last Summer we identified that implementing a Workforce Management System to manage our employee Time, Attendance, Rostering and Skills would bring significant improvements to the everyday running of our Care Homes. We were using spreadsheets to manage key areas such as hours worked rosters, leave, absences, holiday requests and skills and this was becoming very

Care Control Systems Care Control Systems Ltd is proud to create the UK's best Care Management Software designed for use within all standard, niche and complex care settings. Care Control has been in constant development since 2010 and was made commercially available in 2016. Since then we have expanded across hundreds of providers within the UK and are well recognised as leaders in our field.

Care Control is used by over 15,000 care professionals daily across the UK in multiple service types ensuring their services have live,

complex and labour intensive.”

“We knew streamlining and automating processes in these areas and removing time consuming paper-based admin would give both Managers and Healthcare Staff better oversight and more time to focus on the provision of excellent care within our Care Homes.”

“After meeting with a number of solution providers we chose Softworks because they really understood our requirements as a Care Home provider. They had a proven track record and were ready, willing and able to configure their system to our specific requirements rather than us needing to alter our work practices to fit in with their system.”

“Aside from this we were impressed by the extensive functionality offered by the Softworks Workforce Management Software such as the complete HR module, Skills, Training and Expense Management modules, Compliance, Employee Self-Service and Payroll Integration.”

See the advert on the facing page for details,

up-to-date essential information. Located in Tavistock, Devon our expert team is comprised of numerous industry specialists with many years of direct, hands-on care experience. This is one of our key USP’s.

Our Managing Director, Matt Luckham started the creation of the original Care Control Software in 2010 with the aim to provide essential, accurate information for Spring House Care House in Devon.

Matt had purchased Spring House in 2010. Matt developed the software and then spent 6 years proving its functionality within Spring House. It soon became apparent the software could add real value to other service providers and after numerous requests we

decided to commercialise the software.

In 2016 Care Control Systems Ltd was founded and since then has gone from strength-tostrength with exponential growth.

We now have an exceptional team of more than 20 staff who have over 70 years of direct hands-on care experience between them. On top of this our team of Software Developers are experts in their field and are constantly developing our products to ensure they offer everything our customers expect in what is a particularly complex sector.

2020 has been a record year for Care Control with record numbers of customers choosing us, office expansion, overseas sales and an ever growing team to name just a few things. We are so excited for the future!

Visit www.carecontrolsystems.co.uk or see the advert below for further details.

Reliable Technology Can Be the Difference Between Your Care Home Getting By or Excelling As a healthcare professional, your goal is to deliver the best care for your residents, but you can’t focus on them if you’re constantly struggling with unreliable, under-performing technology. Here at EC Computers we specialise in technology management for Care Home. We take care of all your IT, preventing technical issues from ever happening, and providing powerful solutions that help you streamline operations and improve staff and resident experiences.

Our OnePoint Solutions improve both staff and resident satisfaction for Care Homes, these

include: Managed IT Services Office 365 Communications and Document storage Data Backup Solutions Virtualization for Groups requiring on premise servers VoIP Solutions to provide flexible working and cheaper calls Desktop and Server Support Cybersecurity Solutions to keep you important data safe

Data Cabling and Infrastructure planning Software applications - CRM - Database Custom apps Would your Care Home benefit from Managed IT Services?

We believe every Care Home can achieve more with help from a Managed Services Provider (MSP), but you’ll need information to make your own decision.

So please contact us today, or call us direct on 0117 200 1000. See the advert on page 47 fpr details.

THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 49

TECHNOLOGY & SOFTWARE Workforce Scheduling Solutions Workforce Scheduling Solutions deliver Electronic Time & Attendance systems worldwide, using the latest Face Recognition technology.

Why should care homes move from paper to electronic time sheets The industry is under considerable financial pressures. An efficient electronic booking on/off system that will schedule, provide budgets, calculate hours worked, overtime and absence such as sickness and holiday entitlement will save Time and Money.

How is time and money saved by doing things electronically?

Collecting payroll information from paper timesheets can be slow, prone to errors, and very labour intensive.

Staff rosters can be produced as far in advance as practical and accurate within budgeted hours. Staff book on and off-duty electronically, thus eliminating any time errors.

Wage queries are virtually eliminated and immediate checks can be made without wading through reams of paper which invariably are inaccurate, misfiled or even 'lost".

There are many systems on the market - Why facial

recognition is important and how it works Some systems use tokens, which can be lost or left at home, requiring management involvement in the booking on/off procedure. Fingerprint systems can be beaten and Social media is awash with ways to copy fingerprints. Face recognition combined with a staff PIN is simple to use and manage using touch screen technology and web cams. Staff see their image displayed immediately when booking on or off and confirms their identity visually. It provides the best deterrent available as it builds a greater 'image knowledgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of each employee, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Eliminates 'buddy punching' where employees can book colleagues on/off duty using someoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tokens, swipe card or even fingerprint.

How is data protected?

With the correct security setup computer systems provide more data protection than paper-based records which can be easily removed or stolen. GDPR covers all data including paper records and therefore the chances of infringing the rules and incurring fines is greater with paper.

Visit www.wfsoftware.co.uk

Alpaka at Askham Village Askham Village Community is a group of specialist homes which provide professional nursing care to young adults and the elderly.

Growing organically over the last 30 years, means internal processes have evolved to keep pace with regulatory requirements and the needs of a growing organisation.

Paper-based reporting and recording systems were the norm for rotas, timesheets, annual leave and absence as well as training status and other personnel information.

Alpaka software adoption proceeded in four stages, paced to match the staff expectations and available time.

1. Software Champions: An introduction to Staff data & Rotas 2. Management Team: Parallel working with old process and Alpaka 3. Employees: Presence app for clocking in and out with paper timesheets for comparison 4. No more paper, the full digital experience.

Askham's 'challenge' is a common scenario in the care sector, mainly where businesses have grown and processes have remained manual and paper-based. It might seem a daunting task, but with the right technology, a digital transformation is possible and profitable.

The full case study is available to read on https://alpaka.io/case-studies/care Call Alpaka on 0203 286 6109 or email kate@alpaka.io

PAGE 50 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

NURSE CALL AND FALL PREVENTION

Fall Savers - Affordable Fall Monitoring Solutions Fall Savers®, are an experienced market leading healthcare provider of resident safety solutions for over 15 years.

FALL SAVERS ® WIRELESS MONITOR Eliminate all cables with our new generation falls management solutions!

Upgrade your falls programme with the latest technology from Fall Savers®. The NEW Fall Savers® Wireless eliminates the cord between the monitor and sensor pad. This results in less work for nursing staff, improved safety for patients and reduced wear and tear on sensor pads. Wireless advantages include the ability to use one monitor with two sensor pads simultaneously and support for many new wireless devices.

Benefits include: Safer for patients; less work for staff Bed and chair pads available One monitor works with two sensor pads Integrates with most nurse call systems A variety of options, including: Call button

Pager Floor sensor mat Wireless door/window exit alerts

TREADNOUGHT ®FLOOR SENSOR PAD The TreadNought® Floor Sensor Pad is built to last with a durable construction that far out lasts the competition. Our anti-bacterial floor sensor pad is compatible with most nurse call systems or can be used with a portable pager to sound an alert when a person steps on to the sensor pad. Caregivers typically place the sensor pad at the bedside, in a doorway or other locations to monitor persons at risk for falls or wandering. An optional anti-slip mesh reduces the potential for slippage on hard surface floors.

Features include: Connects directly to most nurse call systems High Quality anti-bacterial Floor Sensor Pad Large Size Pad: Measures (L) 91cm x (H) 61cm Options (sold separately): Anti-slip mesh for hard surface floors See the advert on this page for further details.

Aid Call Nurse Call Systems Aid Call has been leading the way in wireless nurse-call systems for over 40 years. We offer a wide range of products and bespoke solutions.

All of our products have been developed following feedback from our customers who are the forefront of care delivery. We tailor our offering specifically to each individual customers require-

Please Please mention mention THE THE CARER CARER when when responding responding to to advertising. advertising.

life easier and more efficient for your staff and are simple for residents to use too. The combination of flexibility and functionality allows you to focus on the most effective care delivery, rather than being constrained by the limitations of technology.

Our nurse call systems are not only powerful, functional and reliable, but also robust enough to

ments to ensure you get the perfect system for

withstand the demands of a care or nursing home

your needs.

environment of any size or scale.

Aid Call wireless nurse call systems can make

See the advert on page 1 for further information.

THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 51

NURSE CALL AND FALL PREVENTION A Digital Future of Care in a Post COVID-19 Era After 50 years being at the forefront of advances in Nurse Call solutions, Courtney Thorne continue to develop solutions which now seem more relevant and important than at any time before.

The introduction of digital care planning and medication solutions has enabled forward thinking care homeowners to go paperless, giving more accurate, timely and readily available information on those in their care. These same digital devices, tablets and smart mobiles can now be used to view calls and emergencies generated by a Courtney Thorne nurse call system. Both new installations and many existing Courtney Thorne systems can benefit with calls being delivered straight to the carer.

Monitoring of resident’s care planning and medications are just two areas that reduces the amount of paperwork and administration, freeing up carers to spend more time actually caring. The monitoring of the caring staff themselves can become arduous and time consuming for management, not with a Courtney Thorne nurse call solution.

The introduction of Staff ID tags of fobs is nothing new, there are so called systems on the market which use simple magnets which carers need to remember to press onto a room sensor when they attend, and again when they leave a resident’s room. With Courtney Thorne’s Altra Tag the process of logging who attended, what time they attended and how long they remained in the resident’s room is all logged automatically and seamlessly. No longer are there management and staff disputes about forgetting to “fob in/fob out”.

The volume and detail of the data captured automatically by a Courtney Thorne nurse call system is vast. All the data is available to management using the reporting function built into the main touch screen server. However, where visiting the home is difficult due to COVID-19 restrictions or time and distance problems,

TumbleCare from Easylink Medpage Limited T/A Easylink UK was established in 1984 after the invention of an alarm clock to wake deaf people. The “Shake Awake” set a new precedent in quality standards for products designed for sensory care, notoriously at the time – rubbish.

The company invented a new device for the detection of nocturnal epileptic seizures in 1994, which also set a new precedent for quality, especially after the company achieved certified medical accreditation. We could boast and say we have supplied more seizure detection monitors than any other company in UK. You could say we are innovators; we are and very proud of it. To constantly adapt to changes in demands for care technologies, remain competitive and continue to develop new care solutions it takes more than intelligence, it takes passion.

owners and managers may find retrieving data difficult, resulting in a lack of monitoring and possible reduction in quality of care delivered.

Courtney Thorne’s CT-Cloud service provides ready complied, detailed reports daily, coupled with a “live” view of all data contained in the server from any location with an internet connection.

Carrying out regular checks on sleeping residents is time consuming and often counter-productive as residents often wake, have poor sleep and can even fall after attempting to use the toilet once awake.

Acoustic monitoring means that only those who actually need assistance get it, those who are sound asleep do not get disturbed and carers can concentrate on more productive tasks.

So, in this new COVID-19 and Digital world what other new solutions are on the horizon? Nurse call devices around a care home become intelligent enough to identify a resident in need. Already we can measure changes in levels of noise, but monitoring light, temperature coupled with wearable devices monitoring vital signs, now a deterioration in a resident’s wellbeing can raise an alert or be recorded. A resident ‘connected’ with a wearable device can have their movement, location, heart rate, sleep, blood pressure etc., monitored automatically. Instead of intrusive, often unsocial physical monitoring, at-risk residents have vital signs checked and recorded continuously. If an emergency occurs, the nurse call system will still summon help, only now one of its key functions will be to record, store and make available critical data. Thereby reducing the touch points, minimising transmission of disease, freeing up carers time and providing a safer and healthier life for both residents and staff.

For further information visit www.nursecallsystems.co.uk or see the advert on this page.

Lotus Care Technology The NurseAlert pressure mat has been one of the most successful floor pressure mats due to it being non slip and carpeted which makes it feel very natural under a residents foot.

Lotus Care Technology Ltd have many other fall saving devices that can give you peace of mind whilst caring for this at risk of falls.

Having many years of experience in

fitting and maintaining Nurse Call Systems helps the guys at Lotus Care Technology understand that every home is different and has different needs. They can specify not only the best system for the environmental factors in the home but also take into consideration the best products that will make your carers and nurses jobs that little bit easier.

Visit lctuk.com for details.

Despite the COVID-19 lockdown, failing economy, factories closing and international shipping facing the worst crisis ever known, we have battled through. At the start of the lockdown we supplied the NHS and Local Authorities with over 2000 bed occupancy detection alarm systems, many of them used to enable long term patients to be discharged from hospital to free up beds for COVID victims. Independent living support was and is essential during this pandemic.

Now we launch our new brand. TumbleCare.

The TumbleCare brand is a range of fall detection and prevention products focussing on affordable quality and product performance. The products are tough, easy to set, use and provide carers with reliable advance warning notification of potential falls. Visit our website. Firstly, you’ll be amazed at the variety of care solutions we offer, then blown away by our realistically fair pricing.

Visit www.easylinkuk.co.uk or see the advert on page 45 for details.

www.nursecallsystems.co.uk

PAGE 52 | THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31

NURSE CALL AND FALL PREVENTION

NURSE CALL

IT’S NOT OBSOLETE UNTIL THE OPERA LADY SINGS

EDISON TELECOM LTD (IN BUSINESS SINCE 1984)

have spares, enhancements and expertise for wired and wireless systems abandoned by the original manufacturer, whoever they are.

Call us on 01252-330220 We can give most systems a new lease of life and maintain them into the future.

www.edisontelecom.co.uk Please Please mention mention THE THE CARER CARER when when responding responding to to advertising. advertising.

Wireless Fall Prevention

By Ben Kilbey – Business Development Manager, Spearhead Healthcare

The last thing any care home wants to have to deal with is an elderly resident falling in their home. However, with over 255,000 hospital admissions in England a year relating to the elderly suffering injury after a fall, being alert and aware as soon as a fall happens is critically important in the administration of aid; as well as helping reduce emotional distress.

For years, the care industry has used a tremendous range of call alert solutions to help care home staff respond to these falls quickly and easily. The most popular and regularly used of these are systems which plug in to nurse call systems.

Nonetheless, these come with their own issues and can often create their own risks in regard to falling; largely in the use of trailing cables that need to be plugged in to make them work. These potential trip hazards can cause the exact issues they are trying to prevent.

But with new innovations come new solutions, and we are increasingly seeing a range of wireless solutions that provide a variety of benefits. Below we list things to look out for when selecting these systems:

NO LOOSE WIRES

When looking at a wireless solution, make sure it truly is wireless and that any receivers, or sending features on the items are contained and are not left loose where someone can catch a foot on it, or accidently rip it out.

WIRELESS CALL BUTTONS

Edison Telecom

We here at Edison Telecom Ltd have been providing specialist solutions to your call system requirements tailor-made to each customers needs for over 25 years, says director Bob Johnson.

Is your current Nurse Call “legacy”, obsolete, so full of software bugs or commercially not viable for your current supplier/maintainer to maintain?

We may have just the part and expertise that you are looking for to give your nurse call a further exten-

Care home staff cannot be chained to their desk and need to be checking on residents and conducting all the duties that are required to create a smooth-running home, filled with happy residents. A wireless alert that can be carried in a pocket allows the user to respond as swiftly as possible to potential falls, helping homes provide the highest level of care.

A centralized alert system is an option that also presents many benefits, as homes can ensure that the right person in the right place is alerted in a timely manner. Making sure that a system works both centrally and on the move, giving you the best range of options to help provide a high level of care.

PLUGS

While this might very well be viewed as a smaller issue, nurse call systems come with a huge variety of plug types; and ensuring that your receivers have the correct plugs for your call system is key.

LOOK AND FEEL

Make sure the system you choose is as unobtrusive as possible. Often fall prevention equipment is designed to be as hidden as possible. Should the item be particularly obvious make sure you are happy it fits as well as possible into the decor of the room it sits in and think about choosing a floormat that corresponds with the flooring in the room e.g. wood effect vinyl or carpet.

Spearhead are proud to distribute the entire Alerta wireless range that has been launched this year.

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THE CARER DIGITAL | ISSUE 31 | PAGE 53

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Tailoring Recruitment In Each Home Is The Key To Unlocking The Best Candidates THIS YEAR has been one of the toughest in living memory for the care sector, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continuing to keep homes in lockdown. Now, more than ever, it’s crucial that care homes are attracting high-quality staff to deliver excellent support to vulnerable and elderly people around the country.

This is especially true for dementia care, where staff are supporting residents experiencing varying stages of their journey with dementia, from having an awareness of the pandemic through to providing support to both the resident and their families during end-of-life care. Helen Walton, head of operations at specialist dementia care group Church Farm Care, discusses their approach to recruitment and how it has put them in good stead for such an unprecedented national emergency.

She said: “Finding the right staff is absolutely at the heart of being able to provide a service that exceeds expectations. It’s what makes our family members really feel at home. Carers must be prepared to step into the world of our residents and make them feel safe, particularly when it comes to dementia. Therefore, the ability to emphasise and relate to others is a fundamental part of our staff culture and the recruitment process.

“Discussing life experiences and attempting to draw out the preferred personal qualities of candidates is crucial, and our interview process is designed around this. We tailor our questions to be around the individual candidate and their self-awareness and emotional intelligence, rather than focussing on professional experience and qualification. For instance, we ask them to tell us about the greatest emotional experience in their life. Those who have experienced adversity are often those who relate deeply to others.

“We’ve found that this approach allows us to identify the best individuals who will be able to be emotionally open to our residents and deliver our intimate family-based approach to care.

“We have four homes in Nottingham – three of which offer specialist dementia care within innovative and supportive environments. Our model of care is all about us joining residents in their home – we are guests where they live, not staff. As such the team don’t wear nametags or uniforms and day-to-day tasks are carried out discreetly rather than leading the day. So, in some cases, those candidates with less care sector experience can make better carers than those with more, as they have less to unlearn from previous employment.

“The emotionally led model of care that our team leads is not ‘one size fits all’. We create ‘households’ within our homes based on their life experiences and interests, as well as the progression of their dementia, which we have found boosts wellbeing and quality of life overall. We make sure to match staff personalities to these households so it’s also important that we consider this during recruitment – will they fit in with the family?

“Ultimately, the best carers are those who may not even realise their untapped potential. They have respect for the people they support, rather than being driven by getting tasks done. They fully appreciate that we are caring for individuals, with real life histories and their own stories and experiences that must be recognised.”

Despite their own recruitment process proving successful for their needs, Church Farm Care, like the wider sector continues to see a definite gender imbalance. It’s really important to attract more men – especially young ones

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– into the profession to support the male residents and provide a fuller representative mix of personalities and characters.

One of Church Farm Care’s managers - 29 -year-old Jack Titterton – is paving the way for young men in the sector, proving that caring isn’t just for females.

Coming from a more corporate background, Jack joined Church Farm Care’s home in Cotgrave and has since proved an absolutely invaluable member of the Church Farm family, driving the home forward in the latest developments in dementia care, such as implementing the Landielijke Prevalentiemeting Zorgkwliteit (LPZ) programme.

This a safety improvement project in which care homes have been helped to introduce a tool that measures the prevalence of common care issues such as pressure ulcers, continence, nutrition, falls, restriction and pain. The tool was developed by Massticht University in the Netherlands, and Jack was named Outstanding Individual of the Year at an awards ceremony for homes participating in the programme.

He said: “There is a definite benefit to having males within the home in all roles - from care, kitchen and domestic staff through to nurses. Males wouldn’t be surrounded solely by women in any other area of life, so it’s important that our staff teams and care provision represents that diversity of real life.

“Perhaps one of the biggest hurdles is the job role name itself. While these days there is more gender balance than even a decade ago, when one refers to nurses or carers, our brains still immediately think of the stereotypical female nurse. This just isn’t the case – nursing is for anyone, and there is still an educational exercise to be done with the wider public in order to remove any stereotypes or preconceptions – including more awareness of everything that is involved in the job.

“The soft side of care is absolutely essential in dementia care. It’s surprising how classic stereotypes of men and women are broken down when you see first-hand how great people of all genders can be when supporting residents through their dementia journey. I see amazing care support from both males and females within our homes.

Care is individual and it is about so much more than gender, it’s about the connection our family members feel with a person and is an intuitive feeling. This is what matters and is what drives our model of care and family feel at Church Farm Care.

“However, there is a more technical side of care. Analysing care outcomes, discussion with other professionals, relatives and our family members that lead to changing care delivery and re-analysing to see what works to aim for the best standard of care happens every day. It’s not just about hands on care, it is about developing improved ways of caring and greater diversity drives better outcomes relating to this. The more diverse range of people we have in our staff body, the wider the range of experience, ideas and talent we have – and that can only be a positive thing for our residents.”

Church Farm Care has four homes in Nottingham – three of which offer specialist dementia nursing within innovative and supportive environments.

For more information, please visit www.churchfarmcare.co.uk.

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