COVID-19 infection control – Fund update and CareDocs support

Back in mid-May Boris Johnson announced a £600 million Infection Control Fund to support adult social care providers with the main focus being on reducing the rate of COVID-19 transmission in and between care homes.

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£600 million care package

Back in mid-May Boris Johnson announced a £600 million Infection Control Fund to support adult social care providers with the main focus being on reducing the rate of COVID-19 transmission in and between care homes. The package also set aside some money to help domiciliary care providers and the wider workforce where possible. The fund has been issued to local authorities throughout England who then allocate it to local care providers. How much of the £600 million local authorities receive and can pass on to care providers is ultimately determined by the number of care ‘beds’ in the area.

Funding goes towards seeing care workers who are isolating continue to receive their normal wages, limiting movement of staff between different care homes to prevent transmission of the virus, helping staff to care for smaller groups of individuals within a care home, supporting active recruitment, reducing the use of public transport by encouraging and providing alternate means of commute and providing accommodation for staff who choose to stay separately from their families outside of work to limit social interaction.

Funding the fight against COVID-19

Local authorities received their first payments from the Department of Health and Social Care on 22 May, with the second due in July. Care providers have since been contacted by local authorities about how they can access the grant. The Government outlined that for a care provider to receive their grant, local authorities must be satisfied that any money would be used for infection control purposes and not used for pre-existing financial pressures.

Care providers can access the grant under several conditions, including completing the Capacity Care Tracker at least once with continued commitment to carry on using it, providing the local authority with a statement once all money has been spent and providing receipts, and is not to be used to pay for any past Infection Control related expenditure. However, any grant money that isn’t spent by 23rd September 2020 or not deemed to be spent properly is to be returned to the local authority.

CareDocs Blog COVID-19 Infection Control Fund Update and CareDocs Support Funding

Using CareDocs to help combat COVID-19 and control infection

Following our recent COVID-19 feature release which introduced new tools to record and monitor COVID-19 symptoms in care home residents, a second COVID-19 focused update is now available (version 4.3.5). It’s now possible to record symptoms of staff members and visitors, as well as record test samples and results for staff, and view detailed reports tracking developments. With these additional functions, CareDocs can help give you a clearer overview of who may have coronavirus, who has been in contact with that person and from who it may have originated from. This also ensures that staff who are suspected of having or have had COVID-19 don’t provide care for residents who are symptom-free.

In addition to these updates, you can record a variety of infections in residents, including COVID-19, through body mapping. This allows you to pinpoint exactly where on the body the resident is affected, when it started, information about the condition, and create monitor alerts and a plan of care. We also supply Policy and Procedures documents for Infection Prevent and Control, with specific COVID-19 policies and procedures arriving in the near future.

Visit our website for covid-19 support resources, blog articles, news, as well as a variety of downloadable documents for you to use at your care home/business.

CareDocs can provide support to help with COVID-19 care and infection control measures in your organisation. Many new customers have been in contact with us to use their grant funds to purchase CareDocs subscriptions. Get in touch with our business development team to find out more about how CareDocs can help you achieve this.

Telephone: 0330 056 3333

Email: salesgroup@caredocs.co.uk

Sources

Originally published on June 10, 2020 – updated on January 19, 2021
Originally published on June 10, 2020
Article updated on April 22, 2022

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