- A new adult social care winter plan to support care homes through winter including free PPE and £546 million Infection Control Fund
- Care providers must stop all but essential movement of staff between care homes to prevent the spread of infection
- New Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care will be appointed to provide leadership to the social care nursing workforce
A new adult social care winter plan will aim to curb the spread of COVID-19 infections in care settings throughout the winter months, the Health and Social Care Secretary confirmed today.
As part of the plan:
- people receiving adult social care and care workers will receive free PPE
- a new dashboard will monitor care home infections and help local government and providers respond quicker
- a Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care will be appointed to represent social care nurses and provide clinical leadership to the workforce
Local providers must restrict all but essential movement of staff between settings to reduce transmission, supported by an extra £546 million for the Infection Control Fund. This will help care providers pay staff full wages and enable staff to work in only one care home.
This brings the total funding for infection control measures in care homes to over £1.1 billion and underlines the government's commitment to ensure adult social care has the resources it needs to keep residents and staff safe.
The government is prepared to strengthen monitoring and regulation by local authorities and the Care Quality Commission (CQC), including asking them to take strong action where improvement is required or staff movement is not being restricted. This can include restricting a service's operation, issuing warning notices or placing conditions on a provider's registration.
