Funded by DHSC's international recruitment initiative, South East Social Care Alliance are offering the following training courses FREE to overseas care workers:

Mastering Social Care Communication

4 x weekly 90-minute online sessions, 30-minute online introduction, plus 2 hours of e-Learning per week

Click the link below for details and to book.

Mastering Social Care Communication – SESCA

Everyday English & Cultural Awareness

6 x weekly 90-minute online sessions

Click the link below for details and to book.

Everyday English & Cultural Awareness – SESCA

Care Certificate with English Language Support

4-day online course

Click the link below for details and to book.

Care Certificate with English Language Support – SESCA

Emotional Wellbeing for Overseas Carers

2 x 2-hour online sessions

Click the link below for details and to book.

Emotional Wellbeing for Newly Arrived Overseas Care Workers – SESCA

Cultural Differences in End-of-Life Care

90-minute online workshop

Click the link below for details and to book.

End-of-Life Care: Understanding Cultural Differences – SESCA

This morning an email was sent to providers with service users in the area of OX3 regarding a burst watermain. We have since heard it may now also be affecting areas OX4 and OX44. Click HERE for a news article from BBC News.

We have been informed by Thames Water that repairs to the burst watermain, which is likely to lead to disruption to supplies for residents. Thames Water will be working to get the problem resolved as soon as possible, but in the meantime, please can you ensure that any vulnerable people you support in this area have access to drinking water.

Quality Improvement Team
Heath, Education and Social Care Commissioning

Hello! The 👉days are going by...FAST💨...nominate YOUR organisation or colleague...ASAP...for an Oxfordshire Care Award 2024💛

The Oxfordshire Care Awards 2024 will take place on Monday 17th June 2024 at the VOCO Oxford Thames, Henley Road, Sandford-on-Thames, Oxford OX4 4GX. Nominations close at 5pm on Friday 26th April 2024.

The Oxfordshire Care Awards 2024 – Inspiration for All!

***Nominations are open! ***

Do you know someone who deserves to be recognised and celebrated at the Oxfordshire Care Awards 2024?

By nominating a friend, unpaid carer, colleague or company you will be supporting their dedication and commitment whilst raising the profile of the adult social care sector across Oxfordshire. This uplifting and joyous event reinforces the work and dedication of all those who make a difference to the ‘real lives’ in their care every day!

Get involved, nominate today…let’s celebrate…Outstanding care in Oxfordshire!

About the Oxfordshire Care Awards 2024 – Inspiration for All!

The aim of the Oxfordshire Care Awards 2024 – Inspiration for All! is to recognise and celebrate individuals, organisations, and companies who have demonstrated outstanding excellence within the care sector in Oxfordshire. The organisations involved are Action for Carers Oxfordshire, Age UK Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire Association of Care Providers (OACP) and Oxfordshire County Council, working together in partnership is at the heart of this Awards initiative.

This all-day event brings together statutory and independent care providers, the community/voluntary sector and unpaid carers.

Please keep an eye on our website for more details about the content of the day as we hope to have a ‘Mini Information Fair’ drop in area for care providers and carers open throughout the day but running separately from the Oxfordshire Care Awards 2024.

The Awards take place on Monday 17th June 2024 at the Voco Hotel, Sandford-on-Thames, Oxford OX4 4GX.

*****STOP PRESS***** NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN*****

The Oxfordshire Care Awards 2024 – Inspiration for All!

Categories for 2024 are:

Newcomer to Care Award
Seeks to acknowledge and celebrate a new member of staff who commenced and remained in employment in the care sector within the previous 12 months and who has shown empathy, responsiveness and fully understands good practice.

Care Home Worker Award
Recognises the significant role of the Care Home Worker who consistently provides high-quality care for people living in residential care.

Unpaid Carer Award
Recognises someone who gives their time, energy and skill to ensure that people have a better experience of care and support and feel that they matter.

The Volunteer Award
Recognises someone whose commitment to voluntary work has enhanced the wellbeing of the local community or has made a difference to an individual/s quality of life.

Home Care Worker Award
Recognises the beneficial and important role of the Home Care Worker in consistently providing high-quality care, for people living in their own homes.

International Recruitment – Best Practice Employer Award
(Sponsored by SESCA, the South East Social Care Alliance)
This award recognises an employer who has demonstrated best practice in International Recruitment to support their business. To be eligible, a provider must have sponsored skilled workers since April 2022. These could be individuals who have come to England specifically to work for them, or ‘in country’ recruits who moved from another employer or transferred from a different type of visa. Providers may nominate themselves, or be nominated by an international recruit from within their workforce.

Care Team Award
This Award will be presented to the team who are able to best demonstrate a shared vision and agreed goals. The team should have a leader whose role is known and accepted, and who takes personal responsibility for their tasks. Able to demonstrate a commitment to dignity and privacy for clients plus respect for team members.

The Digital Social Care Hero Award
Acknowledges a care provider or individual within a care company who has implemented the integration of digital technology bringing health and care closer together, making a significant impact to the performance of the organisation.

Long-Term Service Award
Aims to recognise the long-term service of an employee who has made an outstanding contribution to a care organisation (min. service period 10 years), who through their working life have passionately made a huge difference to the organisation.

The Frontline Leaders Award
Recognises someone who has shown clear commitment to improving the delivery of care and support within their team. A supervisor, senior care worker, team leader or registered manager. A person who has shown leadership by reflecting on what could be done better to support and brings about change, which highlights best practice.

Inspiration Award
An organisation or business (not a health or care agency) that inspired others with its high standards of care and compassion, such as a community group or business, shop or library, that goes out of its way to assist individuals who need extra support in their daily lives.

Josie’s Award
Josie Smith was a remarkable force for good in the lives of people around her, and especially in the lives of people who needed care and support; an unstoppable influence for the better! We want to celebrate an individual of any kind who in some way is making an exceptional difference to dignity in care.

Note: The Awards attendance will be limited to Award Nominators (1 person), Main Award Winners (2 persons) and Highly Commended Winners (2 persons) and VIP invited guests.

Ways to Nominate:

(Note: Oxfordshire Association of Care Providers will be collating all the online and email nomination submissions on behalf of Age UK Oxfordshire/Carers Oxfordshire.

Please choose ONE of the following ways to nominate – thank you!

1). Download a fillable PDF nomination form (click on the link below)

Oxfordshire Care Awards 2024 Nomination Form

Download the nomination form to your computer desktop, complete the form on page three, you can use this link to edit the form online visit: https://smallpdf.com/edit-pdf
‘Save as’ the edited form with a new title to your computer desktop. Then send your updated and completed nomination form with any additional supporting documents (as either Word.docs, PDFs or Jpegs) to our email address: awards@oacp.org.uk

OR

2). Complete the Online Nomination Form : The Oxfordshire Care Awards 2024 Inspiration for All! (oacp.org.uk)

The Department for Health and Social Care has issued guidance for the updated Adult Social Care Training and Development Fund.

The fund includes over £50m to support up to 37,000 individuals to enrol onto the new Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate qualification in addition to funding for a range of other learning and development opportunities.

The guidance can be found at the following link:

Adult Social Care Training and Development Fund - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Skills for Care have also updated their guidance, they will be adding further updates as they are released. Please find the Skills for Care Workforce Development Fund webpages below:

Changes to learning and development funding for adult social care (skillsforcare.org.uk)

We have learned of a new scam which is affecting older people in Oxfordshire. The basis of the scam is that someone calls saying they are from the County Council and are completing a means test as part of a care assessment. The 'assessment' is completed on the phone and at the end of it the caller asks for a fee of £150. We know of one person who has experienced this but scammers make their living from doing these kinds of things over and over.

Please be vigilant to such things. Means tests are a standard part of a council assessment which make this approach particularly credible. If you have any concerns please call the Oxfordshire County Council Adult Social and Health Care Team on 0345 050 7666 Option 2

Supported Internship Webinar

Wednesday 1st May

15:00-15:45

Microsoft Teams

An informational webinar about Supported Internships preceding the launch of a new Adult Social Care Supported Internship offer due to launch in September 2024. Find out how they could enhance your workforce, create new employment pipelines in your organisation and offer new opportunities to students with Education and Health Care Plans.

There will be the chance to ask any questions you may have, and find out how you could play a part in this new Supported Internship offer.

To register for the webinar, please sign up on the Microsoft Form link below. A Microsoft Teams calendar invite will then be sent to you.

https://forms.office.com/e/LSvy1faCWv

Providers at Risk of receiving NOIs by the NHSBSA (the DHSC delivery partners & enforcers)

Not updated in the last 2 windows (February – March 2024) and at risk if they do not update in April 2024. The compliance window will open on Monday 8^th April and will close on Monday 15^thApril.

If you are aware that a Provider is no longer active – please notify CQC or encourage providers to contact CQC directly to de-register à CQC National Customer Service: 03000 616161, enquiries@cqc.org.uk.

Section 277A of the Health and Care Act 2022 – enables the Secretary of State to require regulated providers of Adult Social Care to provide information relating to:

• themselves
• their activities in connection with provision of ASC in England
• persons to whom they have provided such care.

The Adult Social Care Information (Enforcement) Regulations 2022 came into force on 1st December 2022. It requires all ASC providers, regulated by the CQC, to update the mandated collection in the Capacity Tracker.

The reporting windows are between the 8th & 14th day of each month - or next working day if the 14th is a weekend or public holiday.

Frequently Asked Questions is accessible here.

Provider training & awareness sessions are available here

These sessions are to help guide providers through the information requests, update methods and reports – they are informal events that offer providers the opportunity to raise any questions or seek clarification.

Important Reminders

• Multiple CT Registered Users recommended – to ensure sufficient cover during periods of absence. To register for a CT account, simply click on: https://capacitytracker.com/register
• Going Abroad - users are reminded that CT is not accessible outside the UK.
• Active providers with 0 service users or 0 staff – providers are required to submit a return, including a 'nil' return where services may not yet have commenced, ceased or are in the process of being updated with CQC.
• Active dual-registered providers that offer both home care and residential care – submissions are required for both services, including a 'nil' return if services are not being delivered. It is essential that providers ensure their CQC registration is up to date and that CQC are informed at the earliest opportunity if services are closed.
• For access and system guidance queries - please contact the Support Centre see details below.
• Change of staff - It is recommended that updating Capacity Tracker is included within providers staff leaver/new starter process with user accounts closed & new user registrations in place. This will ensure that you continue to receive important communications issued via Capacity Tracker and remain up to date with the information submissions.
• Any changes to provider regulated services/specialisms/bed capacity – Capacity Tracker uses CQC information. Until the CQC information is updated, it is essential the providers make CQC aware of any changes at the earliest opportunity and data submissions are maintained by completing a ‘nil return’, until the CQC information has been updated.
• Providers that are closing down/no longer active/changing registration or ownership - please notify CQC directly to de-register, see contact information below. It is essential data submissions are maintained by completing a ‘nil return’, until the CQC information has been updated.
• If you receive an enforcement notice from the DHSC partners, NHS BSA – it's important that providers who receive an enforcement notice to respond directly to the NHS BSA, see contact details below. We remain committed to supporting providers to be compliant with the ASC Information (Enforcement) Regulations 2022 and can ensure the appropriate support and guidance is in place. Contact Information:
• For system support and guidance - please contact NECS Capacity Tracker Support Centre - 0191 691 3729 or necsu.capacitytracker@nhs.net (We are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm, excluding public holidays) • Changing registration, closing, change of ownership – please contact the CQC - T: 03000 616161, E: enquiries@cqc.org.uk, CQC Provider Portal (They are open Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 5.30pm, excluding public holidays)
• If you receive an enforcement notice – please contact the NHS Business Services Authority Enforcement Team (NHSBSA) – T: 0300 330 2088, E: enforcement@nhsbsa.nhs.uk (They are open Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 4.30pm)

To book click this link: https://events.skillsforcare.org.uk/vbr24oxfordcc

Values Based Interviewing: 16th April 2024, 10-3.30pm

Valuable conversations: 23^rd April 2024, 10-3.45pm

Dear care provider,

We’d like to invite you to attend our values based approaches training delivered by Skills for Care. This is completely funded by Oxfordshire County Council and is the last chance to attend this year.

These will all be virtual - on zoom. There are 2 workshops covering different aspects of Values Based Approaches to Recruitment and Retention and these are aimed at managers and others responsible for recruiting. You can choose to attend both workshops, or just 1.

For Values based interviewing we suggest that it is best practice that at least 2 colleagues are trained in each organisation. So, if you do not have colleagues who are already trained then you may decide to submit 2 applications for 2 staff.

The workshops will cover the following. The approaches in values based interviewing can be used for all recruitment including overseas recruitment.

Oxfordshire County Council can now announce that an uplift of 5.8% will be automatically applied to all contracted services operating within Oxfordshire whose current rates are within the ceiling thresholds.

More information on our ceiling rates and requests for reviews can be found here.

You can also read more detail in our letter to care providers.

The Local Skills Improvement Plan’s new Care Workforce Development Partnership

Date: 20^th March 2024

Time: 11:15 – 1:15 (with light lunch to follow)

Venue: Advanced Skills Centre, Abingdon & Witney College, Wootton Road, Abingdon, OX14 1GG

The Workforce Development Partnerships (WDP) serve as a collaborative forum bringing together employers along with education and training providers to address workforce development challenges and formulate effective solutions. The primary objective of the WDP is to foster dialogue, exchange ideas, and promote collaboration to enhance the skills and capabilities of the local workforce.

The Social Care WDP across Oxfordshire & Berkshire will focus on key priorities and action for the industry such as creating further appropriate modular training provision to upskill and reskill staff and further developing the current curriculum for students, to better prepare them for the current and emerging needs of the care sector.

RSVP

To confirm your attendance please email siobhanmay@tvchamber.co.uk by 14^th March 2024. Could you please confirm in your response if you are happy to be added to an outlook calendar invitation for future meetings.