Winter vaccinations

Vaccines are essential for protecting people from serious illness and keeping adult social care resilient. The Flu and COVID-19 vaccine programme for Autumn/Winter 2024/25 started on 3rd October 2024.

As providers, it is important to encourage eligible staff and residents to get their Flu and Covid-19 vaccines for the best protection during winter.

There are also resources available for care home managers to help you promote vaccinations among your staff.

Alongside the seasonal vaccines, the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine is now available. Anyone aged 75 to 79, or turning 75 years on or after the 1st September 2024 , can get the vaccine. One dose of vaccine will boost protection for this age group.

Infection Prevention Control reminder

As respiratory and other viruses increase over winter, it is really important to keep high infection prevention control (IPC) standards to reduce the risk of viruses entering and spreading within your care home.

Check the latest Government guidance: Infection prevention and control in adult social care: acute respiratory infection

Supporting unwell residents

Please display the ‘Using RESTORE2^TM‘ poster when a resident is showing signs of deterioration’ poster clearly in your home. If a resident is unwell, you can then easily follow the escalation guidance on the poster.

If you need more copies please contact bromley.restore2training@selondonics.nhs.uk.

If your resident is admitted to the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH), notify the Transfer of Care Bureau using the number on the poster. This will ensure your resident is flagged on the system and will ensure a smoother discharge.

Bromley care homes are becoming more digitally mature, in line with the national push for digital transformation in Adult Social Care.

The Digitising social care website is the official site for NHS England and DHSC guidance. It helps adult social care providers in England use digital tools to deliver better, safer care.

Key areas include:

• Digital Security Protection Toolkit (DPST)
• NHSmail
• Proxy access
• Digital Social Care Records (DSCR)

London Care Record

We are also supporting the phased rollout of the London Care Record (LCR) to care homes. You will be able to access your residents’ LCR through their Digital Social Care Record. This allows you to view an up-to-date record of the resident’s information over time and across different parts of the NHS and social care, for example after a hospital admission.

Bespoke information or training sessions can be arranged locally to help you with this transition.

A Universal Care Plan (UCP) is a digital tool that helps health and care professionals along with the /their family create a personalised care and support plan. This plan includes information about individual needs, preferences and wishes about care.

Bromley is prioritising the London-wide rollout of UCPs in care homes. For guidance on accessing the UCP platform and creating UCPs for your residents, refer to the Care Home UCP Access guide. The Care Home Quality Liaison Nurse is also available to support you during this transition.

RESTORE2^TM is a tool for identifying and escalating physical deterioration in care homes.

After the successful rollout of RESTORE2^TM training in 2022/23, we are offering you more free training , from September 2024 to September 2025

For more information or to sign up for a training session, please email bromley.restore2training@selondonics.nhs.uk

Each session has a maximum of 10 spaces, allocated on a first- come, first serve basis.

NHS 111*6

Use NHS 111*6 out-of-hours when you are concerned about a resident.

This dedicated line for care homes provides fast access to a clinical team for advice and medical support, so you will have a quicker response.

When you call, have the following information ready:

• Telephone number
• Address
• Name of the resident
• Date of birth
• Reason for calling – include any underlying medical conditions. If you have completed the RESTORE2/NEWS2 tool for the resident, share this with the advisor.

You may also be asked about:

• When the symptoms started
• Any current interventions or treatment
• Whether the patient has an Urgent Care Plan or DNAR (this should be in the Universal Care Plan)

NHS 111 will then search a live directory of services to provide options for further assessment or care that are available at the time

London Ambulance Service (LAS) Healthcare Professional (HCP) Line

LAS encourages all healthcare professionals (HCPs) supporting care homes to use the HCP line (starting 0203 – ) when a 999 call is necessary for a care home resident. HCPs should use this line instead of asking care homes to call 999.

HCPs include:

• Registered healthcare professionals in general practice
• Advanced practitioners
• Paramedics
• Community matrons
• Community and district nursing teams
• Community midwifery teams
• Dentists
• Approved mental health professionals (for mental health admissions only)

Red bags

The Red Bag scheme, launched in 2018, improves communication between care homes, ambulance staff and hospitals to enhance care for care home residents.

The bags contain key paperwork (unless in an online, shareable format), medication and personal items like glasses, slippers and dentures. Care home staff hand these bags to ambulance crews ,and they travel with residents to the hospital, where they are given to hospital staff.

In Autumn 2024, work will begin to redistribute bags to care homes.

Oxleas Bromley Dementia Care Home Team

The Oxleas Bromley Dementia Care Home Team is a Dementia Clinical Behavioural Specialist Team that supports care home staff and families of individuals  living with dementia who may show distress.

For contact details and information on the referral process, please visit their website.

Care Homes Dementia Champion Forum Pilot

We are piloting a Care Homes Dementia Champion Forum with a small group of homes using a dedicated Teams Channel and monthly online forums, shaped by the members. If successful, it will be expanded to all care homes in Bromley.

The forum provides a platform for sharing information and resources and discussing best practices through sharing experiences and case studies.

South East London Mind

The Bromley Dementia Support Hub from South East London Mind offers support to people diagnosed with dementia, and their family and friends, in Bromley. They help them to find and access suitable local services.

Bromley care homes can also access free dementia skills training.

In 2022, 16 Bromley Older Peoples care homes took part in a research study from the University of Nottingham using the Action Falls multi-factorial assessment tool. This followed a Randomised Control Trial by the University, which showed a 43% reduction in falls. After the study, the remaining care homes were offered training.

The University of Nottingham has also developed an Action Falls Toolkit to support this training.

We have planned additional work on falls prevention and safe management of falls, including consultations with care homes to better understand their challenges.

Learning disability and autism support in south east London

Learning Disability Care Homes in south east London can access support from the LDA Specialist Prescribing Advisors. This includes generic medicine information and medication trainings sessions such as:

• If a medication is safe to be crushed and added in food or drinks
• Medication administration
• Spotting near misses,
• PRN logs
• Use of behaviour charts

For specific medications review and enquires, care homes should contact their practice or PCN pharmacist.

Care homes are encouraged to fill out the SEL Quality Alert form to report any concern or issues with local services that affect your residents.

A Quality Alert (QA) highlights a concern or systemic issue impacting the ability to provide high-quality service within south east London.

The QA process is essential for improving service quality in our area.