The Minister for Care and Mental Health (Gillian Keegan)
On 3 November 2021, the Department of Health and Social Care will be publishing the “Adult Social Care: Winter Plan 2021 to 2022.” This plan has been developed in conjunction with the NHS and social care sector stakeholders, drawing on the recommendations of Sir David Pearson’s review of last year’s adult social care winter plan; advice from SAGE and UKHSA; and extensively on lessons learned so far in the pandemic.
The adult social care winter plan 2021-22 will set out the actions that national Government will be taking to support the sector, along with the steps that local authorities, the NHS, and care providers should take to prevent and control covid-19 outbreaks. The plan focuses not just on covid-19, but also on other viruses such as flu and norovirus, to ensure that those who receive social care are protected this winter.
Thanks to the huge success of the UK’s vaccine rollout, we are in a favourable position as we approach this winter, and I am determined to ensure that those in all social care settings remain protected while maintaining their quality of life. The UK Government have already set out a comprehensive package of measures to support the adult social care sector throughout the winter. These are:
£388 million in further funding to support infection prevention control, testing and vaccination uptake in adult social care settings. This is in addition to a further £478 million to continue enhanced hospital discharge support until March 2022.
A new £162.5 million workforce recruitment and retention fund to bolster the dedicated care workforce. This funding will support local authorities, working with providers, to recruit staff and retain the existing workforce—through a range of measures which could include local recruitment activity, the creation of staff banks, additional overtime hours and payments to incentivise joiners and recognise loyalty—to ensure the right number of staff with the skills to deliver high quality care to meet increasing demands.
Free flu vaccination for eligible frontline social care workers and carers and ensuring pharmacists can vaccinate staff and recipients of care in care homes.
Covid-19 booster vaccinations to those in JCVI cohorts 1-9 that received their second dose more than six months ago. Older adult care home residents and staff will receive covid-19 boosters within their home.
Continuing the designated settings scheme, in order to provide appropriate care for in a covid-secure environment for those likely to be infectious with covid-19 who are discharged from hospital. The designated settings indemnity support has also been extended to cover the winter period until 31 March 2022, in order to maintain the current level of support for these vital settings.
Continuing to provide free PPE for covid-19 needs to the adult social care sector until the end of March 2022, with sufficient stock to cope throughout winter. Regular asymptomatic covid-19 testing will be maintained, with the availability of more intense testing regimes for higher risk settings.
We are also publishing the evaluation from the workforce capacity fund. The fund which saw £120 million support provided to the sector in January 2021, helped the sector to deal with the challenges of covid-19 last winter, delivered 7.3 million additional hours with over 39,000 new recruits. It was deemed, by the overwhelming majority of LAs, as either “somewhat” or “very” effective in supporting them to strengthen workforce capacity last winter.
The Department of Health and Social Care has worked closely with the NHS to ensure the adult social care winter plan is co-ordinated and integrated with their planning. NHS England and NHS Improvement’s winter planning guidance is already available at: NHS England » 2021/22 priorities and operational planning guidance: October 2021 – March 2022. The adult social care plan and NHSEI’s planning guidance enable the providers of care across both sectors to prepare for winter.
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