Stay up-to-date with the latest regulations and Government strategies for adult social care this winter. The Government recently published its Winter Statement for 2022-2023, outlining its lessons learned supporting the adult social care sector during the colder months, and its future initiatives and strategies for the months to come. For our February blog post, we explore the key points outlined in this government review, and the best ways you and your business can stay prepared to integrate new initiatives and best practices into your work.

Hospital Discharges

In the statement, the Government announced they had allotted additional funding of 500 million pounds to local authorities and care boards in order to enhance their capacity to speed up safe discharges in hospitals and free up much-needed beds. This initiative was called the Adult Social Care Discharge Fund, and saw 40% (£200 million) given to local authorities while 60% (£300 million) was allocated to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).

The provision for expediating hospital discharges was not limited to injecting additional funds, however. Another key element of the Government strategy in this regard is the establishment of 6 new ‘National Discharge Frontrunners;’ sites across the country focused on developing and delivering innovative new solutions to improve discharge times safely in communities.

It is hoped that these groups will bring greater resilience to the sector and generate holistic and community-based support networks to work in tandem with ICBs and local authorities. The Government intends to share these findings across the sector going forward, allowing local councils and care providers to adapt and improve based on the lessons learned by the National Discharge Frontrunners.

Falls Response

Falls and similar injuries among care recipients of all kinds are on the rise, according to the Government’s report. It is noted that with the relatively small proportion of falls which result in serious injury, many ambulance journeys, hospital stays and other clinical care resources might be preserved by the development of a community-based falls response service.

As wait times for ambulances have ballooned in many parts of the country, the purpose of this initiative is not only to save money and more accurately use the limited resources of hospitals and local authorities, but also to reduce response times and lessen the risks associated with lying on the floor for a long time for elderly people and care recipients after a fall.

This initiative will help hospitals and ambulance services to prioritise higher-acuity patients while maintaining safety and objectivity of triage by categorising falls using the Falls Response Governance Framework for NHS Ambulance Trusts. This system would see only Level 1 and Level 2 falls responded to by community-based falls response services, ensuring that in more serious circumstances likely to result in critical injury, patients are still seen to by an ambulance crew and can receive hospital triage.

The Care Workforce

The winter care report lays out a number of ways in which the Government intends to support the recruitment, retention and expansion of the care workforce. The first is the addition of care work to the skilled workers’ visa, and more specifically, the Health and Care Worker Visa. This will allow more skilled and passionate carers to move to the UK to work, and to receive greater protections, benefits, and prospects of settling once they arrive.

These improvements to the visa system and the classification of care are further reinforced by the additional funding promised by the report. An additional £15 million will be injected into the system specifically to support the recruitment of international adult care workers from overseas.

The report also champions a national recruitment and awareness campaign called ‘Made with Care,’ designed to highlight the fulfilling and rewarding nature of care work and the opportunities available in the sector. This campaign is running from November 2nd 2022 to March 31st 2023, and aims to increase interest in care work among skilled professionals, placing emphasis on the pride and less tangible rewards of a career in care.

Other Initiatives in the Winter Statement

While these are the most salient points of the Government’s statement for a provider of adult social care, the review also provides information on a number of additional areas which will have the greatest effect on the way councils conduct business in the care sector.

The statement reiterates the importance of visitors and social contact for care recipients, and reminds readers that visits should be facilitated to the highest extent possible for all service users to help prevent isolation and improve their wellbeing and mental health. The Government advice reminds providers to review risk assessments regularly and ensure all restrictions on visiting are minimal and proportional to assessed risks. In the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic, visiting rights for patients at the end of their lives is particularly emphasised.

As has been stated more publicly by the Government, and which applies more broadly to businesses in general, the Energy Bill Relief Scheme aimed to reduce the financial impact of rising energy costs over the winter for everyone in the UK. Adult Social Care Commissioners were granted additional authority to enact measures against rough sleeping and carry out Care Act assessments in emergency accommodations.

Finally, the Government continued its commitment to meeting and integrating new technological innovations in the sector to increase compliance with the latest findings in cybersecurity and digital transformations. Providers are encouraged to engage with the Digital Transformation Fund, a £25 million budget designed to increase efficiency and communication through digitisation of record-keeping and care planning processes.

How Does This Affect Me?

If you are a provider of adult social care, the initiatives laid out in the winter statement will have an effect on you and your business. If you operate in the domiciliary care sector, it would be a good idea to stay abreast of the Government’s new ‘National Discharge Frontrunners’ initiative, as the findings of these groups will go on to inform best practices in the hospital discharge care area.

Even if you do not provide for this specific type of service user, the lessons learned from these trials will likely include guidance on inter-agency working and the leverage of community-based care and support assets, being that the key objectives of the programme are to increase efficiency in hospital discharges and discharge care by enhancing communication and inter-operability between clinical and broader community resources.

In addition, the Government’s initiatives around care workers and additional support for employee retention will aim to make it easier to find and keep hold of excellent care staff. This initiative includes £15 million to support the international recruitment of all kinds of care professionals, the addition of care workers to the list of applicable jobs for the skilled worker’s visa, and an extensive national awareness and advertisement campaign, ‘Made with Care,’ to encourage more people to join a career in the sector.

The Government’s other initiatives in this area centre on retention of excellent care staff and the maintenance of their abilities; as such, providers are encouraged to engage with their local authorities to ensure incoming and innovative employment initiatives are delivered collaboratively and with reciprocal input from both providers and councils. Local authorities are consequently being challenged to put the funding to good use and implement system-wide reforms to their recruitment and deployment processes, so you should ensure you and your business stay informed of these changes.

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