Adult Social Care Infection Control Fund Extended

Amazing news for Care Services across the UK: the Adult Social Care Infection Control Fund has been extended until March 2021. It has also received a second round of funding bringing the total amount of money available to £1.146 billion.

That’s a lot of cash to help Care Providers protect and support their teams and service users.

What is the Adult Social Care Infection Control Fund?

The fund was initially set up to assist Care Providers with managing the spread of COVID-19 by reducing the movement of Carers between sites. Many members of our community were able to access grants through the fund to help them take their care management digital. This has helped reduce the need for staff movement across sites and has made communication much easier and safer for staff and service users.

The fund will release grants to local authorities, who will allocate 80% of the pot to Care Services within the local authority’s area on a “per-bed” basis as well as community Care Providers (domiciliary care and supported living facilities) regulated by the CQC on a “per-user” basis. The other 20% of the pot will go to Care Providers who may not be working with the local authority, but who are actively working to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Care Providers should expect to receive their funding directly from their local authority within 20 working days after being identified as a successful recipient.

What is expected of me if I receive a grant?

If you are a Care Service (including those run by local authorities and those with self-funding residents) and you do receive funding through the Adult Social Care Infection Control Fund, you will be expected to:

• Complete the Capacity Tracker at least twice (two consecutive weeks)
• Commit to completing the Tracker once per week
• Provide information on how you plan to spend the funding to your local authority every month, with information shared at least one week before the authority is due to report it to the government.

If you are a Community Care Provider (including those with exclusively self-funded clients) you will be expected to:

• Complete the CQC homecare survey at least twice (two consecutive weeks)
• Commit to completing this survey at least once per week (or any additional surveys outlined by the government)
• Provide information on how you plan to spend the funding to your local authority every month, with information shared at least one week before the authority is due to report it to the government.

What has it been used for?

The fund is to be used for “infection control measures”. This can mean several things, including offering staff alternative ways of getting to work other than public transport, hiring additional staff to help reduce staff movement between facilities, and purchasing equipment and technology that may help to slow the spread of infection.

We’ve seen first-hand some creative uses of the fund by Care Providers in our community, including paying for staff driving lessons to reduce the amount of time spent on public transport.

“The first half of the fund we used on uniforms, a new washing machine, steam cleaner, paid for driving lessons for one of our younger members of staff. Bought holiday from staff. The second half we bought a new stairlift which will help should we need to isolate anyone upstairs with poor mobility,” said Tabitha, a Care Manager whose organisation received a grant as part of the fund. “It has been a great help.”

Some community members used the grant to purchase carpet cleaners and steam cleaners, as well as fogging machines, electrostatic sprayers, and ozone machines to help sanitise rooms quickly and efficiently. ?

“We bought headphones, fans, thermos bottles and temperature guns, extra uniforms, and even electric bikes,” said one Care Home Manager.

A few Care Home Managers purchased iPads with their funding, and one Care Home Manager even installed changing caravans for staff so that they’re able to change out of their uniforms before returning home after completing a shift.

Using the Infection Control Fund to go paperless

Several of our community members have used their funding to help them go digital and take advantage of our Coronavirus Monitoring Tools. Our software has helped one of our supported living care providers reduce the number of trips they’re required to make to their head office, as all the data and information was centralised and available in one place.

Some Care Services have also mentioned that having staff use one device per person to log care notes might be more sanitary than having several people touch paper folders.

Our software also allows you to place service users into cohorts, or what we like to call “zones”. It’s easy to assign a Carer to look after a particular zone of residents and reduces the need for Carers to travel around the care facility.

They quickly recognised the benefit of taking their care logs online, as it helped them save time and energy for what matters: delivering quality care to their clients. The time saved on admin work at the end of the day, knowing that all care logs were recorded and stored safely, and the support staff members received from our Customer Success team made the switch from paper to digital incredibly simple and worthwhile.

We are thrilled that the government has decided to extend the funding as we know that Care Providers have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Any bit helps, but this latest funding push will hopefully go a long way to shoring up organisations across the country looking to improve their quality of care.