2022

Noted (AI summary) Barnet Homes will cooperate with fire risk assessments, engage with telecare reviews, and explore telecare funding. They will pursue a recommendation with the London Borough of Barnet for sheltered housing tenants to have a home fire safety visit and will carry out PCRAs on all its Sheltered Housing tenants with target date for completion of any missing PCRAs in Sheltered Housing is Monday 16th May 2022. Network Homes asserts that its fire safety management and systems exceed legal requirements and reflect best practice. They state the fire safety systems at Knightleas Court behaved as expected and the fire was contained. CQC acknowledges the concerns but states Knightleas Court is not a registered service. They are working with the National Fire Chief’s Council on promoting Person-Centred Fire Risk Assessments.

Noted (AI summary) • Since April 2021, all areas are receiving additional funding to develop fully integrated primary and community mental health services. • This investment includes improved access to psychological therapies, improved physical health care, employment support, personalised and trauma informed care, medicines management and support for self-harm and coexisting substance use. • By 2023/24, this investment will amount to almost £1billion extra per year for adults and older adults with severe mental illness. • The EPUT response has been shared with NHS England and Improvement, and NHS England is assured that the actions will address concerns about the training of current Care Coordinators. • The NHS Long Term Plan sets out investment in community mental health services for adults with severe mental illness. • From April, all areas are receiving additional funding to develop integrated primary and community mental health services.

Noted (AI summary) The Welsh Government describes plans for an Expert Group to support a National Care Service for Wales and states that the Minister for Health and Social Services will write to Regional Partnership Boards, Health Boards and Directors of Social Services requesting a review of provision for older peoples residential care and robust exploration of sufficiency of provision. Gwynedd Council explains the challenges it faces in providing care placements, particularly due to COVID-19 and staffing capacity, but states that the link between the incident and placement availability is not entirely clear.

Noted (AI summary) NHS England and NHS Improvement are writing to ambulance services regarding clinical oversight, including a reminder that Acute Behavioural Disturbance (ABD) calls should have oversight of a senior clinician in the control room and calls should be upgraded to Category 1 if the patient’s condition deteriorates or if the patient is being restrained. The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) explains its role and states that it cannot mandate response categories. AACE developed and issued national clinical guidance in 2019, updated in 2020, to UK ambulance clinicians, supported education and presented at conferences and webinars for police and ambulance staff, and continues to develop further guidance around managing patients with extreme agitation. The College of Paramedics clarifies it is not responsible for setting standards for paramedic education, training, or practice, but will ensure its pre-registration curricula review includes the latest evidence on Acute Behavioural Disturbance. The College endorses AACE's response and will share the correspondence with NHS England’s Emergency Call Prioritisation Advisory Group and AACE to propose a review of the current response categorisation of Acute Behavioural Disturbance. NHS Digital provides background information on NHS Pathways, a clinical decision support system used by NHS 111 and some ambulance services, and its governance structure. It states that NHS Pathways is concordant with NICE, the UK Resuscitation Council, and the UK Sepsis Trust guidelines.

Noted (AI summary) UCAS provides context on how students can share information about support needs within their application and how universities then arrange support. They highlight that the information is optional and handled confidentially, and doesn't impact academic judgement.