Kevan has received an update from Durham County Council about the support available to Care Homes regarding the support available to  from the Council, the Director of Public Health and from the County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.

Kevan said:

“Lots of constituents have contacted me to raise concerns about the level of support being provided to Care Homes.

However, if you have any specific issues that are not addressed here, please email me at [email protected] and I will respond to you as soon as I can.”

The update is available below:

Care Homes Update

Hello Kevan,

As discussed earlier below is a summary of the range of support we have put in place to support care homes;

  • 5% annual inflationary uplift to fees for 20/21, to be paid for the whole year and become part of the baseline payments for subsequent years, i.e. not linked to any COVID timescales;
  • A further 10% COVID specific temporary funding uplift which has been calculated on the basis of pre-COVID occupancy to avoid disadvantaging any provider who has seen a drop in occupancy.  This also covers non-DCC residents, i.e. Self-Funders who are not eligible for local authority financial support under normal circumstances. Payments have been backdated to 19th March 2020, ensuring financial support from the early stages of the outbreak;
  • An interest free advance payment, again calculated on the basis of pre-COVID occupancy, amounting to an additional 4 weeks of usual funding. This will aid cashflow / liquidity and will be reclaimed only when the lockdown is lifted and even then, on flexible terms over a maximum period of one year;
  • The offer to any provider who finds themselves in significant financial difficulty and with their viability at risk to engage with the Council to discuss further support options. Discussions would take place on an ‘open book’ basis as advised by Government guidance;
  • Daily contact to care providers by commissioning staff to offer support and understand specific issues i.e. staffing/PPE etc…
  • Assistance with PPE (over 276k individual items have been delivered to care homes, at substantial cost to DCC, this cost has not been passed onto providers);
  • Ensured we have access to workers able to be deployed to care homes at critical staffing levels as part of a ‘mutual aid’ approach;
  • Recruitment of staff for the care sector via: County Durham Care Academy (62 applications so far);
  • In partnership with NHS partners offered counselling and psychological support to care workers in homes;
  • Support with testing via: County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust;
  • Support from the Infection Prevention Control Team;
  • Support with food deliveries from our schools contractor to care homes where their usual supply has been disrupted.

I hope this is helpful. Let me know if you need anything else.

Kind regards

Jane

Jane Robinson
Corporate Director, Adult and Health Services
Adult and Health Services
Durham County Council
County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UG