Information from Independent Age:
Free guide: looking after yourself during summer
While summer may lift our spirits, temperatures can sometimes become uncomfortable and even dangerously hot. Changes in our bodies as we age mean we’re less likely to notice when we feel hot. If you take precautions, you can avoid the worst effects of the sun.
Look at Independent Age’s latest free guide ‘Summerwise’ which has information on how to stay safe and well in hot weather.
Order your free copies
This week is Dying Matters Awareness Week and NCC wants to ensure people who are being supported at home by Providers have access to relevant information and guidance.
Providing or signposting information and advice to such people on how they could document their wishes to ensure peace of mind, for both them and their friends/family is helpful. Helping people to do this effectively means the people they are close to will know what they want when the time comes.
Independent Age provide information on arranging a power of attorney, advance decisions and making a will. You may like to signpost those this may effect to their website: Independent Age and there are free copies of Independent Age’s ‘Planning for end of life’ guide which can be obtained from the following link: Order your free copies
Norfolk County Council Adult Social Care Committee approved the proposed prices for a range of care services including home support at its meeting on 14 January 2019. The prices will come into effect on 8 April 2019 and will apply for the 2019/20 financial year.
The new spot price for home support will rise from £17.28 to £18.24 an hour. Block contract rates remain individually negotiated and agreed.
In the Central Belt (Norwich, South Norfolk and North Norfolk CGG areas) the piloted banded pricing will continue to apply to Home Support Framework Providers.
The bands are:
| Bands | Band 1 (0-3miles) | Band 2 (3-6 miles) | Band 3 (6 miles +) |
| Rates 2019/2020 | £18.24 | £19.68 | £21.72 |
The three bands in the model are based on travel distance from town and large village centres (GP surgeries have been used as the centre point) where population is highest and travel distance between visits therefore expected to be shorter than in the more rural and sparsely populated areas.
To help you identify where the boundaries between pricing bands are, please use the price band identification tool which can identify which banding any address or place in Norfolk will fall under. The price band identification tool is available Here:
Please follow the instructions provided on how to use the tool from the first screen.
In setting the bands the Council worked with Home Support Framework Providers and Norfolk Independent Home Care Group (NIHCG) during last year. The home support rates in Norfolk are amongst the highest rates in the East of England. A review of the current Home Support Framework model is planned to take place in 2019/20.
As a reminder, the list of Framework providers are:
North Norfolk:
Norwich and South Norfolk:
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Hanne Lene Schierff, Integrated Commissioning Manager – Central Team, at hannelene.schierff@norfolk.gov.uk.
Busy periods and Bank Holidays can create pressure and strain on the health and social care system which can result in people failing to get the support they need. Norfolk County Council understands the difficulties of operating as a care provider and working as a carer during busy periods. In recognition of this the Council is making available extra incentive funding to home support providers who pick up new packages during specifically defined times of high pressure. The aim of the initiative is to strengthen the workforce, support resilience and increase service capacity.
The incentives are one-off payments which Council staff are empowered to agree to be paid to the provider. To find how much the incentive payments are, when they apply and how to access them, please click on this link: Home Support Capacity Incentive Payment.
EU nationals play a crucial role in our care system, and the Government wants them to know that they have a secure future here after the UK leaves the EU. Through the EU Settlement Scheme, which will launch later this month, EU nationals will be able to register for settled status if they have been here for five years, or pre-settled status if they have been here for less than five years.
The process to register is free, simple and largely digital, and we encourage social care providers to work with your workforce and support them through the process.
We’d also like to highlight the Department of Health and Social Care’s 26 February 2019 letter to all Adult Social Care Providers, which contains an update on the adult social care guidance for EU Exit Planning. Please read this letter, along with the EU Exit Operational Readiness Guidance, which outlines the key areas where you should consider your preparation for the UK’s departure from the EU.
The Government is maintaining an online repository of information for the health and social care sector on planning for a potential no-deal Brexit, and we will continue to communicate with the care market in Norfolk as and when information becomes available. You can also contact us via ASSDBrexitInfo@norfolk.gov.uk .
The Department of Health and Social Care wrote to Adult Social Care providers in December to advise on the Government’s ongoing preparations for a March 2019 ‘no deal’ Brexit scenario and what the Adult Social Care system needs to consider as preparations step up in the lead up to March 2019.
In line with the Government’s principal operational focus on national ‘no deal’ planning, action must now be taken locally to manage the risks of a ‘no deal’ exit. To ensure you are as prepared as possible, we urge all Social Care providers to have fully up to date and robust contingency plans for the possible implications of a ‘no deal’ EU exit.
The Government has produced EU Exit Operational Readiness Guidance which outlines some of the key areas where providers should consider their plans. These include workforce; supply of medicines and consumables; and supply of non-clinical consumable goods and services. Please consult pages 16-24 of the Guidance, which contain action cards for various types of health and social care providers, including independent providers such as your organisation.
We also urge you to raise awareness of the EU Settlement Scheme with citizens of remaining EU countries working for your organisation. You may have already encouraged them to register for EU settled status under the pilot scheme that was open between 3rd and 21st December 2018. People that did not register under the pilot scheme do not need to worry, as the Scheme will be fully open by March 2019 and will remain open until 31st December 2020 in a ‘no deal’ scenario.
The Government is maintaining an online repository of information for the Health and Social Care sector on planning for a potential no-deal Brexit, and we will continue to communicate with the care market in Norfolk as and when information becomes available.
The Herbert Protocol is a national scheme used by Norfolk Police and other agencies which encourages carers to compile useful information which could be used in the event of a vulnerable person going missing.
• photographs.
In the event of your family member or friend going missing, the 
Herbert_Protocol can be easily sent or handed to the Police to reduce the time taken in gathering this information.
Alternatively there is support available online including:
