Advice and support for care providers in Portsmouth

You should follow the UKHSA guidance [page five] for recognising and reporting infectious outbreaks, including COVID-19.

View the UKHSA winter readiness guidance

Report outbreaks to your local health protection team (HPT)

Your local Health Protection Team (HPT) can provide guidance if there is an outbreak in
your care home (including advising whether additional testing and antivirals are indicated).

Our contact details are:
• Phone: 0344 225 3861
• Email (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm): SE.AcuteResponse@ukhsa.gov.uk

When to call

Please contact us if:

• two or more residents or staff are unwell with flu-like illness and have tested negative for COVID-19 on LFD or PCR, or
• you are informed of a case of confirmed flu in a resident (for example if they are tested because of a hospital admission). Whilst you may not have an outbreak, we can talk you through general control measures and what you need to do if there are further cases, or
• you have an outbreak or diarrhoea or vomiting.

If you have an outbreak of COVID-19 in your care home (residents or staff with positive COVID tests), you do not need to report this to your HPT if you are confidence of the steps you need to take in line with published national guidance. However, please contact us if any of the following apply:

• significant increases in number of cases of COVID-19 (or if you are concerned the outbreak is not under control)
• hospitalisations of staff or residents due to outbreak
• deaths
• staffing difficulties due to numbers of staff isolating
• press interest
• difficult in applying the outbreak control measures

National guidance about infection prevention and control, including PPE, visiting, and testing, can be found at the links below:

• GOV.UK: Infection prevention and control in adult social care settings
• GOV.UK: Infection prevention and control in adult social care: COVID-19 supplement

All of our practice guidance documents are now saved on our Microsoft Teams page for Portsmouth social care providers.

You can find guidance on:

• governance
• moving and handling
• mental capacity (MCA)
• person-centred planning
• and lots more.

Please email hiowicb-p.qualityimprovementteam@nhs.net if you would like to join the Portsmouth providers Teams area.

Other organisations offering practice guidance on social care can be found at the links below:

• Skills for Care
• Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

The Care Home Clinical Support Line provides the telemedicine service, which is available to all care homes in Portsmouth.

This is a 24/7 secure video enabled service which you can use to get clinical advice and a remote assessment if you suspect a decline in a resident’s health or a change in their condition.

The service aims to promote the wellbeing of those in care homes, enabling them to support self-care. Residents are provided with a professional, responsive, timely and caring clinical support, which is tailored to the individual needs of the patients.

To access the service, call 0300 033 8325. Please have the following information ready:

• Patient name
• Date of birth
• Their NHS number
• Reason for call
• Name and contact number for return call

For any non-clinical concerns or queries regarding this service, please email hiowicb-p.ppca.carehomesupport@nhs.net.

There are lots of resources for supporting staff wellbeing in social care settings. You may find the below links useful.

• GOV.UK: coronavirus (COVID-19): health and wellbeing of the adult social care workforce
• NHS: guidance for managers and leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological wellbeing of care staff
• LGA and NHS: employers’ guide on managing the wellbeing of social care staff during Covid-19
• Help for Heroes: lessons learnt from the battlefield
• Mental health at work: support for social care workers

We regularly share resources in our email bulletin for providers and Microsoft Teams. Please email hiowicb-p.qualityimprovementteam@nhs.net if you would like to sign up to the email bulletin, join the group calls or join the Portsmouth providers Teams area.