Social care - Activity on GOV.UK

Guidance: Ordinary residence: anonymised determinations 2018

2018-09-04T09:28:00+01:00

Updated: Added ordinary residence anonymised determinations 4 and 5.

Ordinary residence determinations show how the department arrives at decisions to resolve disputes in the health and social care sector when 2 or more local authorities cannot agree responsibility for meeting a person’s eligible needs.

These determinations are ‘anonymised’ because they do not name the individuals or councils involved.

National Statistics: Childrens Social Care Statistics for Northern Ireland 2017/18

2018-10-11T11:00:00+01:00

This bulletin presents children’s social care activity data by health and social care trusts in Northern Ireland including five year trends where data is available. Areas covered include children in need, child protection, looked after children, residential homes and day care provision for children aged under 12.

Research and analysis: Tuberculosis (TB): regional and devolved administration reports

2014-12-11T10:17:00+00:00

Updated: Added new report 'Tuberculosis in North West England: annual review (2016 data).'

Annual regional reports for the recent epidemiology of TB for:

East of England
East Midlands
London
North East
North West
South East
South West
West Midlands

Devolved administration reports for the recent epidemiology of TB:

Tuberculosis annual report for Wales (2014 data) is available from Public Health Wales website.

Statutory guidance: The code of practice for victims of crime and supporting public information materials

2005-10-01T01:00:00+01:00

Updated: Information for Victims of Crime updated.

Other resources

The Victims’ Code: u18s

Audio version of the code of practice

The Code of Practice for Victims of Crime forms a key part of the wider Government strategy to transform the criminal justice system by putting victims first, making the system more responsive and easier to navigate. Victims of crime should be treated in a respectful, sensitive and professional manner without discrimination of any kind.

They should receive appropriate support to help them, as far as possible, to cope and recover and be protected from re-victimisation.

The code of practice governs the services to be provided in England and Wales by organisations in the criminal justice system.

Further information

Get support as a victim of crime

Guidance: National framework for NHS continuing healthcare and NHS-funded nursing care

2012-11-28T00:00:00+00:00

Updated: 'National framework for NHS continuing healthcare and NHS-funded nursing care (2018)' and 'NHS continuing healthcare: decision support tool (2018)' have been updated with information on the importance of consent to satisfy the common law duty of confidentiality. The equality analysis document has been removed and 'What is NHS continuing healthcare? Easy Read' has been updated to reflect the 2018 version of 'National framework for NHS continuing healthcare and NHS-funded nursing care'.

The national framework for NHS continuing healthcare and NHS-funded nursing care sets out the principles and processes for deciding eligibility.

The checklist, decision support tool and fast track pathway tool will help clinicians and practitioners with the decision-making process.

The delayed discharges (continuing care) directions 2013 detail the duties on NHS trusts in relation to hospital discharge and NHS continuing healthcare.

NHS continuing healthcare is an ongoing package of health and social care that is arranged and funded solely by the NHS where an individual is found to have a primary health need. Such care is provided to an individual aged 18 or over to meet needs that have arisen as a result of disability, accident or illness.

2018 revision

The 2018 version of the national framework document and the associated tools took effect on 1 October 2018. They supersede the 2012 versions, however the 2012 tool documents should still be used where appropriate.

News story: £240 million social care investment to ease NHS winter pressures

2018-10-02T15:21:00+01:00

The extra funding, announced by Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock, is aimed at reducing delayed transfers of care and will be allocated to councils based on the adult social care relative needs formula.

The money could pay for one of the following:

more than 71,500 home care packages to help patients get out of hospital quicker
86,500 reablement packages, which support workers to help patients carry out everyday tasks and regain mobility and confidence
nearly 27,000 home adaptations, including new facilities for personal care, such as adapting a shower room if a patient has limited movement

The funding brings total government investment in the health and care system over winter to more than £420 million, which includes:

£145 million given to the NHS in September to boost winter resilience, which will go toward upgrading wards, redeveloping A&E departments and paying for an extra 900 beds
£36.3 million awarded to ambulance trusts in June to prepare for the colder months, which will go towards buying 256 new state-of-the-art ambulances

As announced in last year’s budget, an additional £1.6 billion has been given to the service for 2018 to 2019. This investment will be used by the NHS to treat a quarter of a million more patients in A&E and to improve A&E performance.

Other actions being taken to boost support over the winter include:

ensuring extended access in primary care is in place across the country, with an additional 9 million appointments per year
rolling out NHS 111 Online nationwide
taking action to safely reduce ambulances conveying patients to hospital through increased ‘hear and treat’ and ‘see and treat’
expanding the provision of ‘same day’ emergency care
setting an ambition to reduced long stays in hospital (over 21 days) by 25% to free up 4,000 beds

NHS leaders have also announced an ambition for all frontline workers to get the flu jab to protect patients as part of a comprehensive plan for this winter.

Matt Hancock said:

I want to help the NHS through this winter.

I have already provided funding for hospitals to make upgrades to their buildings to deal with pressures this winter, and I can announce that today I am making an extra £240 million available to councils to pay for social care packages this winter to support our NHS.

We will use this money to get people who don’t need to be in hospital, but do need care, back home, back into their communities, so we can free up those vital hospital beds, and help people who really need it, get the hospital care they need.

Simon Stevens, NHS England Chief Executive, said:

Helping patients go home when they are ready is vital to easing pressure on the NHS, particularly busy A&E departments.

So, as the government develops a comprehensive social care funding solution, hospitals will rightly welcome this targeted funding to ease pressures on the NHS this winter by paying for extra care packages and care home places for frail older people.

Over the past 18 months, the NHS and councils have worked together to cut delayed discharges, freeing up 4 hospitals-worth of beds across England. This money will allow councils to build on that progress.

Guidance: Local area SEND inspections: information for families

2016-06-09T18:21:00+01:00

Updated: Added inspection dates and webinar details for Milton Keynes.

Inspections

Milton Keynes (8 to 12 October) – you can take part in the Milton Keynes webinar from 1 to 9 October

Information for families

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspect local areas together to see how effectively they fulfil their responsibilities for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Ofsted and CQC carry out inspections in line with the Local area special educational needs and disabilities inspection framework and Local area special educational needs and disabilities inspection handbook for inspectors.

Read the outcome letters from the joint local area special educational needs and disabilities inspections.

Statutory guidance: Care Act 2014: supporting implementation

2016-03-10T00:00:00+00:00

Updated: In Annex G paragraph 8, guidance for issuing an assessment notice has been expanded to include when NHS bodies can or must issue an assessment notice. In paragraph 9 guidance has been added on local agreements for assessment notices between NHS bodies and local authorities. In Annex H paragraph 26, guidance on accommodation as part of a package of care has been amended to clarify the process when an individual is placed in a care home with the local authority an individual is ordinarily resident in.

This edition was published on 10 March 2016 and supersedes the version issued in October 2014. It takes account of regulatory changes, feedback from stakeholders and the care sector, and developments following the postponement of social care funding reforms to 2020.

Guidance: Social care surveys: guidance for providers

2016-01-12T09:30:00+00:00

Updated: Updated the promotional poster: boarding schools can use this to publicise Ofsted's annual surveys.

Surveys for boarding schools are open from 1 October to 9 November 2018.

Ofsted’s social care surveys for residential special schools and further education colleges with residential provision ran from 14 May to 22 June 2018. Surveys for children’s homes, adoption and fostering services and residential family centres ran from 9 July to 17 August 2018.

The surveys are Ofsted’s chance to hear what children and young people, parents, staff, social workers and other professionals say about children’s homes, adoption agencies, fostering services and residential family centres.

Providers send out links to the surveys on Ofsted’s behalf: the guidance explains how this works.

Providers can add the name of their service to the poster and use it to promote the online surveys.

Detailed guide: Mental health data and analysis: a guide for health professionals

2017-05-03T00:00:00+01:00

Updated: Added reference and link to new report 'Severe mental illness (SMI) and physical health inequalities.'

Latest publication: Severe mental illness (SMI) and physical health inequalities report

Public Health England (PHE) brings together and analyses data on mental health conditions from across the health and care system, and produces resources to help improve services and outcomes.

This guidance is written for commissioners, public health professionals and others involved in the local planning and provision of services that support people with mental health conditions. It should support them to use these resources to make or influence decisions about local services.

Understanding mental health locally using profiling tools

PHE has created mental health profiling tools and guidance to help commissioners and other health professionals understand the mental health needs and services in their local area.

The tools bring together a wide range of publicly available data. The data is grouped by clinical commissioning group (CCG) or local authority. This means the tools can be used to benchmark one area against another. They can also be used to see trends and compare indicators.

Mental health and wellbeing toolkit

The mental health and wellbeing joint strategic needs assessment profile provides a starting point for thinking about mental health. It spans the life course and covers the whole mental health pathway. It shows prevalence, risk and protective factors for a range of conditions. Service related information relating to quality, outcomes and finance is also included.

The knowledge guide is for use alongside the profile. It provides an overview of many of the topics to consider when thinking about the mental health needs in a local area. The guide begins with a focus on understanding the local population and then follows the care pathway along the life course.

Children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing

The children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing profiling tool can be used to understand the prevalence of children with, or vulnerable to, mental illness and what the risk factors are. It shows the range of health, social care and education services that support these children and information on the cost of these services.

Public Health England has published an update to 4 indicators on the proportion of children living with at least one parent reporting symptoms of emotional distress. Data is up to 2010 to 2016 and is by family type and work status. Previously, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) published these indicators.

Guidance on how to use available information to assess and develop interventions which improve the mental wellbeing of children and young people is available in the measuring mental wellbeing in children and young people briefing.

Common mental health disorders

The common mental health disorders profiling tool shows the prevalence of common mental health disorders, including depression and anxiety disorders, and what the risk factors for these disorders are. It can also be used to find out more about early intervention, assessment and treatment locally, as well as the outcomes and costs of these services.

The Older people’s mental health section provides more information about common mental health disorders in older people, with a focus on depression.

Crisis care

The crisis care profiling tool shows the prevalence of pre-existing mental health conditions, the risk factors and what access to care and treatment people experiencing a mental health crisis have.

Use the crisis care catalogue to find out about all the currently available datasets and indicators on crisis care. It includes information about national data as well as CCG, local authority, GP practice and service provider level data.

Perinatal mental health

The perinatal mental health catalogue is a source of perinatal mental health datasets and indicators available at a national level and at CCG, local authority, GP practice and provider level. This data can be used to find out more about perinatal mental health and services locally and nationally.

The perinatal mental health profile shows data on mental health in pregnancy, the postnatal period and babies under 1 year old. It shows data on the demographics, risk and related factors, prevalence, and identification and access, during the perinatal period. It includes metrics at local authority, CCG and Acute Trust level.

Severe mental illness

The severe mental illness and physical health inequalities report uses a sample of primary care data to examine:

the recorded prevalence of SMI by age, sex and deprivation in England
the proportion of people with recorded SMI experiencing one or multiple physical health conditions in England
inequalities in the co-morbidities and multi-morbidities between SMI and all patients by age, sex and deprivation in England

It includes a technical supplement which provides detail on methodology that enables local areas to replicate this analysis.

The severe mental illness profiling tool shows the prevalence and risk factors of severe mental illness. It can also be used to find out more about early intervention, assessment and treatment locally, as well as the outcomes and costs of these services.

The tool includes a set of indicators that relate to psychosis care.

The psychosis data report explains the variation in numbers of people with psychosis and their access to care and support across England by CCG or local authority. It also highlights where there are quality issues or gaps in current data relating to psychosis, meaning extra data collection might need to be organised.

Substance misuse and mental health issues

The co-occurring substance misuse and mental health issues profiling tool can be used to understand how and why substance misuse and mental health issues are linked. It shows data on smoking, alcohol and drug use alongside related mental health data.

Suicide prevention

The suicide prevention profiling tool brings together a range of data on suicide to show how often it occurs, the risk factors, and what contact people with increased risk have with services.

Older people’s mental health

The older people’s mental health data catalogue is a source of all currently available datasets and indicators relating to common mental health disorders in older people, with a particular focus on depression. It includes information about national data as well as CCG, local authority, GP practice and service provider level data.

Further information

PHE’s National Mental Health, Dementia and Neurology Intelligence Network (NMHDNIN) produces these resources for commissioners and other health professionals to help them improve services and outcomes for patients. For further guidance and information about the tools and analysis please email mhdnin@phe.gov.uk.

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