RECENT NEWS

Relatives, friends or informal carers of care home residents will be treated as key workers to allow more frequent visits under a pilot scheme in England.

Healthcare technology providers Ascom and Person Centred Software have extended a joint contract to deliver mobile monitoring products to care homes until the end of 2022.

Construction of the fifth and final stage of Church Farm Care’s “revolutionary” Rusticus dementia care home has kicked off in Cotgrave, Nottingham.

Scottish care home residents and loved ones will soon be able to enjoy longer visits with greater personal interaction after Holyrood announced restrictions will be relaxed.

The Department of Health and Social Care has asked the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to review how Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions were used during the coronavirus pandemic.

Social care workers management across the UK have been celebrated for their efforts during the Covid-19 epidemic in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Work has begun on a health and social care training centre at the University of Wolverhampton after contractors for the £5m project were appointed.

The contribution of care caterers during the Covid-19 pandemic has been honoured at a virtual National Association of Care Catering (NACC) awards ceremony.

Complex needs care provider Exemplar Health Care has opened its first home in north-east England, Tyne Grange in Newcastle.

Bristol-based charity St Monica Trust has installed thermal imaging cameras as a Covid safety measure in all of its care homes in south-west England.

Care UK is to pay more than £1m in refunds for NHS-funded residents at the provider’s premium homes in England deemed to have paid an unfair additional fee towards essential care.

The National Care Forum (NCF) and the University of Leeds have presented the findings from research into the experiences of front line care home and NHS staff caring for older people with Covid-19 in England.

CareTech, a UK provider of specialist social care services for adults and children, has acquired a majority stake in Smartbox Assistive Technology in a deal worth up to £10.6m.

A government-funded project is to help researchers develop a digital staff training programme to improve and personalise care for people with dementia in hundreds of care homes hard-hit by Covid-19.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson reiterated the Conservative election manifesto promise to fix social care in his keynote party conference speech.

Care providers are calling on the government for greater clarity on key issues in the fight against Covid-19 as deaths from the virus in care homes inched higher.

Scottish care home investor Target Healthcare REIT has reported a rise in annual profits of 5.8 per cent in the year to 30 June as portfolio rents increased by a fifth.

Amnesty International has launched a campaign calling for an inquiry on care homes after a report claimed residents were abandoned to die during the early stages of the pandemic.

The National Care Forum (NCF) has condemned an around 50 per cent cut to the government’s Infection Control Fund available to care homes amid a rise in Covid cases.

Care UK has held topping out ceremonies to mark the end of building work at two care homes – Dashwood Manor and Ancasta Grove - in Hampshire.