RECENT NEWS

Councils and developers should be given the tools to build more retirement communities in England, according to a report co-authored by the Associated Retirement Community Operators (ARCO) and the County Councils Network (CCN).

Labour has proposed a four-stage ‘Care for Carers’ package offering mental health support for all NHS and social care staff in England, including private sector workers.

The NHS is keen to maintain the increased integration between health and social care services beyond the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the NHS Confederation.

A 175-home retirement village in Hornchurch in east London is a step closer to becoming reality after it was approved by Havering Council’s strategic planning committee.

South Yorkshire police have arrested five women as part of an investigation into suspected neglect in a Barnsley care home.

Cornerstone Healthcare has begun work on the Marula Lodge specialist care nursing home near Camberley in Surrey.

Around 10,000 residents and staff across 106 Four Seasons care homes in England will be offered repeat Covid-19 testing as part of a government surveillance study.

Scottish developer Northcare has filed plans to build a 68-bed care home in Clarkston in East Renfrewshire.

Health tech outfit Florence has launched a service to supply care homes with exclusive staff to fill rota gaps for a month or more.

Social care should be free at the point of need as part of an NHS-based national system according to a report by the UNISON trade union.

Yorkshire provider Exemplar Health Care has kicked off construction of a £5m specialist care and rehabilitation facility in Wyke near Bradford.

The number of deaths involving Covid-19 in care homes in England and Wales has risen to 14,398 - an increase of 376 on the previous week - according to the latest data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The top civil servant at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has defended government guidance issued in early April that permitted the discharge of hospital patients to care homes without testing for Covid-19.

The National Care Forum (NCF) has written to the government’s new national Covid-19 social care taskforce warning that funding for tackling the pandemic is not reaching the front line.

Scottish developer Scape Homes is to submit plans this month for a 59-bed care home in the coastal Aberdeenshire town of Stonehaven.

A six-week summer school run by TEDI-London is teaching 147 students from 21 countries the importance of design and engineering of enabling environments for people living with dementia.

Skills for Care has teamed up with employee referral app developer Care Friends to help providers recruit and retain staff.

An internet radio station for people living with dementia and their carers launched by the Music for Dementia charity is now broadcasting.

Care England has called on the government to ensure all care settings have access to wifi and digital hardware to enable providers to run a service integrated with the NHS and other health and housing partners.

Care providers have urged the government to take immediate action after the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) warned of closures due to the increased costs arising from Covid-19.