RECENT NEWS

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.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is to resume this autumn the routine inspection of adult social care providers across England.

A nursing care home for the exclusive use of patients leaving Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth is to open this week, in a collaboration between Hampshire County Council and local NHS partners in response to Covid-19.

The National Care Forum (NCF) will next week host a webinar to launch the Care Home of the Future campaign that aims to help the sector move towards a stronger future post-Covid by using state-of-the-art digital services.

BT is helping to tackle loneliness in care homes using volunteers from UK-based contact centres to make regular calls to isolated residents.

A group of MPs, investors and charities are backing calls for the UK government to take urgent action to boost the delivery of housing-with-care provision.

Inspired Villages has been granted planning permission to build a £100m retirement village on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells in Kent.

Independent Care Group (ICG), which represents providers in North Yorkshire, has called for the merging of NHS health care with social care as a part of a wishlist for sector reform.

DWA Architects’ plans to redevelop the Fleetwood Lodge care home in Fleet, Hampshire have been approved by Hart District Council.

The number of deaths involving Covid-19 in care homes in England and Wales has risen to 14,022 – an increase of 568 on the previous week - according to the latest data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The UK government misjudged the risk of coronavirus to care homes and its subsequent actions made the crisis worse, according to the founder of provider HC-One.

A House of Lords select committee has written to Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock demanding a response to a social care inquiry that called last year to end the “national scandal” of failing services.

HAS Technology’s ARMED wearable technology has been certified as an official medical device after conforming to EU standards.