RECENT NEWS

A survey by the Institute of Health and Social Care Management (IHSCM) has found sixty per cent of care homes will be forced to sack staff who refuse to get vaccinated by the time the mandatory ‘no jab, no job’ rule comes into force on 11 November.

NHS England has written to health leaders stating that NHS staff visiting care homes must follow the mandatory Covid vaccination rules that come into force on 11 November.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has decided not to appeal last month’s High Court ruling that threw out the former’s claim for compensation for Care UK residents who had been charged upfront administration fees.

The UK government has approved a £40m loan from the £4.5bn Home Building Fund to accelerate the construction of 255 retirement homes in Audley Group’s Mayfield Villages portfolio.

Country Court has sold a development site with planning consent for a 60-bedroom care home in the Ifield district of Crawley, West Sussex to Lawrence Land.

New funding will allow more people with dementia to benefit from the power of music through specially designed programmes.

Health tech start-up Lottie has closed a pre-seed investment round of £500,000 at a pre-money valuation of £5m.

Urban Village Group has been granted permission to build a £12.6m care home in Telford, Shropshire.

Dudley Council has agreed to refund care home top-up fees for concerned families whose relatives were not offered an affordable placement, following a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation.

Cornerstone Healthcare has received planning consent for an 80-bed service within the Imperial Park development in the south of Bristol.

Farrans has been awarded a build contract for a £13m purpose-built care home by Central Bedfordshire Council.

The UK Retirement Living Fund (ReLF) - managed by Schroders Capital and advised by Octopus Real Estate - has acquired a site in Tunbridge Wells, Kent for the development of a £55m retirement village in a joint venture with Elysian Residences.

The National Association of Care Catering (NACC) has revealed the line-up of care chefs that will compete in the national final of the Care Chef of the Year 2021 competition.

BRE Group has launched a government-funded website aimed at supporting care home providers with identifying the most effective energy efficiency improvements for their buildings and help them save money on their energy bills.

The Care Workers’ Charity (CWC) has partnered with the Outstanding Society in a bid to facilitate best practice and increase care quality for those who draw on social care.

Hallmark Care Homes is partnering with maintenance management software app FaultFixers in a bid to prevent the spread of Covid-19 within their 19 homes across England and Wales.

Specialist developer Castleoak has broken ground on a luxury 55-bed care home in Seaford, East Sussex to be owned and operated by Barchester Healthcare.

Amaya Care Homes has acquired the Bryn Celyn care home in Maesteg in south Wales from Hallmark Care Homes for £4m.

A drive to expand the use of digital technology in social care is expected to lead to £127m worth of benefits, according to NHS Digital.

Music for Dementia has launched an iOS app and listen again function to make it easier to listen to and personalise its internet-based m4d Radio.