RECENT NEWS

Care technology provider Person Centred Software (PCS) has hooked up with NHS Digital’s GP Connect service to bring patient information directly to care homes in England.

Care England has condemned extra funding for social care unveiled by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in his Spending Review as leaving the sector “in the cold” as it battles the pandemic this winter.

The government has urged care homes, residents, and their families in England to think “very carefully” about joining a household for Christmas amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Real estate investment manager Frogmore has completed a £26.3m loan deal with OakNorth Bank to build a 35-bed specialist dementia care home in the City of Westminster.

National pharmacy chain Well has formed a partnership with MED e-care to provide care homes with the latter’s eMAR (electronic medication administration record) service.

Care home residents will be allowed two visitors twice a week by end of year in England as part of the government’s Covid-19 winter plan.

The government’s proposals to ban the movement of social care workers between care homes will struggle to work in practice, according to Care England.

The UK care home sector has adapted “immensely well” to the challenges posed by Covid-19, resulting in a resilient trading performance, according to the UK Care Homes Trading Performance Review 2020 by property advisers Knight Frank.

Temporary pods are to be provided to care homes across Wales to better facilitate visits over Christmas and the winter months.

A legal challenge over government decisions and measures taken in relation to care homes during the early stages of the pandemic has cleared a key hurdle in the High Court.

Brendoncare’s Meadway care home in Winchester has been selected as one of 20 sites across the country to take part in a four-week trial for rapid testing of visitors.

Signature Senior Lifestyle is to invest in 15-minute Covid antigen tests to enhance the safety of residents receiving visitors to its care homes.

A government-backed study to test care home staff and residents for their immune response to Covid-19 is to triple in size to provide a detailed picture of infection in England.

Advinia Health Care has opened dedicated Covid-19 isolation units across the Midlands and North of England to ease pressure on the NHS and help prevent the virus spreading through care homes.

Nellsar, a family-run group of homes across Surrey, Essex and Kent, is marking International Men’s Day (19 November) by urging more men to consider a career in social care.

Just 1.3 per cent of supported living services or extra care housing schemes in England operated by National Care Forum (NCF) members are getting access to the single round of Covid testing promised by the government, according to a survey.

Northamptonshire County Council is taking over responsibility for the delivery of care services at four homes from Shaw Healthcare.

Retirement community developer McCarthy & Stone has launched a charitable foundation to celebrate, champion and defend the role of older people.

The Scottish government has launched a £1m fund to provide around 1,400 care homes with digital devices to connect those receiving care with their loved ones.

An early draft of a study by University of Manchester health economists and data scientists calculates that up to 10,000 more people may have died in care homes from Covid-19 than previously realised.