The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have announced that regular asymptomatic testing for Covid will be paused in all remaining settings from 31 August. Claire Armstrong their Director of Adult Social Care Delivery, has written a letter to Adult Social Care providers and stakeholders outlining the rationale and details.
This is a pause of all asymptomatic staff testing, and in care homes, a pause on any visitor and visiting professional testing. Symptomatic staff testing, symptomatic resident testing (in care homes, extra care and supported living services), admissions testing for care home residents and rapid response and outbreak testing will continue.
DHSC have updated the Covid-19 Supplement and the ASC testing guidance to reflect this announcement, and UKHSA are contacting service managers to explain the new guidance and how to implement it.
 This month marked the first submission of mandated data reporting in the Capacity Tracker under the Health and Social Care Act 2022.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have shared their appreciation for your submissions and efforts to achieve a high response rate, with 93% of care home providers and 79% of home care settings updating their data on time.
These submissions strengthen DHSC's ability to provide oversight and support to the ASC sector. Data is used to support high-quality commissioning, systems assurance, and risk management across the UK, and to help people make informed choices about their care through transparent and accessible use.
If you were unable to submit your data within the reporting window, please see here for guidance on how to register and where to access support. The key support routes are below:
The next mandatory submission window during which your data update is required is between 8th and 14th September.
If you believe you have been incorrectly identified as being required to submit data, please contact capacitytracker-guidance@dhsc.gov.uk
To support adult social care providers with the Autumn vaccinations campaigns, NHS England has also made a host of materials and assets available online via the Public Health England Vaccination Campaign Resource Centre. Printed materials are available to pre-order until 31 August and will be delivered in September.
The Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) is the official self-assessment tool on data protection and cyber security for social care. Care providers should complete the toolkit at least once a year, and they must use it if they wish to access NHS patient information systems. There are some changes to the DSPT for 2022-23.
The Better Security, Better Care programme is running a series of regular webinars on how to complete the toolkit, what support is available to care providers, and what has changed since 2021-22.
National Data Opt-Out: Compliance required since 31 July 2022
All CQC-registered care providers that receive any public funding are required to comply with the National Data Opt-out since 31 July. All care providers need to check if they process confidential patient information for purpose other than delivery of care, and update their policies, procedures and privacy notices to reflect the National Data Opt-Out.
If a care provider does use identifiable, confidential patient information for planning or research purposes, they must check if any clients have opted out of sharing their data in this way. If they have, the provider must stop using their data.
In our latest short video, Joyce Frederick, Director of Policy and Strategy at CQC, explains how our new regulatory approach from 2023 will be more flexible and based on one single assessment framework.
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