Archived updates (2021)

Letters to care homes and letter to housing settings (Added 20 December 2021)

The Scottish Government has issued two letters following the First Minister’s Parliamentary Covid-19 statement relating to further population based guidance and measures to take effect from midnight on 17 December to stem the flow of transmission of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.

The first letter contains updated advice on adult care home visiting. The second letter contains updated guidance on visiting and social activities within supported housing settings.

Visiting in adult care homes updated in light of Omicron (Added 16 December 2021)

The Scottish Government has issued a letter to adult care homes, setting out updated guidance on visits in and out of adult care homes. This guidance follows the First Minister’s parliamentary Covid-19 statement of 14 December relating to further population-based guidance and measures to take effect from midnight on Friday 17 December to stem the flow of transmission of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.

The letter emphasises that visiting and outings from care homes should continue to be supported and the measures that should continue to be in place to more safely enable these. This includes stringent IPC, testing and recommendations to limit the number of households that meet with a resident at any one time to a maximum of two households.

You can read the letter here.

Letter from Scottish Government on isolation for social care staff (Added 13 December 2021)

Donna Bell, Director of Mental Wellbeing and Social Care, has issued a letter with information on self-isolation arrangements for social care staff.

The letter outlines that the current guidance: DL(2021)24 - Update on isolation exemptions for Health and Social Care staff (scot.nhs.uk) for social care (and healthcare staff) should still be applied with one important addition.

This existing isolation policy for staff who are household or passing contacts of Covid-19 positive cases, exempts them from the requirement to self-isolate for 10 days when they:

are double-vaccinated
are asymptomatic and remain asymptomatic
undertake a PCR test (which returns a negative test result before returning to work)
undertake daily LFD testing for the remainder of the 10-day period.

An important addition to this is that staff must be

double vaccinated and have had their booster.

You can read the letter here.

Letter to all registered childcare providers regarding Omicron Covid-19 variant (Added 10 December 2021)

The Scottish government has issued a letter from Elanor Passmore, Deputy Director of Early Learning and Childcare, to all registered childcare providers. The letter contains an update on the Omicron Covid-19 variant and its potential impact on the childcare sector.

A letter has also been issued from Shirley-Anne Somerville, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, with an education update regarding the new Omicron variant.

Testing update for care home staff in response to Omicron and protective measures (Added 9 December 2021)

In response to the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and emerging concerns about transmission, The Scottish Government has asked staff in the adult and older people care home sector to carry out an LFD test on a daily basis in addition to their weekly PCR testing.

Additionally all social care staff are encouraged to consider taking a LFD test on a daily basis, and particularly on the days they are working with potentially vulnerable people.

Staff are encouraged to record their result (positive and negative) on the portal for work based testing kits (issued from care home) or the portal for kits collected at a pharmacy.

Extra test kits can be collected at local pharmacy sites.

The Scottish Government has also released two letters from DCMO (Graham Ellis) and DCNO (Anne Armstrong) on “minimising the risk of Covid-19 transmission over the winter period” to adult care homes and care at home, supporting housing and day services.

Adult to child ratios and new notification during Omicron (Added 11 January 2022)

Like all services, early learning and childcare settings are operating under unprecedented circumstances due to the pandemic. The Omicron variant will be extremely challenging, particularly in terms of staffing.

To support continued delivery of safe, high-quality childcare for children and families as we move through this stage of the pandemic, we have temporarily adjusted our policy position on adult to child ratios and introduced a new notification.

High-quality experiences for children should be paramount. Adjusting adult to child ratios must only be used when all other options for additional staffing have been exhausted and a risk assessment has been undertaken. Our guidance gives information on the approach to risk assessment and the required notification.

Supporting Winter Planning in Care Homes and Care at Home Care Inspectorate November 2021 to March 2022 (Added 18 November 2021)

The Care Inspectorate is aware that many care services continue to experience challenges this winter. We are keen to support services by adapting what we do where necessary to assist them to care for people.

In adult services there is a national social care sector winter preparedness plan for 2021/22, and in alignment with this the Care Inspectorate has developed their own winter plan.

As part of reviewing our processes to support the sector during the winter period we have reviewed the requirement for care homes and care at home to apply for variations in some instances.

This is to assist the sector to provide support to a wider group of people who will benefit from accessing care services during this unprecedented time.

The Care Inspectorate has taken the position that during this winter and until end of March 2022 there will be no requirement for providers to submit a variation for any care service where:

a care home for older people is caring for younger adult’s care or adult service caring for older people where the service can meet the needs of that person.
care at home services care for clients with different care needs that are not noted on their certificate of registration where the service can meet the needs of that person.
change of operational hours.

In these circumstances, there is no requirement to submit a variation form. Instead, the provider should simply confirm in writing through eforms, using the notification “Changes to service delivery’.

Within the notification, the provider should note the change to the service provision and confirm the service can meet the care and welfare needs of the individuals that they are providing care for.

The notification will not in itself trigger an inspection but may trigger contact from the inspector to discuss the changes you have put in place.

There is no requirement for care homes who are admitting people on interim care basis until care at home is available to notify the care inspectorate. This information will be provided to us from the oversight teams of care homes or adult or older people being used in local areas to provide interim care.

We are working with the sector to produce some guidance on supporting people on interim basis before a return home and will share this through the provider updates and on our Hub.

Letter to all registered childcare providers (Added 18 November 2021)

The Scottish Government has issued a letter to all registered childcare providers to provide clarity for settings on seasonal celebrations that they may be planning. The letter also highlights some key compliance messages as we move into the winter period.

Supporting short notice recruitment and deployment (Added 16 November 2021)

In light of ongoing staffing problems due to Covid-19, the Care Inspectorate is maintaining current flexibility that allows providers to deploy staff before satisfactory recruitment checks are returned. Providers are reminded of the importance of ensuring that all appointments are risk assessed and that staff with pending checks are mentored and supervised at all times.

Similarly, the Care Inspectorate and SSSC are continuing to allow greater flexibility regarding staff being temporarily deployed to work in different types of care service. Staff are usually registered by the SSSC for a particular type of care service and need to make a separate application in order to work in a different setting.

Under the current circumstances, providers can now recruit and deploy SSSC registrants flexibly across different service types in order to fill gaps in staffing directly caused by Covid-19.

Winter respiratory infections in health and care settings: IPC Addendum (Added 21 October)

ARHAI Scotland (Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection) has produced infection prevention and control guidance for this coming winter on respiratory infections in health and care settings. The guidance recognises a surge is likely in respiratory viruses and infections in addition to Covid-19 over this winter season and it supersedes the three Covid-19 addenda for acute, care home, and community health and care settings first published in October 2020.

The guidance is aligned with soon-to-be-published UK guidance Infection Prevention and Control for Seasonal Respiratory Infections in Health and Care settings including SARS-CoV-2 for Autumn Winter 2021/2022.

You can access the guidance and appendices with the following links:

These documents are being issued to stakeholders to give advance notice of content and allow for implementation planning ahead of live launch on Monday 1 November 2021.

The three current Covid-19 addenda will remain live and online until 1 November when they will be archived and the new guidance published.

ELC Covid-19 Update for September 2021 (Added 5 October)

The Scottish Government has published the Early Learning and Childcare Covid-19 Update for September 2021.

Open with Care update – one named visitor to visit during managed outbreaks in care homes (Added 16 September)

Yesterday the Scottish Government updated the "Open with Care guidance" to recommend that care homes, with support from their local health protection team, can now move to support one named visitor to visit during managed outbreaks in care homes.

The Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care, Kevin Stewart, has released a letter outlining this new advice.

Reminder of update to exception from self-isolation of Health and Social Care staff, in particular if the close contact is a household member (Added 10 September)

The Scottish Government has released updated guidance to reflect that a Health and Social Care member of staff will be required to have daily lateral flow testing for 10 days following their last exposure to Covid-19.

If the index case (contact) is a household member, the daily LFD testing will begin from the date the household contact develops symptoms or when a positive test (LFD or PCR) is returned if asymptomatic.

The policy framework states Health and Social Care staff are eligible for exemption from self-isolation under the same conditions as the general population. As of the 9th August 2021 the conditions are as follows: Exemption from self-isolation applies even if there is ongoing exposure to the index case, e.g. a household member.

The National Infection Prevention and Control Manual Covid-19 addenda update (Added 9 September)

The National Infection Prevention and Control Manual Covid-19 addenda on physical distancing in Health and Social Care has been updated.

A summary of the changes can be found here.

Update on isolation exemptions for health and social care staff (Added 2 September)

From 9 August people (including health and care workers) identified as close contacts of someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 were no longer required to automatically self-isolate if they are double vaccinated (within certain conditions).

You can find out more here.

Additionally this revised policy document sets out the conditions which will enable Health and Social Care staff who are Covid-19 close contacts to return to work if they do have to isolate.

ELC Covid-19 Update for August 2021 (Added 31 August 2021)

The Scottish Government has published the Early Learning and Childcare Covid-19 Update for August 2021.

Opening with care beyond Level 0 (Added 7 August 2021)

Scottish Government have issued two letters – one for care homes and one for care at home services - on opening up visiting now we are at Level 0. The letters outline expectations of services and include links to guidance that services should follow.

You can read the letter for care homes here.

You can read the letter for care at home services here.

Updated Covid-19 guidance for all childcare providers (Added 4 August)

The Scottish Government has made some important changes to the guidance to support the continued safe operation of early learning and childcare, childminding and school-aged childcare settings.

Read the letter to providers here.

Read the letter to local authorities here.

You can find a checklist of mitigations at August 2021 here.

Links to guidance for each setting can be found at the links below:

Early learning and childcare Covid-19 update for July (Added 3 August)

The Scottish Government has shared their early learning and childcare Covid-19 July update. It contains lots of key information, important updates and useful links. Find out more here.

Restrictions to staff movement – update on the guidance (Added 9 July 2021)

The Scottish Government Adult Social Care Winter Plan for 20-21 recommended restricted staff movement across social care settings to limit transmission of Covid-19. With the range of protections now in place, care homes can exercise discretion to relax the restrictions on staff movement safely. As a result, Sustainability Funds available to support additional costs of restricting staff movement were withdrawn from 30 June 2021.

It remains the case that minimising staff movement across social care settings helps limit virus transmission, and continuity of staffing promotes better care quality and experience. These should be key considerations in workforce planning.

Health Protection Scotland Covid-19 information and guidance remains unchanged and up to date.

Annex B of the guidance will be updated shortly.

Restrictions to staff movement – update on the guidance (Added 6 July 2021)

Health Protection Scotland guidance remains unchanged and up to date:

HPS Website - Covid-19 - information and guidance for care home settings (scot.nhs.uk)

Annex B of the guidance will be updated shortly.

ELC Covid-19 Update for June 2021 (Added 6 July 2021)

The Scottish Government has published the Early Learning and Childcare Covid-19 Update for June 2021.

Implementing Open with Care: a joint statement on supporting visiting in care homes (Added 1 July 2021)

The Care Inspectorate, Scottish Care, the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland, and Social Work Scotland have issued a joint statement in support of the Scottish Government’s Open with Care guidance. This guidance and accompanying documents set out how care homes in Scotland should be opening up to visitors in a way that enables meaningful contact that makes a positive difference to the lives of residents and their loved ones.

You can read the statement here.

Use of face coverings in social care settings (Added 24 June 2021)

The Chief Nursing Officer has issued a letter to care home providers and care at home providers with an update on the use of face mask guidance in social care settings.

The letter outlines new guidance that is now available on using face coverings in social care settings. This guidance can be accessed here.

New frontline workers: vaccination access (Added 21 June 2021)

The Scottish Government has issued a letter with information on the processes for scheduling
vaccinations of the frontline health and social care workforce. Specifically, those new to a
service since the commencement of the Covid-19 Vaccination Programme (those not already vaccinated as part of the JCVI priority group, or within their age range).

You can access the letter here.

Larger delivery of LFD (NSS) testing kits in June for social care staff (Added 15 June 2021)

We have been informed by Scottish Government that in the coming months, the LFD testing kits services receive will come in smaller boxes; most likely boxes of seven kits. These testing kits will be approved for self-testing at home. Until this new stock is available, services will continue to use the Innova LFD kits of 25 tests. Your next delivery will be larger than usual. This is because stock is to be issued before the end of June in order to meet Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) requirements.

EU Settlement Scheme closes on 30 June – act now (Added 15 June 2021)

To stay in the UK, EU citizens who were living in the UK by 31 December 2020 must apply to the UK Government’s EU Settlement Scheme. This includes those EU citizens who may have been living here for many years. The deadline for applications is fast approaching, with the scheme closing on 30 June 2021. Even if someone has an EU permanent residence card or an EU residence certificate, they will still need to apply. If they do not apply, they may lose their right to live in the UK. Irish citizens and those with indefinite leave to remain do not need to apply.

A package of support is available for anyone who needs additional help. The Stay in Scotland toolkit includes information on the EU Settlement Scheme, details of the application process, and links to other resources. Full details can be found here.

Citizens Advice Scotland operates a free national helpline as part of its EU Citizen Support Service. Anyone can get information, advice and support for applying to the EU Settlement Scheme by calling the freephone helpline on 0800 916 9847. The service has qualified advisers who will help people apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. Citizens Advice Scotland has two solicitors who can help people with more complex immigration histories.

The legal charity, JustRight Scotland, has published a series of factsheets on EU citizens’ rights. These factsheets detail rights to vote and work, and access healthcare, education, housing and benefits in Scotland.

This information may apply to you personally, your staff, or people you provide care to and their families. Please consider whether anyone you know is from the EU and if they are, please share these ‘Stay in Scotland’ resources with them.

Letter from the Minister on re-opening of building-based days services for adults (Added 8 June 2021)

Kevin Stewart, Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care has written to provide clarity for services on who has authority to sign off the risk assessments required for them to re-open. You can read the letter here.

ELC Covid-19 Update for May 2021 (Added 3 June 2021)

The Scottish Government has published the Early Learning and Childcare Covid-19 Update for May 2021.

Materials for schools and childcare settings (Added 3 June 2021)

The Scottish Government has created new resources to encourage safe behaviors by families, and to help parents and carers to understand the steps that they can take to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission.

These resources can be accessed at the following links:

Wetransfer
Dropbox
FTP

These links lead to a number of resources that can be printed and displayed in settings or shared with families.

Most of these were shared recently, but the toolkit now contains translations of all PDF documents in the following: BSL, audio, easy read, Arabic, Gaelic, Chinese (Simplified), Urdu, Punjabi, Polish, Romanian.

Recording of LFD test results on the reporting portal (Added 3 June 2021)

There has been a small development with the NSS portal that should hopefully save you some time in recording your LFD tests results. From now on, when you are recording testing results on the NSS portal, you will no longer need to insert the serial numbers for LFD kits on the portal. However you should continue to insert the Lot Numbers.

Undertake the PDA in Technology Enabled Care (Added 2 March 2021)

Over the next 12 months NHS Education for Scotland will fully fund 10 candidates from across Health and Social Care to undertake the Professional Development Award (PDA) in Technology Enabled Care. The usual cost per candidate is £600.

The qualification will be accessed through online distance learning in partnership with Bon Accord Support Services, Aberdeen who are an SQA Approved Delivery Centre.

You can find more information in the application form.

Application Forms must be returned to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 5pm Monday 15 March 2021.

Adult care homes: visiting guidance (Added 25 February 2021)

The Scottish Government has published new guidance for care homes on visiting during the pandemic plus tools and resources on visiting, and supporting residents in homes with Covid-19.

This guidance recommends that care homes now put in place the necessary arrangements to safely resume meaningful contact between care home residents and their loved ones.

Donna Bell, Director for Mental Health & Social Care, has issued a letter to care home providers explaining the new guidance and the steps to supporting it to be adopted across Scotland in the near future.

Update for parents/carers of children returning to ELC and P1-3 (Added 18 February 2021)

Jason Leitch, National Clinical Director, has issued a letter to parents and carers of children returning to ELC and P1-3. The letter explains the reasoning for the decision to enable younger children to return to ELC and schools next week.

Please share this letter with all families as early as possible.

The Scottish Government has created a template letter that you may find helpful in your own parental communication.

Parent Club will also be producing a poster with these key points, which will be distributed early next week.

Update on childcare re-opening to all pre-school children (Added 16 February 2021)

Today the First Minister confirmed that, following a continued suppression of the coronavirus figures, early learning and childcare settings (which includes nurseries, playgroups, and family centres) can re-open to all pre-school children from 22 February.

The Scottish Government has issued a letter to all childcare providers with more information.

Guidance for deployment of agency staff to care homes during Covid-19 pandemic (Added 12 February 2021)

The Scottish Government has issued a letter to all adult care homes in Scotland which contains guidance for deployment of agency staff to care homes during Covid-19 pandemic.

Childminding Business Sustainability Fund (Added 9 February 2021)

On 21 January, the Scottish Government confirmed that £1m would be made available to provide grant support to childminders in light of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on their businesses.

The Scottish Government has today confirmed that additional funding will be made available in order to increase the fund to more than £3.2 million.

This £3.2 million fund will provide for a £750 business sustainability grant to be made available to all childminding services registered with the Care Inspectorate as of 1 February 2021.

The Scottish Government has issued a letter to all childminders with more information on the fund.

Update on childcare re-opening to all pre-school children (Added 02 February 2021)

Today the First Minister announced the Scottish Government’s intention that childcare settings can re-open to all pre-school children from 22nd February. This is subject to continued progress in suppressing the virus and will be subject to final confirmation in two weeks’ time.

The Scottish Government has issued a letter to all registered childcare providers with more information.

Care home visiting guidance during current restrictions (Added 02 February 2021)

During the current restrictions, garden and window visits to adult care homes are still possible and we expect services to support and facilitate this appropriately. It is essential that people are able to see and connect with loved ones.

We expect garden and window visits to be available in all care homes.

While areas are in Level 4, indoor visiting should be limited to essential visits. There is guidance on what is an essential visit and this is in the Scottish Government guidance we have given a link to below.

We encourage care homes to work with families, and their local health protection/public health teams, to risk assess individual situations to allow visits to take place where possible.

Services should also be supporting residents to stay in touch with loved ones regularly using technology and with help from staff.

If you have any questions please contact your allocated inspector.

All guidance for care homes, including visiting, can be found in our COVID compendium.

Additionally, the Scottish Government has provided guidance on visiting adult care homes during the pandemic.

Listening and caring in confidence (Added 02 February 2021)

Listening and caring in confidence is a free, confidential, on-line service for care home and care at home staff. The service is offered by Faith in Older People and provides the opportunity to consider your own needs and wellbeing so that you can continue to support those you care for.

ELC Covid-19 Update for January 2021 (Added 02 February 2021)

The Scottish Government has published the Early Learning and Childcare Covid-19 Update for January 2021.

Covid-19: Scottish workbook 2020 updated (Added 26 January 2021)

The Scottish Government have updated the Covid-19: Scottish workbook which explains how local and national public health agencies should take the action needed to prevent coronavirus spread, together with advice on management of outbreaks. Sector specific advice cards can be found under supporting file here.

Draft quality framework for family-based care (Added 26 January 2021)

In July 2018 we began introducing new frameworks for inspection and self-evaluation across the range of services which we regulate. We have now developed the draft quality framework for family-based care in consultation with providers, inspectors, umbrella bodies and membership organisations.

We want your feedback to ensure that we are developing quality illustrations that reflect good practice, legislation and the range of care and support provided and that should be experienced.

When you have looked at the draft quality framework please let us know your views by completing our short survey.

Connecting Care Homes – have you applied for digital devices? (Added 26 January 2021)

In November 2020, £1 million of new funding was announced by the Scottish Government to provide digital devices to every registered care home in Scotland. This includes care homes for children and young people.

These devices are to support those living in care homes to connect digitally with all aspects of their life - health, education, wellbeing and to keep in contact with family and friends.

The scheme has been well received, with over 600 applications received during December. Each care home has received one or two iPads and, for those with limited connectivity, a Mifi unit has also been provided to ensure access to the internet.

Applications can still be made by care homes and more details can be found here.

Reinstatement of statutory entitlement and Covid financial support (Added 22 January 2021)

Legislation that places a duty on education authorities to make available 1140 hours of funded ELC to all eligible children from August 2021 has been laid in the Scottish Parliament for its consideration.

The Scottish Government has issued a letter to all registered childcare providers outlining what this will mean for them.

Reinstatement of statutory entitlement and Covid financial support (Added 22 January 2021)

The Scottish Government has issued a letter to all registered childcare providers outlining what this will mean for them.

Letter to adult care home providers (Added 22 January 2021)

The Scottish Government has issued a letter to adult care home providers which provides advice on vitamin D supplements for care home residents.

Covid-19 vaccine easy read information (Added 21 January 2021)

Public Health Scotland have produced two pieces of easy read information guidance for COVID 19 vaccines. One is aimed at those with dementia and the other for people with learning difficulties.

Guidance on coronavirus testing for the care at home sector (Added 21 January 2021)

Guidance and materials are available to support testing of staff working in the following community based care services:

Care at home – LFD or PCR testing
Sheltered housing and housing with multiple occupancies – LFD testing
Adult day centres/ adult day care services – LFD testing
Personal assistants (providing care and support to adult clients within social care ) – LFD testing

The roll-out of testing will commence from 18 January. Distribution of testing kits is currently underway.

Supporting information and training materials to support rollout, including dates for workshops around taking the test, can be found here.

Letter to childminders (Added 21 January 2021)

The Minister for Children and Young People has issued a letter to all childminders which outlines the Scottish Governments Childminding Action Plan. The letter also provides information on how to access the financial support available to childminders.

Letter to adult day care services (Added 21 January 2021)

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport has issued a letter to adult day care services to clarify that essential day service support can continue throughout the current lockdown and adult day centres can continue to operate.

Care Inspectorate agency staff webinars February 2021 (Added 21 January 2021)

We are inviting all agency staff working in adult and older people care homes to attend one of our free webinars that will be delivered in February 2021.

As well as registered nurses these are open for all agency staff to attend.

The webinar will share ideas to support wellbeing and recovery in the context of Covid-19.

Explore the updated Care Home Infection Prevention and Control Addendum including the SIPCs.
Explore why infection prevention and control is important for all staff across the care home
Share the agreed Agency working principles
Update on testing and vaccinating
Sign posting to Covid-19 and infection control specific resources taken from national guidance and simplified by the Care Inspectorate into a one stop shop for adult social care.
Share the learning from frequently asked questions (FAQs) from services
Discuss effective application of good infection prevention and control practices

You can find more information, including the dates of the webinars, here.

To register for one of the webinars, please use this link to register for your preferred date.

Infection Prevention and Control / Covid-19 – Webinars for All Care Home Staff (Added 21 January 2021)

NHS Education for Scotland invites all care home staff to attend a webinar on Infection Prevention and Control/Covid-19. Webinars will be delivered in January 2021.

The webinars are free and aim to provide staff with key infection prevention and control information they will need to protect themselves and others in the care home setting.

You can find out the dates of the webinars and how to register here.

The importance of services operating within cohorts or ‘bubbles’ (Added 19 January 2021)

With the new strain of Covid-19 having an increasing impact on services for children and young people, we would like to remind providers of the importance of services operating within cohorts or ‘bubbles.’

This means that in order to decrease the chance of transmission, staff should not be routinely moving between settings, even if they are part of the same organisation. Further detail on this can be found in Coronavirus (Covid-19): residential childcare.

The same applies to young people, who should not be freely moving between care settings. Any movement between settings increases the risk of transmitting the virus, allowing it to spread so it is essential that services adhere to the guidance.

Any new admission, including for those on short term placements, must be individually risk assessed and a decision on testing made in discussion with the Health Protection Team as detailed in Covid-19: Information and Guidance for Social, Community and Residential Care Settings.

Preventing the spread of coronavirus (added 19 January 2021)

NHS Scotland have released guidance on using contact tracing to prevent the spread of coronavirus if you test positive.

Letter to adult day care services (Added 18 January 2021)

Update on review of Building Better Care Homes guide (Added 14 January 2021)

The design guidance for care homes for adults Building Better Care Homes is currently under review.

To support us with the early part of this work, we established a group of representatives from Scottish Care, COSLA, Scottish Government, Local Authority Building Standards Scotland, Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, Health Protection Scotland, Heads of Planning Scotland, Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health, HSE, HIS, Public Health Scotland, Scottish Futures Trust, and representatives from banking forums and architecture firms.

So far, our review has taken account of learning from the pandemic, views of the group and previous feedback.

In the coming months, our next step will be to consult widely on draft guidance with the care home sector and other stakeholders. We want everyone with an interest in care homes for adults to have the opportunity to take part in our consultation. We will update you in due course, to let you know how you can get involved.

When the time comes, we hope you can take part and we look forward to engaging with you.

Lateral flow testing for care homes (Added 14 January 2021)

The Scottish Government has updated its guidance on adult care home lateral flow testing to include an updated letter for all care homes.

Temporary financial support for childcare sector (Added 13 January 2021)

Today the Deputy First Minister has announced that the Scottish Government will:

make temporary financial support available to private and voluntary sector day care of children providers, and childminders currently providing childcare to 12 or more children, who have remained open for key worker and vulnerable children during the period of the temporary restrictions.
provide support for childminders who are most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

A summary of the announcements is provided below. Further information is set out on the Scottish Government’s information pages on the financial support available to the sector.

More information on these support measures will be provided as soon as possible.

COVID Restrictions – Temporary Financial Support

Day care of children providers, and childminders who are currently providing childcare to 12 or more children, currently should be open only to key worker and vulnerable children. Further information on the temporary restrictions is provided in the supplementary guidance.

As a result most of these services are open only for small numbers of children, and this can create financial pressures for providers.

That is why temporary financial support will be available to those services who are currently only permitted to operate for vulnerable children or those of key workers, to help mitigate the reduction in income resulting from operating below capacity and ensure these settings can remain open.

Support will be provided through grants to services that are open to deliver childcare to key worker and vulnerable children during the temporary restrictions.

This will include day care of children’s services, childminders who care for 12 or more children and out of school care providers.

To be eligible for the Fund settings need to be registered with the Care Inspectorate as being either:

a ‘day care of children’ and a ‘Private’ or ‘Voluntary or Not For Profit’ service; or
a ‘childminding service’ and currently caring for 12 or more children.

Providers will also need to confirm that their service is open and operating for key worker and vulnerable children.

The funding will be available for each four week period the current temporary restrictions are in place.

More information will set out on the Scottish Government’s information pages including details on the level of grants that will be available, and how providers can access this support, as soon as possible.

Care home testing guidance (Added 11 January 2021)

The Scottish Government has today released new guidance on care home testing.

The updated guidance includes:

Reported testing issues and workarounds.
Arrangements for resupply of tests, including emergency arrangements to reorder tests in urgent situations.
Details on workshops in January on care home testing (updates and feedback).
Link to updates and care home testing FAQ guidance.

Letter to all registered childcare providers (Added 7 January 2021)

Following the First Minister’s announcement on Monday 4 January that further public health measures in response to the new variant of Covid-19 are to be put in place, the Scottish Government has issued a letter to all registered childcare providers.

The letter confirms the updated guidance which will apply until at least 1 February 2021.

Covid-19: Supplementary National Child Protection Guidance updated (Added 7 January 2021)

The guidance includes the following changes:

Updated to reflect National Strategic Framework (November 2020)
Updated to reflect effective practices during Covid-19 in relation to Registration through virtual Child Protection Planning/Case Conferences
References updated and supplemented.

To ensure that you are using the most up to date version, please access it through the website.

Updated guidance on the submission of Covid-19 notifications (Added 7 January 2021)

We recently updated our guidance on the submission of Covid-19 notifications. We have now included some additional information that has come from frequently asked questions.

Where staff have ongoing symptoms after 14 days or symptoms of ‘long COVID’, services can end their confirmed outbreak with either a negative test from the staff member or agreement from public health.
If a service currently has a confirmed case of Covid-19, they do not need to notify us of further suspected cases until after the confirmed case(s) has been ended.
Only one end of confirmed case(s) notification is required (per outbreak). This should be used to signify that there are no current confirmed cases in the service regardless of whether it was an individual or multiple confirmed cases submitted.
Only one end of suspected case(s) notification is required. This should be used to signify that all suspected cases in the service have either had a negative test or shown no symptoms for 14 days. Where a confirmed case notification has been submitted, the service is automatically deemed to be in an outbreak and there is no need to submit and end of suspected cases notification.

Children and young people complaint text service (Added 7 January 2021)

We launched a new children and young people complaint text service on 5 January 2021. This text service will add to the other ways young people can raise concerns about the quality of their care.

This service will allow young people to be more informed about their rights to quality care and support which we hope will build trust and allow us to improve their experience of care.

Letter to all registered childcare providers (Added 7 January 2021)

The letter confirms the updated guidance which will apply until at least 1 February 2021.

New pharmacy service for care homes (Added 7 January 2021)

A service that offers consultations and advice for minor illnesses is available in all community pharmacies across Scotland. The service is open to those living in care homes and allows care homes and pharmacy teams to work closely together in new ways to support residents.

A guidance sheet gives a broad overview of how NHS Pharmacy First Scotland will work in the care home setting and what you will need to do to access the service. You may also speak with your community pharmacy team(s) to agree further details on how you will work together.

Adult social care: end of EU transition period (Added 7 January 2021)

The Scottish Government has published information for social care providers on access to the National Services Scotland Support Call Centre in the event of disruption to essential products or supplies due to Brexit.

Coronavirus (Covid-19): Visiting an adult care home (Added 7 January 2021)

Guidance for the safe visiting of adult care homes during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic is available here. This NHS inform page provides advice and information for family and friends of people living in adult care homes.