See guidance from national bodies – including Department for Health and Social Care, Care Quality Commission and Public Health England. Further guidance on specific areas can be found in the sections below.
Commissioning
Social care provider resilience during COVID-19 - guidance to commissioners
Social care providers might find this guidance useful it picks up on points that we know are a concern.
Hospital discharge and admissions
Hospital discharge and community support: policy and operating model
Sets out how health and care systems should support the safe and timely discharge of people who no longer need to stay in hospital.
Guidance on hospital discharge service requirements
Guidance on how health and care systems should support the safe and timely discharge of people who no longer need to stay in hospital.
CQC guidance
Registration with CQC and changes to statements of purpose during COVID-19
The CQC have developed information for those making an application to change their statement of purpose to meet the demands of COVID-19 by increasing capacity or seeking temporary change of use.
Medication
Delegating medicines administration
The CQC have produced some updated guidance on delegating medicines administration for care workers.
The CQC have pulled together a page detailing medicines information for adult social care providers which details emergency legislation and changes that are happening due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
PPE and infection control
PPE portal - how to order emergency personal protective equipment
The portal can be used by eligible health and social care providers to order and receive PPE.
Infection prevention and control
This guidance outlines the infection prevention and control advice for health and social care providers involved in receiving, assessing and caring for patients who are a possible or confirmed case of COVID-19.
Infection prevention and control in adult social care settings
This document sets out general infection prevention and control principles to be used in combination with guidance on managing specific infections. See the COVID-19 supplement.
Handling the deceased with suspected or confirmed COVID-19
This guidance has been developed to ensure that people who come into contact with the deceased through work, or who work in services providing care for the deceased, are protected from COVID-19 infection.
Residential care and nursing homes
Step-by-step guidance for care homes to order medications
The Local Government Association (LGA) and NHS have published guidance for care homes to order medications online for residents via proxy access to their GP online services account. Hosted on the NHS England and NHS Improvement website, the guidance provides examples of all the documentation needed and explains the data sharing, staff training, information governance, confidentiality, set-up and communication requirements needed between care homes, GP practices and pharmacies.
NHS Capacity Tracker
The COVID-19 Hospital Discharge Service Requirements guidance requires care homes, NHS community hospital beds and hospice beds to be recorded on the Capacity Tracker. Providers of care homes must register and update it regularly to ensure a clear understanding, locally and nationally, of bed capacity and other business information.
Testing
Guidance on coronavirus testing, including who is eligible for a test and how to get tested
COVID-19 testing for adult social care services
Outlines the COVID-19 testing available for staff, residents and visitors for all adult social care services.
COVID-19 self-test help
This guidance has been developed to help those people who have been asked to self-test.
Testing for coronavirus before hospital
Sets out how and when to use a PCR home test kit to test for COVID-19 before a hospital procedure.
General
COVID-19 guidance
Find guidance about coronavirus (COVID-19) for health and social care settings, other non-clinical settings, and for the general public.
COVID-19 bereavement scheme for family members of NHS and health and social care workers
This guidance provides information for family members of NHS workers and independent health and social care workers who have died as a result of contracting COVID-19. It has been updated to clarify that, in exceptional and compelling circumstances, wider family members may also be granted indefinite leave to remain (ILR) and consideration may also be given to those whose permission has expired.
COVID-19: guidance on shielding and protecting people defined on medical grounds as extremely vulnerable
Updated information on meeting friends and family inside and outside the home.