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Question: As the Council works with key partners and agencies in response to COVID-19, what arrangements is it making to:
4: ensure the provision of care services is not disrupted? Additional documents: Minutes: Response by the Portfolio Holder:
Social Services has cancelled all non-business critical work and we are now urgently working on business continuity across the service.
We are working closely with Credu to ensure that all unpaid carers received the appropriate advice.
We are working closely with domiciliary care and residential care providers with regards to business continuity planning. We are also surveying the Council's workforce as to skills and availability in case of any need to redeploy staff urgently, should there be shortages of staff to provide care for our service users. We have commenced regular conference calls with organisations/companies who provide support to the council so that we can quickly spot any staff shortage and seek to implement our redeployment plans. These calls are convened weekly on Tuesday mornings (three have already been held) and are followed up with a formal letter to all providers with information and advice on the Friday afternoon. I attached the latest two letters for your information.
Similarly, we are working with PAVO to develop our volunteer base and to ensure that we are able to deploy support where and when required. C-SERT is becoming an effective and essential arm of our response to the pandemic in Powys and you will find a leaflet with information for volunteers at the end of the latest attached letter to providers.
Guidance for our paid carers on entering people’s homes has also been shared, giving them information on how to act should the person be showing symptoms of Covid-19 or not. 4 guidance documents have been issued on use of Personal Protective Equipment. These are for foster carers, social workers and occupational therapists, residential care staff, and domiciliary care staff.
We have also sent out a letter to those people who are in receipt of Direct Payments, advising them what to do if either they or their Personal Assistant becomes ill. This provides guidance on provision of care as well as contact details for urgent situations so that these service users are able to access support where required.
We have supplies of Personal Protective Equipment provided by the Welsh Government. Stocks are limited and provided on demand by care organisations. They are being distributed through the Community Equipment Service.
As a part of our preparation we have block booked a large number of nursing beds and ensured that a large number residential care beds are available to us across the county.
I appreciate that the response above can only reassure to a certain extent. Our plans are still being developed and refined, but I can confirm that we are working all hours to ensure that our plans are as robust as possible.
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