NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency have created a toolkit of resources to raise awareness of Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) prevention, symptom recognition and treatment which includes advice on how and when to seek help.
In 2022, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) asked all local authorities to complete a cost of care exercise for domiciliary care services, (supporting adults over the age of 18) and residential and nursing homes, (supporting adults over the age of 65) and to submit information on the outcome to DHSC by 14 October 2022. A successful return would enable West Sussex to benefit from additional resources that could be used to improve the sustainability of local care markets.
The exercise offered an opportunity:
Care providers were invited to use specifically designed tools to enable them to submit the actual costs they faced in delivering their service:
These were used nationally by many local authorities and were developed in partnership with care providers and authorities.
We worked closely with West Sussex Partners in Care on planning and delivering this work. We also worked in partnership with Laing Buisson to determine the median cost of the care market in West Sussex in line with the DHSC requirements.
The DHSC also required a Market Sustainability Plan which authorities, working together with local care providers, needed to complete in outline by October 2022 and in a final form by Spring 2023. This is the local plan for tackling the risks and issues which threaten sustainable markets such as workforce recruitment and retention. You will find the plan on the Market Sustainability Plan page.
Below you will find the link to the two submissions WSCC made to the DHSC in October 2022. The DHSC requested that authorities complete these documents, (referred to as ‘Annex B’, one for each of the two care markets in scope), according to a specific template which included the approach authorities took to completing the cost of care exercise and a summary of the outcome.
Please see tabs below for links to more information and support.
If you have any questions, queries or concerns in the meantime please do contact us at: marketsustainability@westsussex.gov.uk
The Care and Health Improvement Program has put together an introduction to the Cost of Care: Fair Cost of Care: Update, Support and Guidance. This briefing will give you some background to what’s going on, lay out the key facts and point to more guidance and support available nationally and locally.
Please note this document might not be suitable for users with assistive technology. If you need this information in another format, please contact contracts@westsussex.gov.uk
Briefing 1:
The Fair Cost of Care in West Sussex Briefing delivers information on the exercise from the perspective of WSCC. The briefing provides an overview of what is involved and why it is happening, as well as providing detail on why providers should get involved, how they can take part, where to find the tools and how to access advice and guidance on use of the tools. There is also a list of provider briefings for care providers.
Please note this document may not be suitable for users with assistive technology. If you need this information in another format, please contact contracts@westsussex.gov.uk
Briefing 2:
WSCC has produced further briefing slides for reference for providers of residential/nursing and home care settings. These documents provide a quick summary of the first briefing, give details as to how to complete the relevant tool, share answers to frequently asked questions and give more detail related to the market sustainability plan.
Fair Cost of Care briefing slides for residential and nursing care providers
Fair Cost of Care briefing slides for home care providers
Care providers need to register for the web-based tool
Please see this ‘How To’ video guide for registration and creating an account. This video provides instructions and guidance through the registration process.
CareCubed has produced an awareness pack for care providers which includes a range of helpful documents and videos to help providers get started on the tool covering areas like how to access the tool, how to use the tool and an email contact for any queries.
Further Fair Cost of Care Resources:
CareCubed Fair Cost of Care tool - calculations guidance
CareCubed Fair Cost of Care tool - exported field list
Please note this document may not be suitable for users with assistive technology. If you need this information in another format, please contact: contracts@westsussex.gov.uk
See the below list of contacts:
• carecubed@iese.org.uk – helpdesk for any tool related queries or registration issues
• marketsandcommissioning@local.gov.uk - for any policy or DHSC guidance related questions
• fcc@careprovideralliance.org.uk - for any provider queries
Domiciliary Care providers can download the Excel-based Homecare Cost of Care Toolkit and access guidance from the Local Government Association website.
Frequently asked questions, instruction videos, demo recordings and other support is available via the ARCC Homecare Cost of Care Toolkit website
List of contacts:
• support@costofcaretoolkit.co.uk – Helpdesk for technical queries about the tool.
• marketsandcommissioning@local.gov.uk - for any policy or DHSC guidance related questions.
• fcc@careprovideralliance.org.uk - for any provider queries.
ARCC Consulting, the developers of the cost of care tool for domiciliary/homecare providers, have announced a live drop-in session for both providers and commissioners to ask any questions.
Registration and links for these are available on the LGA website via the link below:
• Tuesday 5 July, 12:00 to 13:00
This session is aimed at supporting care providers to complete the Homecare Cost Toolkit. ARCC Consulting will be talking through some of the key issues and questions received and enabling providers to ask questions.
Topics addressed will include:
If you would like ARCC Consulting to cover a specific topic, please email support@costofcaretoolkit.co.uk
If you are unable to attend the sessions, ARCC will be recording the session to post on their Youtube channel.
