Extra £4.5m for Kirklees care homes to prevent spread of coronavirus
We will distribute a £4.5m share of funding from the government to tackle the spread of coronavirus in care homes following approval of proposals at cabinet yesterday.
75% of the £4.5m received from the government’s Adult Social Care Infection Control Fund (£600m) will go to 129 care homes in the borough that have registered beds with the Care and Quality Commission as per government guidelines.
What is the money for?
The aim of the funding is to support adult social care providers to reduce the rate of Covid19 transmission in care homes and between one care home and another; and to support other workforce actions necessary to deliver infection control.
Care providers can use the funding to support additional steps to reduce the spread of infection in care homes; maintain the normal wages of staff in care homes and the domiciliary care sector who, in order to reduce the spread of infection, need to reduce the number of establishments in which they work, reduce the number of hours they work, or self-isolate; allow providers to offer their staff full pay during self-isolation, rather than statutory sick pay.
The remaining 25% of the funds will be used for infection control measures and we will work with providers to offer bespoke support where needed.
What other measures have been taken?
We have already provided a financial support package to adult social care providers that includes a premium paid on the 2020/21 care homes fees equivalent to 5% for an initial 3 months; payment for 3 days after death, rather than 1 day; contingency fund for one-off emergency financial support and advice and guidance on other forms of support.
Cllr Musarrat Khan, Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care said:
“Adult social care providers continue to give vital care to our most vulnerable residents in Kirklees during this Covid 19 crisis and we are doing everything we can to support them where possible. This government funding will be rolled out in the coming days so that our elderly and most vulnerable residents are protected from this disease.”
Hello, The amount allocated from the Infection Control fund is on a per bed basis and therefore will be paid to each home regardless of whether the bed is funded privately or by the council. I hope this helps ^CP
Hello, The amount allocated from the Infection Control fund is on a per bed basis and therefore will be paid to each home regardless of whether the bed is funded privately or by the council. I hope this helps ^CP
Do I take it from the wording here that the Council is only providing money for those it funds whereas the govt package is, like NHS funding, intended for ALL in care?
If it is the case that most care homes in Kirklees are privately owned,how and where will this government funding be apportioned ?It would be useful to subsidise care home residents who are using their life savings to exist in their final years.
Most of the care homes are privately owned. Very few owned by Kirklees now.