What's New Bulletin 243 - 10 April 2025
This is edition 243 of the provider bulletin, containing information on guidance, procedures and new initiatives. Very urgent or high priority communications may still be issued on an ad hoc basis, but we will try to keep these to a minimum
1. Birmingham City Council - Home Support and Supported Living Market Intelligence Questionnaire (MIQ) DEADLINE 2 May 2025 – (Information for all Providers Holding the Home Support 2024 and Supported Living 2023 Contracts)
2. REMINDER Care Homes Market Intelligence Questionnaire (MIQ) – April 2025 – DEADLINE 22 April 2025 (Information for all Birmingham and Contracted Care Homes)
3. REMINDER CONSULTATION Birmingham City Council - Adult Social Care: Care Centre Consultation DEADLINE 30 April 2025 (Information for all Birmingham Providers)
4. Birmingham City Council - CareMatch Portal Key Messages – Insurance Documents (Information for Contracted Providers)
5. REMINDER Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) COVID-19 vaccination: Spring 2025 campaign resources (Information for all Care Homes)
6. Capacity Tracker Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Updates (Information for all Providers)
7. Birmingham and Solihull (BSOL) – Skills for Care Celebrating Social Care (Information for all Birmingham and Solihull Providers)
8. April Connect Newsletter – latest from the Community Care Collaborative (Information for Birmingham Providers)
9. REMINDER NHS Birmingham and Solihull (Bsol) Training Hub (Information for Birmingham and Solihull Care Homes)
10. REMINDER Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust - Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) – Updates and Training April 2025 (Information for Care Homes and IPC Care Home Champions)
11. REMINDER Birmingham Community Healthcare (BCHC) NHS Foundation Trust - Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Virtual Training Session 25 April 2025 (Information for Birmingham and Solihull Care Homes)
12. Birmingham City Council (BCC) - Adult Social Care Deep Engagement Partner Programme Awareness Training April and June 2025 (Information for all Birmingham Providers)
1. Birmingham City Council - Home Support and Supported Living Market Intelligence Questionnaire (MIQ) DEADLINE 2 May 2025 – (Information for all Providers Holding the Home Support 2024 and Supported Living 2023 Contracts)
Further information about this subject has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
If your service is included on the list circulated (HS & SL contracted provider list for April 2025 MIQ), you are expected to complete and submit this questionnaire by clicking this link:
The deadline for completion is Friday 2 May 2025
Further information about this subject has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
The questionnaire will be issued quarterly.
Completion of the questionnaire is part of the terms of the Home Support 2024 and Supported Living 2023 contracts
The purpose of the questionnaire is to collect information to assist our market shaping and development role, the production of our Market Position Statements, fulfil our Care Act duties around ensuring a quality and sustainable market, to help us direct resources, identify areas of risk, and monitor progress towards our strategic aims. It has been co-produced with health colleagues to reduce duplication in data collection, and has been streamlined so that we are only collecting information that is not available to us from elsewhere e.g. the Capacity Tracker.
2. REMINDER Care Homes Market Intelligence Questionnaire (MIQ) – April 2025 – DEADLINE 22 April 2025 (Information for all Birmingham and Contracted Care Homes)
Please click this link to access the questionnaire:
The deadline for completion is Tuesday 22 April 2025
This questionnaire is issued quarterly. Further information about this subject has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk. Please note that the question concerning patient safety incidents has been changed to ask for numbers of the different type of incidents (choking, falls with injury, falls without injury, pressure ulcers developed in the home, unexplained bruising, accident with harm). We have also removed questions about the digital status of the care home, including completion of the Data Security Protection Toolkit (DSPT), implementation of Digital Social Care Records (DSCR) and availability of secure email, as this data is now available from other sources (Capacity Tracker and NHS data).
Completion of the questionnaire is part of the terms of the Care Homes 2023 contract, for contracted providers, but we ask all Birmingham care homes to take part in the process to help us meet our responsibilities to all Birmingham citizens.
Many thanks to staff at the care homes who completed the previous questionnaires. If this did not include your care home, please ensure that you complete the April and subsequent editions.
The purpose of the questionnaire is to collect information to assist our market shaping and development role, the production of our Market Position Statements, fulfil our Care Act duties around ensuring a quality and sustainable market, to help us direct resources, identify areas of risk, and monitor progress towards our strategic aims. It has been co-produced with health colleagues to reduce duplication in data collection, and has been streamlined so that we are only collecting information that is not available to us from elsewhere e.g. the Capacity Tracker.
Further information about this subject has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
3. REMINDER CONSULTATION Birmingham City Council - Adult Social Care: Care Centre Consultation DEADLINE 30 April 2025 (Information for all Birmingham Providers)
The consultation in relation to the 3 Care Centres operated by the Council closed on the 20 December 2024. A further 4-week consultation is now taking place, the purpose of the consultation is to provide additional financial information in relation to the options provided during the consultation held between 14 October 2024 and 20 December 2024. We want to invite people to provide their views on the proposals in light of this additional information.
The consultation will commence on Monday 31 of March and will close on Wednesday 30 of April 2025.
People can respond to the consultation by attending the virtual public meetings and by reading the consultation document which summarises the proposals and then by completing the questionnaire. The consultation document is available along with Frequently Asked Questions, Equality Impact Assessments and Health Impact Assessment.
The documentation and questionnaire can be accessed via the Council Website:
or by contacting the consultation email address CareCentreConsultation@birmingham.gov.uk
All responses to this 4-week consultation will be considered along with the responses to the first consultation period and will inform recommendations for decision to the Council’s Cabinet in the summer of this year.
If you would like further information, please contact the consultation email address.
4. Birmingham City Council - CareMatch Portal Key Messages – Insurance Documents (Information for Contracted Providers)
It is an important part of your contractual obligations to Birmingham City Council, and a legal requirement, to ensure you have valid insurance at all times. It is important that when you renew your insurance documents you remember to upload a copy to the CareMatch Portal following the instructions in Section 8.8 of the Care Match Portal User Guide:
If you are experiencing technical issues uploading the documents, email market.intelligence@birmingham.gov.uk
Reminder alerts are sent from CareMatch Portal to inform you when your insurance documents were coming up to their expiry date and when they had expired to assist you to remain compliant with your contractual obligations around insurance. To ensure you are receiving these alerts, check your email alerts are switched on (see section 4.5 of the User Guide for how you can check and change user settings).
No evidence of current insurance cover on the CareMatch Portal at the levels required by your contract will be treated as a breach of contract until evidence of cover is provided.
Providers are finding the cost of insurance has risen as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and as such it is important you allow enough time for finding an alternative insurance provider, if needed, before your current insurance expires. Contact your Care Association to see what support and advice they can offer. It is important that you inform you area commissioners if you are having difficulty arranging future cover before the expiry of your current insurance.
Who to contact in the Commissioning Team?
5. REMINDER Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) COVID-19 vaccination: Spring 2025 campaign resources (Information for all Care Homes)
This guidance covers information on the Spring 2025 campaign for eligible individuals. A new leaflet for the Spring 2025 programme has been added.
Find out more here:
6. Capacity Tracker Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Updates (Information for all Providers)
Further information about this subject has been circulated to providers. If you don’t have a copy, please email marketintelligence@birmingham.gov.uk.
Please note in particular the reminders regarding any changes to your Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration details on Page 2 of the Care Association Newsletter.
For support with the Capacity Tracker, please see details below:
For system support and guidance - please contact NECS Capacity Tracker Support Centre - 0191 691 3729 or necsu.capacitytracker@nhs.net (We are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm, excluding public holidays)
Changing registration, closing, change of ownership – please contact the CQC - T: 03000 616161, E: enquiries@cqc.org.uk, CQC Provider Portal (They are open Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 5.30pm, excluding public holidays)
If you receive an enforcement notice – please contact the NHS Business Services Authority Enforcement Team (NHSBSA) – T: 0300 330 2088, E: enforcement@nhsbsa.nhs.uk (They are open Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 4.30pm
7. Birmingham and Solihull (BSOL) – Skills for Care Celebrating Social Care (Information for all Birmingham and Solihull Providers)
This April, Skills for Care is once again Celebrating Social Care (see link below) focusing on the amazing people who work in care, and invite you to join the celebrations.鈥�疶his is their fourth year running the campaign to raise the profile of social care and its important鈥痗ontribution to society, share positive stories and create a feeling of community, celebration, and鈥痯ride among the social care workforce.
Skills for Care are inviting everyone to get involved and show their support. Using the link below download the resource pack from their website, which includes selfie cards, social media images, email banners and blog templates. There are also suggestions on how you can get involved, including sharing your stories, shoutouts and celebrations, posting on social media and hosting your own event or activity.
They are asking you to share with them on social media using #CelebratingSocialCare and tag Skills for Care, or email us at marketing@skillsforcare.org.uk
8. April Connect Newsletter – latest from the Community Care Collaborative (Information for Birmingham Providers)
The latest edition of Connect, the newsletter for the Community Care Collaborative will soon be available on their website. The collaborative is the partnership between all health, social care, and voluntary sectors across Birmingham and Solihull. Please use the link below to access the latest and previous issues.
Alongside the newsletter the CCC has also shared their latest video:
The CCC’s East Locality Hub is attracting a lot of regional and national attention and for those that haven’t visited the Locality Hub, this is a great opportunity to see firsthand what it’s all about.
9. REMINDER NHS Birmingham and Solihull (Bsol) Training Hub (Information for Birmingham and Solihull Care Homes)
Have you visited the Birmingham and Solihull training hub website yet? You can view information as someone working in a primary or social care role in the Solihull / Birmingham area, as a student looking for support with career development or as a visitor wanting to find out more.
All training events are listed in the calendar section. You can also contact the training hub by email bsol.traininghub@nhs.net or phone: 0121 483 2128.
The next sessions are:
11 April 2025 IPC Champions Training Day 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
17 April 2025 Continuing Health Care Fast Track Pathway Training 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
10. REMINDER Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust - Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) – Updates and Training April 2025 (Information for Care Homes and IPC Care Home Champions)
IPC will hold two IPC Champions Training Days at Moseley Hall Hospital in April, use to following links to book places either date:
*If you have attended an IPC Champions Training Day previously, please attend the IPC Champions Forums.
For IPC advice, comments/queries and or additional training requests please contact the team via bchc.ipcdata1@nhs.net or call 0121 466 6550.
These training events take place at Moseley Hall Hospital between 09.00am – 5.00pm and are suitable for all care home staffing groups.
*Booking is required.
IPC Champions Training Days are held in conjunction with Birmingham City Council and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council.
If you have any comments or queries in this regard, please contact bchc.ipcdata1@nhs.net
11. REMINDER Birmingham Community Healthcare (BCHC) NHS Foundation Trust - Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Virtual Training Session 25 April 2025 (Information for Birmingham and Solihull Care Homes)
BCHC IPC’s next virtual Infection Control training session will take place Friday, 25 April 2025 2:00pm –
Please contact the team at bchc.ipcdata1@nhs.net for further information.
12. Birmingham City Council (BCC) - Adult Social Care Deep Engagement Partner Programme Awareness Training April and June 2025 (Information for all Birmingham Providers)
As part of Adult Social Care Deep Engagement Partner Programme, BCC have partnered with community organisations in Birmingham to address health inequalities across different community groups. As part of this, BCC’s partners are all delivering free training sessions on their respective communities, the aim being to improve the understanding and awareness of the needs of the communities among those working in health and social care and any other services that work with communities.
Birmingham LGBT are delivering the following trainings on the LGBTQ+ community and they were keen that these be promoted to your service.
Trans and Non-Binary Awareness Training
Thursday 24 April, 1pm – 3.30pm
Friday 25 April, 10.30am – 1pm
LGBTQ+ Awareness training
19 June, 10am – 1pm