South West London CCG Annual Report and Accounts 2020/21

Kingston and Richmond Enhanced support to care homes During the year, a number of initiatives were introduced to better support staff and residents in care homes in Kingston and in Richmond. A project manager worked with care home staff to enable them to take vital signs and to recognise early signs of deterioration. This early signs of deterioration work is supported by a wider remote monitoring workstream, so that healthcare professionals can be notified automatically of any concerns, and to respond accordingly. iPads have been made available to all care homes to enable them to hold video consultations with health and care professionals, access NHS mail, connect care home residents with loved ones remotely, and to get direct access to any other tools or systems needed to support the care of residents. We have supported two population health fellows in a project developing multi- disciplinary team working with care home staff in Kingston and Richmond. Advance care planning and training for care home staff are other facets of this project. The Primary Care Network enhanced service was launched, involving weekly multidisciplinary primary care “rounds” addressing medication reviews and holistic care. In association with this, health and social care multi-disciplinary teams were started along with a focus on falls prevention, reablement (short-term care at home) and end of life care. Temporary Alternative Discharge Destinations (TADDs) have been identified as short-term capacity, so that care home residents who are Covid-19 positive can be discharged from acute hospitals to safely isolate before returning to their care home. South West London CCG has also formed a new infection prevention support team to support care homes to answer queries related to infection prevention and control, to share best practice tools and to offer training and support where gaps are identified or where there has been an outbreak in the home. Through the Covid immunisation programme, large numbers of care home residents and staff in Kingston and Richmond have been vaccinated. New NHS 111 service and behaviour change campaign A new service offering booked appointments in A&E was launched as part of local and national plans to reduce pressure on emergency hospital services and help manage social distancing within the emergency department. We have supported the launch with a communications and engagement behaviour change campaign encouraging people to “Think NHS 111 First” if they think they might need to go to A&E. 50 | NHS South West London Clinical Commissioning Group