NHS Inform advises that you should phone your GP if your symptoms;
It also advises that you should phone your GP if you develop breathlessness or it worsens, especially if you:
If your GP is closed, the recommendation is to phone NHS 24 (111).
In a medical emergency, phone 999. Make sure you inform them you have COVID-19 symptoms. Shared Lives carers should ensure that the people they support have hospital passports. The NHS has some useful information about hospital passports and about preparing someone to go into hospital. The information is applicable to people with a learning disability but could be applied to other vulnerable groups. You can find it here.
If a Shared Lives carer is infected, it means the whole of their household should isolate themselves for 14 days from the first day the person got symptoms. See here for more information.
Depending on how unwell the Shared Lives carer is, they or a support carer may be able to continue to offer support. However, you and your scheme may need to find alternative support will need to be found if this is not an option. Main options will include:
As the person using Shared Lives has potentially been exposed to Coronavirus and at risk of spreading the disease to others, schemes should ensure that replacement Shared Lives carers are not from a high-risk group to minimise the chance of any further infection being serious.
If a family member or someone else offers to provide this additional support, the Shared Lives scheme may need to consider a highly streamlined approval process and risk assessment of the situation. We will produce further guidance on this shortly. In the meantime, we advise schemes to take a common-sense approach to streamlining the approval process. This process will consider the potential risks of accepting and of declining that offer, and will aim for the least risky option.
Any emergency support arrangement put in place will be clearly recorded, including the risk assessment carried out and rationale for the decision, and the timescale of the arrangement which will be temporary and subject to regular review. A key factor will be the scheme’s confidence in the Shared Lives carer’s judgement in drawing on a new support carer, and their ability to support that person and manage any risks.
The only people who need to know about people who are self-isolating are the scheme and people’s respite carers, or others who are likely to have had contact with the infected person. If anyone has symptoms, they should inform your Shared Lives scheme and self-isolate everyone in their household for 14 days immediately.
You only need to notify care inspectors if Coronavirus negatively affects the running of your service.
The ban on evictions and possessions was designed to protect both tenants and landlords who were financially affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, to ensure their tenancy/mortgage would not be at risk due to circumstances beyond their control.
Licences to occupy, such as the Licence Agreement used in Shared Lives, is not covered by this ban on evictions, although the government is encouraging landlords to still follow the guidance when their licensees are in financial difficulties due to Covid-19. Here is a link to the government guidance.
We believe most people in Shared Lives arrangements are considered ‘excluded occupants’ which means that the Shared Lives carer only needs to give the Shared Lives scheme required notice for the arrangement to end, rather than applying for a court or possession order. It is important that the notice period is given as specified in the Licence Agreement, so the Shared Lives carer is acting legally. If a Shared Lives Licence Agreement is breached, then this is grounds for the ending of an arrangement, if the proper periods of notice are given.
However, in emergencies or exceptional circumstances an arrangement may need to be ended sooner, but currently, care needs to be taken around how this handled, and whether the person can be moved on to a suitable arrangement, with the support of the local authority, during lockdown. Consideration also needs to be given to the human rights of the person being supported and their mental capacity to make decisions around where they live and how they are supported.
As this is a complex subject, we will be providing more guidance, as soon as possible, about the ending of arrangements during the Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown.
The CQC has advised that temporary changes have been made to the (Disclosure and Barring Service) DBS process and other recruitment checks. This will be in operation for the period the Coronavirus Act 2020 remains in force and will be reviewed on a regular basis.
The shielding guidance is for those people considered extremely clinically vulnerable and this could be either people in Shared Lives, Shared Lives carers or someone else in a Shared Lives household. There is no minimum age for shielding. The guidance contains the list of conditions that this applies to – those most at risk due to their immunodeficiencies, metabolic or lung conditions – and can be found here.
Anyone considered clinically extremely vulnerable should have had a letter to tell them this but there are some people who have been missed off, due to the logistics of compiling this list from GPs and hospitals. If you think you, or someone you support in your home, should be on the shielding list and has not had a letter, you can contact your GP to discuss this or register on the government website here. You will need your NHS number to register.
If you are eligible for shielding and register online, you will be eligible for food deliveries from the government if you have no other way to get food and the priority slots online with the supermarkets. Shielding also allows all members of the household to work from home, due to the vulnerability of the person needing shielding.
Shielding is expected to be for a period of 12 weeks, which would be until the end of June and is a big commitment for a household to take. It is a recommendation that the most vulnerable people shield at home, although it is essentially a personal choice and one that should be risk-assessed and considered carefully. If it involves the person you support, their human rights and mental capacity should be taken into account, especially if you feel they do not have capacity to make a decision around shielding, and then the usual mental capacity processes should be followed as to decision making and their best interests.
