“I am so pleased to have joined an organisation with such a big heart, big ambition and real professional rigour,” is how new Director of People Jacqui Roynon describes her first impressions of working at OSJCT.

Jacqui joined the organisation in early February having worked for almost 17 years at Hft, a national charity providing services for people with learning disabilities.

“What I love about this sector is that our key ‘product’ is the care we deliver, and it is the skill, compassion and creativity of our colleagues that directly influence the quality of the care that our residents receive. I believe that the HR/People team are here to ensure that whole “people system” is completely aligned to our front-line carers so they feel supported and enabled to provide the very best care, every day”. 

Jacqui’s early career had not been in the not-for-profit or care sectors as she began as a graduate trainee at Tesco HQ. Before taking up her first role the workforce planning department her training included secondments in each of the HR departments as well  a 3 month long grounding working in very department in one of the larger superstores and in a distribution centre.

Later moves took her to Cable and Wireless and Galileo International, a computerised reservations system for Airlines. In the latter job one of her challenges was recruiting people to work in Swindon where the organisation’s competitor offices were in Denver, Chicago and Sydney. “Not an easy task” she reports.

Unfortunately, as a young child Jacqui’s eldest daughter had some health issues, so she stepped back from corporate life and focussed on her daughter while working part time for Scope in 1997 where she was first bitten by the social care and not-for-profit bug.

Jacqui’s daughter made a full recovery and from Scope she moved to Hft in 2003 and progressed from Head of HR to  Director of People and Communications and then interim chief executive for the last nine months.

She said: “I’m definitely most at home working in ‘the people space’ of HR and I was highly attracted to work for such a values-based and ambitious organisation. I am very much looking forward to being able to visit the homes and to get opportunity to meet both colleagues and residents.”

Outside of work Jacqui is very keen on sport, primarily playing and watching netball as well as running.

On February 20, the Government announced that it would shortly be issuing new guidance regarding visiting in care homes, which will come into place from 8 March.

We recognise the sacrifices made by care home residents and their loved ones over the last year. It appears this guidance will acknowledge the progress that is being made through protective measures, the vaccine, and the dedication of our colleagues and put in place the first steps in gradually returning our homes to the happy and open places they have always been.

We will work through the guidance as soon as it is published to understand how we can apply it safely and we will communicate again with further details shortly.

While we assess the guidance we will continue to work through our programme of opening homes to visitors again as announced on 12 February.

We are delighted that some of our homes are now open to visitors. Unfortunately, as others are considered as ‘active outbreak’ homes, in that they have 2 or more positive cases of either colleagues or residents, the Government guidance is that these are not allowed to open to visitors.

However, following a detailed risk assessment and the implementation of a number of measures, including those listed below, we are pleased to be able to start reopening more homes and fully recognise the positive impact that this will have for both residents and loved ones alike.

The criteria for reopening for visits are:

• The home must not be ‘in outbreak’, which is defined as having had two or more positive test results within the last 28 days.
• We have taken into account the recommendations of Public Health England and the Regional Directors of Public Health.
• The home must have a screened visitor room which can be accessed without going into any shared area of the home.
• The home must be able to support Lateral Flow Testing for visits – the ‘instant’ test, which takes just 30 minutes to produce a result. We have had positive results from our pilot across six of our homes and it is being used to regularly test colleagues in all homes. We would recommend that where possible visitors arrive in their cars as there is a 30-minute delay from taking the test to receiving the result.
• The home must have the staffing resource to be able to deep clean the visitor room after every visit and support the resident during the visit.

Each home will also determine how to set up the visiting arrangements as staffing levels must be able to support the additional measures now needed and this will be best determined on a local level. A colleague at your home will contact you directly to advise on visiting processes.

We very much hope that the care sector is moving towards a better spring and summer after a challenging winter. Your support has meant so much to our frontline and support teams in the last 11 months.

Dan Hayes 

Chief Executive

We are delighted that we are beginning to open our homes to visitors once again following our decision that a break in visits was needed to prevent the rapid transmission of the new variant of COVID-19.

Firstly, I must say once again how grateful we are to our residents, their families and our colleagues at our care homes across our regions. We fully appreciate what a challenging time this is, but your patience, and your trust in our judgements has really helped to keep people safe, which is always our priority.

Infection rates are slowing, vaccination rates are high, and our visiting spaces combined with the ‘instant’ (30 minute) Lateral Flow Tests pave the way for much brighter months ahead.

We are delighted that a few of our homes are now open to visitors. Unfortunately, as others are considered as ‘active outbreak’ homes, in that they have 2 or more positive cases of either colleagues or residents, the Government guidance is that these are not allowed to open to visitors.

However, following a detailed risk assessment and the implementation of a number of measures, including those listed below, we are pleased to be able to start reopening more homes and fully recognise the positive impact that this will have for both residents and loved ones alike.

We have already begun to implement visiting in some homes and we can see from the picture above how much it means to Hartsholme House resident Mary as she welcomes her daughter to the home’s wall-to-wall screened and fresh air ventilated visitor room.

The criteria for reopening for visits are:

• The home must not be ‘in outbreak’, which is defined as having had two or more positive test results within the last 28 days.
• We have taken into account the recommendations of Public Health England and the Regional Directors of Public Health.
• The home must have a screened visitor room which can be accessed without going into any shared area of the home.
• The home must be able to support Lateral Flow Testing for visits – the ‘instant’ test, which takes just 30 minutes to produce a result. We have had positive results from our pilot across six of our homes and it is being used to regularly test colleagues in all homes. We would recommend that where possible visitors arrive in their cars as there is a 30-minute delay from taking the test to receiving the result.
• The home must have the staffing resource to be able to deep clean the visitor room after every visit and support the resident during the visit.

Each home will also determine how to set up the visiting arrangements as staffing levels must be able to support the additional measures now needed and this will be best determined on a local level. A colleague at your home will contact you directly to advise on visiting processes.

We very much hope that the care sector is moving towards a better spring and summer after a challenging winter. Your support has meant so much to our frontline and support teams in the last 11 months.

Dan Hayes 

Chief Executive

I am sure, like us, you have been reading and watching with concern as the new variant of COVID-19 takes hold across the country. It is spreading much more quickly than the previous strain as we know that it has a 50 to 70 per cent higher transmission rate.

Colleagues, residents, and their families have done a fantastic job in slowing the spread of the virus and have pulled together for the safety and wellbeing of all in our homes. However, we have seen a large increase of positive cases among both residents and colleagues across our homes, some of whom are symptomatic.

As of this morning we have seen a doubling in the number of homes that have cases since 7 December 2020. Homes with multiple positive tests recorded are not allowed to accept visitors due to Government regulation.

Vaccinations have been increasing across our homes and more than 1700 vaccinations have been given to colleagues and residents. This presents a clear path forward towards stopping the spread of the virus. GPs are actively contacting our homes to arrange vaccinations and we want to thank you for your help in supporting loved ones in securing consent for the vaccine. Seeing the positive way that so many of our residents have approached the vaccine – which you can see on our Facebook posts – has shown so much hope for the immediate future. Per the Government’s commitment, we expect to have the majority of residents and employees vaccinated by the middle of February

However, in the meantime responding to this current variant is putting a huge strain on our colleagues as any care home worker who records a positive result cannot return to work for 10 days. To ensure that we continue to be able to offer the best care for residents in the homes, in addition to those closed due to Government regulation we have reluctantly decided to suspend visiting to our other remaining homes. This means that 100% of our time and capacity is directed to providing loving care, activities and support to your loved one. This decision will be reviewed in two weeks.

We will, of course, continue to facilitate visits for residents receiving end of life care. Two individuals from the same household can visit at the same time. Family and loved ones from other households can also visit, but these visits must be on separate occasions and not mixing different households.

We will also enable all residents to have virtual visits and have invested in many more iPads to ensure that the frequency of these can be increased.

Please do understand that this decision has not been taken lightly and we have been committed to enabling visits to the best of our ability. However, our key focus must be caring for those in the homes and preventing this awful virus from spreading even further.

We would ask that you join us in continuing your support of our care staff through these unprecedented and challenging times. Please do access the COVID-19 vaccination as soon as it is available to you as this is a great path for increasing the safety of yourselves and your loved ones.

Every time we prevent infection, we potentially avoid the need for NHS care for a resident or colleague. In this moment our NHS colleagues are perhaps experiencing the most difficult time in the history of the service and we need to do all we can to lessen the burden on them.

We want to express our solidarity and respect for our fellow frontline heroes in hospitals, GP practices, and the community at this most difficult of times.

Visitor Charter

The vast majority of the visiting experiences have been welcomed and supportive to our residents, employees and family members however we have had a small minority of cases where our employees have not been treated with the respect they deserve especially at such a busy and challenging time.

We would like to politely remind all visitors of the importance to treat our employees and others with respect when visiting our homes/sites. We all work for the same outcome: the safety and good health of our residents and your loved ones.

All residents, employees and visitors have the right to be treated with respect and to feel safe and we have therefore introduced a Visitor Charter which can be found here.

We start 2021 with hope that vaccination and new ‘instant’ testing procedures will make a major difference in tackling this virus and returning to normal across our homes and wider society.

However, we also begin with a new national lockdown as announced by the Prime Minister on 4 January. With the rapid increase in infections in England and the knowledge that the new variant of COVID-19 has a 70 per cent higher transmission rate, we feel the decision is correct but understand it will lead to difficulties and upset for many.

The national lockdown guidance supersedes all previous advice regarding visiting procedures in the different Tiers and all homes now follow the same procedures.

Visits are now only able to take place in two main ways: within designated visitor rooms or garden pods and through ground floor windows. If a suitable visitor space is not currently available your home manager will contact you directly.

We will continue to facilitate internal visits for residents receiving end of life care. Two individuals from the same household can visit at the same time. Family and loved ones from other households can also visit, but these visits must be on separate occasions and not mixing different households.

Looking forward

Our vaccination programme has proceeded very well with more than 1,200 front line colleagues vaccinated and hundreds of residents joining them. The roll out of the new Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine will simplify this process as it is easier to store and transport, so we anticipate a huge increase in resident vaccinations throughout January.

Our pilot of Lateral Flow Testing is continuing. This is a rapid response test which aims to identify positive cases of COVID-19 within 30 minutes of the test been taken. The pilot study is being carried out at six of our homes and, if successful, we hope it will then allow us to enable more visits once the lockdown period has ended.

We understand the enormous benefit of visiting for the health and wellbeing of our residents and their family members and we will continue to do everything we can to enable these to continue. Our primary aim, however, remains to keep residents, colleagues and family members as safe as possible during this unprecedented global pandemic.

Visitor Charter

The vast majority of the visiting experiences have been welcomed and supportive to our residents, employees and family members however we have had a small minority of cases where our employees have not been treated with the respect they deserve especially at such a busy and challenging time.

We would like to politely remind all visitors of the importance to treat our employees and others with respect when visiting our homes/sites. We all work for the same outcome: the safety and good health of our residents and your loved ones.

All residents, employees and visitors have the right to be treated with respect and to feel safe and we have therefore introduced a Visitor Charter which can be found here.

Dan Hayes

Chief Executive

Following the discovery of the new variant of COVID-19 and the knowledge that it has a 70 per cent higher transmission rate, we are bringing in new guidance for visitors to keep our residents and colleagues as safe as possible.

We have put together a table which includes the new Tier 4 to outline all the visiting possibilities – it can be viewed at the bottom of this message or by clicking here to view in a higher resolution pdf format. Until we have rolled out Lateral Flow Testing (expected mid January) additional cleaning of our visitor rooms will be required between each visit as of 00.01am on 27 December. This will place extra pressures on colleagues and therefore reduce the number of visits which can be safely enabled in a day. Home Managers will determine the safe number of visits that can be accommodated each day.

We acknowledge that this will be disappointing news at this time but given higher transmission rate and that Government guidance is to stay at home wherever possible we must ensure that we protect your loved ones to the highest level possible. We will issue new guidance in the New Year which takes account of the new lateral flow tests.

Where a home is in Tier 4 or a visitor resides in Tier 4, and their loved one has been identified as in receipt of End of Life care, it has been agreed that two individuals from the same household can visit at the same time. Family and loved ones from other households can also visit, but these visits must be on separate occasions and not mixing different households.

Visitor Charter

The vast majority of the visiting experiences have been welcomed and supportive to our residents, employees and family members however we have had a small minority of cases where our employees have not been treated with the respect they deserve especially at such a busy and challenging time.

We would like to politely remind all visitors of the importance to treat our employees and others with respect when visiting our homes/sites. We all work for the same outcome: the safety and good health of our residents and your loved ones.

All residents, employees and visitors have the right to be treated with respect and to feel safe and we have therefore introduced a Visitor Charter which can be found here.

Kerry Dearden

Deputy Chief Executive

Like many of you we are saddened that the additional restrictions were needed to be brought in following the Prime Minister’s announcement on Saturday but given the latest news of the new variant we support prompt action that helps stop the spread of the virus.

None of our care homes are currently (as of 22 December) in Tier 4 regions but several are located very close to Tier 4 county boundaries. We must be mindful of the impact the new strain of COVID-19 could have and do all we can keep our residents, visitors and employees as safe as we possibly can.

Government guidance states: “If you live in Tier 4 you must not leave or be outside of your home or garden except where you have a ‘reasonable excuse’.”

Therefore, temporarily as we work through the implications of Tier 4 we will not be able to allow visitors who are living in a Tier 4 location to have a visit. We will continue to support virtual visits and all care homes have been supplied with iPads to make sure that can be achieved for as many residents as possible. As always there will be an exception for those residents in end of life care for 1 visitor if from a Tier 4 region.

We also share the disappointment of those living in Tier 4 who had hoped to host our residents on Christmas Day. Like you we have a duty of care to all our residents and employees and we can assure you that our homes will be ensuring that Christmas will be celebrated in our homes and a virtual visit will be supported instead.

We are currently trialling the effectiveness of Lateral Flow Testing in some of our homes. This is a rapid response test which aims to identify positive cases of COVID-19 within 30 minutes of the test been taken. The pilot study is being carried out at four of our homes and if successful we hope it will then allow us to enable more visits from and in Tier 3 and Tier 4 locations.

However, we must also manage expectations around what Lateral Flow Testing could mean for visitors to care homes.

As with any test it will not completely remove the risk of contracting or transmitting COVID-19.

A negative test result will be an additional safety measure and not be a replacement for the measures already in place such as the use of PPE and screened visitor rooms. 

Once the outcome of the pilot is understood we will update our visiting guidance although we do not expect it to lead to large changes.

While much of this news is disappointing, I find myself constantly buoyed by the vibrancy and resilience in our care homes. My colleagues have been incredible during these extremely challenging nine months and the support and understanding from our resident and their families and loved ones is a constant source of inspiration.

I would like to thank you all, to wish you a Merry Christmas and to assure you that everything done at The Orders of St John Care Trust is carried out for the safety and wellbeing of our residents and colleagues.

Kerry Dearden

OSJCT Deputy Chief Executive

I am sure that you have been reading or hearing about advances in the way that we can tackle this challenge of COVID-19. We have been proactively studying everything relating to these and adapting our processes to ensure that we can keep colleagues, residents and their loved ones as safe as possible.

Lateral Flow Testing

Lateral Flow Testing is a rapid response test which aims to identify positive cases of COVID-19 within 30 minutes of the test been taken. The Government has announced that all care homes will be supplied with Lateral Flow Testing kits by 18 December and we are currently carrying out a pilot study at four of our homes (Monkscroft Care Centre in Gloucestershire, and Willowcroft, Ashwood Care Centre and Athelstan House in Wiltshire).

We welcome the opportunity to pilot this new COVID-19 test but feel we must manage expectations around what it could mean for visitors to care homes.

- As with any test it will not completely remove the risk of contracting or transmitting COVID-19.

- A negative test result will be an additional safety measure and not be a replacement for the measures already in place such as the use of PPE and screened visitor rooms

- The Tier system and the guidance put in place (see details here) will not be replaced by the visitor testing

Some care home organisations and Local Authorities have already determined not to use Lateral Flow Testing due to concerns over reliability and we will continue to study the results of our pilot very closely and monitor the research and guidance as it becomes available.

We will update on the progress of this testing as soon as we can. From our pilot we will evaluate the capacity our homes need to be able to undertake the anticipated volume of testing and risk assessments to implement the guidance.

Vaccination

Colleagues at all locations across the country are securing their vaccinations and we are very pleased with the positivity with which our colleagues have approached this vital step in tackling the COVID-19 challenge.

Indeed, OSJCT’s swift work in accessing the vaccine was praised in an impromptu virtual visit by Government Minister for Care Helen Whately.

We are putting plans in place to ensure that resident vaccination goes ahead with equal efficiency once they become available and subject to the residents’ consent.

Current visiting

Nearly all homes now have a completed visitor room inside the home but, where this has not been possible, we have installed specific visiting pods within the grounds or have a risk assessment in place. There has been no change to the Tiers in regions that we operate since they were set last week.

We have assembled a table 'Visiting in Care Homes - Guidance' to make this advice as straightforward as we can, see below or click here to open in a new window.

Christmas visiting

Our exact processes for Christmas visiting will, to some extent, be informed by the outcomes of the above but we will update you on this as soon as we are able. OSJCT’s aim is to give our residents and their loved ones the best Christmas we can while keeping everyone as safe as possible.