During the 2020/21 financial year Covid Outbreak Management Fund (COMF) funding has been utilised to increase the capacity of the community IPC Service. This additional funding included resourcing for additional posts to support care homes in improving infection prevention and control (IPC) standards and their response to outbreaks of COVID-19.

This enabled each care home to have a link IPC Project Nurse. Having a link IPC Project Nurse has enabled easy access to support via one key person. The IPC Project Nurses have enabled a robust communication channel between care homes and quickly developed strong relationships with each home allocated to them. They have provided face to face and virtual support dependent upon allocated levels within the improvement model which has been reviewed every 4 weeks and support tailored to meet each individual care home needs.

It is proposed that during the 2021/22 financial year additional COMF funding is used to continue this IPC support to care homes through investment in 3 WTE IPC Project Nurses and x1 WTE Project & Business Lead.