The potential of a local lockdown could cause significant challenges in children's homes across the city, a leading expert has warned today.
The majority of children in care in the city live in homes with two or three beds where social distancing is all but impossible.
A pool of volunteers has been set up to help deal with any future localised outbreak, and social care bosses will be heavily reliant on test and trace systems working effectively, according to a director of children's services at the city council.
In a briefing to Nottingham City Councillors on Monday, July 27, Clive Chambers, Head of Service for Children in Care, said the number of safeguarding referrals was lower than would normally be expected, but this was still set against a record number of children in care - a pattern reflected nationally.
Speaking at the Corporate Parenting Board during a virtual meeting today, he said: “In terms of residential care, there was a particular impact.
“We had a number of people who were shielding or who were living with people who were shielding.
For staff who work in residential care, social distancing is next to impossible, so we saw a particular impact there.
“We had staff who volunteered to work in residential care and we redeployed a number of staff, because we had to prioritise looking after those children.
“We see staff returning to work now, but that’s not to say we’re out of the woods.
“Local lockdown measures could have a very particular impact on residential care.
“Most of our children’s homes are two-bed homes, we’ve got a couple of three and one four-bed home, and they’re all in family homes.
“There’s no way you can care for those children in a way that’s socially distanced.
“So with local lockdown we see a real possibility for there to be a particular impact on children' residential care.
“If someone on a particular shift develops symptoms, then track and trace is going to quickly impact on the others they’ve worked with, and quite probably people who have worked on shifts surrounding them.
“So we’ve set up a specific task group to look at the impact of local lockdown on residential care.
“We’ve got some fairly low-tech solutions, a pool of people who have indicated they are willing to go and work in residential care should they be required.
“In one of our children's homes we did have a suspected case of Covid right near the beginning of the lockdown process, in fact before testing was up and running properly.
“It was a really challenging situation but we were incredibly well supported by public health colleagues who met with us and the team and put in place a whole series of measures to keep everybody safe.
“We kept families informed, and I think it was a really well managed response that gives me confidence that should we be impacted by local lockdowns we will manage that equally effectively.
Mr Chambers was also asked about the number of safeguarding referrals being lower than they normally would be.
These referrals are often made by NHS staff and teachers, and with less face to face contact across both healthcare and education in recent months, there have been concerns that new safeguarding cases could be missed.
He said: “Although as with other authorities we’ve seen a reduction in demand, I’m less certain that we’ve seen a reduction in demand for those children whose needs are greatest.
“The reason I say that is because the children in care numbers are at a higher point than they’ve ever been.
“So although we’ve seen a reduced amount, that’s in the context of a higher number of children in care and a comparatively high number of children subject to a protection plan.
“Last week - the week before the summer holiday - is traditionally one of our busiest weeks, and although we weren’t quite back to normal levels of demand, we weren’t far from it.”
