Care home residents will be able to be visited indoors by a
single named individual from the 8 March as part of the Prime
Minister’s roadmap to ease lockdown restrictions.
The scheme will allow a single visitor to hold hands indoors with
their relative or contact in a care home, and make repeat visits
under carefully designed conditions to keep residents, staff and
visitors safe.
Every resident will have the opportunity to name one individual,
who will be required to have a test beforehand, wear PPE during
the visit and avoid close contact.
Health and Social Care Secretary, said:
“I know how important visiting a loved one is and I’m pleased we
will soon be in a position for people to be carefully and safely
reunited with loved ones who live in care homes.
“This is just the first step to getting back to where we want to
be. We need to make sure we keep the infection rate down, to
allow greater visiting in a step by step way in the future.”
Restrictions on visits have been in place during national
lockdown to protect vulnerable residents. While coronavirus cases
remain high, the number of infections is falling – and the UK’s
vaccination programme has seen every care home resident offered a
jab, with more almost 17 million vaccinations carried out in
total.
Outdoor, pod and screen visits will be able to continue in line
with the published guidance which has been in place during
lockdown, meaning there will be chances for residents to see more
than just the one person they nominate.
The clinically led approach has been designed in partnership with
the Deputy Chief Medical Officers and Public Health England and
is the next step towards regular indoor visits resuming.
Minister for Care said:
“One of the hardest things during this pandemic has been seeing
families desperate to be reunited with their loved ones kept
apart and I absolutely want to bring them back together.
“Throughout this pandemic we have sought clinical guidance on how
visits can be conducted safely.
“We had to restrict the majority of visiting when the new variant
was discovered but we have done all we can to enable visits to
continue in some form. That includes providing funding towards
costs of screens and PPE.
“As we begin to open up we will move step by step to increase
visits while remembering we are still in the grip of a global
pandemic.”
All visitors will receive a lateral flow test and be required to
follow all infection prevention and control measures.
These measures, based on the science, represent a balance between
the risk of infections and the importance of visiting for the
physical and mental wellbeing of residents and their families.
Professor Deborah Sturdy, chief nurse for adult social care,
said:
“I know how much people want to visit, hug and kiss their loved
ones but doing so can put lives at risk so we would ask people to
continue to follow the rules.
“This is a first step towards resuming indoor visits and we all
hope to be able to take further steps in the future.
“I am pleased as a result of so many people following the rules
we are in a position to increase visits and hope this is just the
start.”
Close contact care will be restricted to visitors who provide
assistance - such as help dressing, eating or washing - which is
essential to the immediate health and wellbeing of a resident.
Existing guidance already enables these visits under exceptional
circumstances.
We are providing extra support for these carers by providing them
with the same regular PCR testing regime and PPE arrangements as
care home workers to further reduce the risk of infection to
themselves and those for whom they provide vital care.
All care home providers not experiencing an outbreak will be
asked to follow the updated guidance and continue to work
together with families and local professionals to ensure visits
are possible while continuing to limit the risk of transmission
of Covid-19.
The government will continue to provide free tests and PPE to
support the scheme and has already distributed £1.1billion from
the infection control fund, an additional £149million to support
rapid testing and visits and £120million to increase staffing.
Notes to Editors
- The person nominated will remain unchanged while this step is
in place.
- There will be discretion for care homes to allow more than
one named visitor in exceptional circumstances.
- Home testing of single named visitors will not be allowed
during the start of the scheme but will be reviewed.
- Hand holding is allowed but named visitors will be asked to
avoid any closer contact.
- Vaccination is not mandatory and will not be a condition of
visiting.
- In terms of visiting out the rules and guidance will remain
unchanged at this stage.
- Visiting will be suspended during local outbreaks in
individual homes
- Further guidance will be published before the launch of the
single named visitor scheme on 8 March
