People living in care homes will be able to have visits from family and friends by Christmas if the visitors test negative for Covid-19, the government has said.
More than a million coronavirus tests will be sent to care homes over the next month to allow safe indoor visits. Visits will be allowed across all tiers of coronavirus restrictions.
It comes as the Sedgemoor and the Burnham-On-Sea area entered Tier 2 today (Wednesday).
Health secretary Matt Hancock says the move across England’s care homes is possible due to “unprecedented strides” in testing technology and capacity.
Strict restrictions have been placed on visits to care homes during the last eight months because of the pandemic.
In new guidance, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) says the “default position” is now that visits should be enabled to go ahead in all tiers – unless there is an outbreak in the care home.
It adds that hand holding and hugging may be possible if other infection control measures are followed.
It stresses the importance of visitors minimising contact as much as possible and wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) to help protect their loved ones.
Care homes will manage the number of visits that take place, which must be arranged in advance, with visitors urged to be mindful of the additional workload for the care home. Each care home is responsible for setting the visiting policy in that home, it says.
The Somerset Public Health guidance is as follows: “We unfortunately had to pause visits whilst we reviewed several significant outbreaks in care settings, and the data that identified that now over 20% of Covid-19 cases in Somerset can be linked to a care home.”
“We have worked with Public Health colleagues to pull together the following guidance to support a phased return to family visitation. From Wednesday 02/12/2020, visits can be undertaken within the national Tier Two Guidelines in the following circumstances:
- Visits may take place where COVID-secure arrangements such as substantial screens and visiting pods have been provided.
- Window visits may also be undertaken.
- Whilst outdoor or airtight visits are permitted within Tier Two, when available the rollout of rapid testing will enable indoor visits to be undertaken.
“Care Homes should ensure that they have risk assessments in place to meet the new requirements. As soon as we have further information concerning the provision of Lateral Flow (Rapid) Testing we will of course share this with you.”
