Visiting is an essential aspect of life in a care facility. Visiting is also important for family and friends to keep in touch and maintain long-term relationships with their loved ones and contribute to their support and care.
The government’s advice on how to encourage safe visiting is outlined in this document:
- Each resident of Care Homes Hemel Hempstead will name up to two guests who will be allowed to visit regularly (and will be able to visit together or separately as preferred). Before each visit, these visitors should be screened using rapid lateral flow checks. They must wear the required personal protective equipment (PPE) and meet all other infection prevention measures during their visit. Physical interaction between visitors and residents is discouraged. Visitors and residents may wish to shake hands, but any physical contact increases the risk of transmission. As a result, kissing or other forms of immediate physical contact should be avoided.
- Residents with higher care needs may opt to appoint an essential caregiver in addition to their two named guests.
- Other friends or family members can continue to visit by arrangements such as outdoor visiting, rooms with substantial displays, visiting pods, or behind walls.
Care home visits should be encouraged whenever it is safe to do so – as long as it is done following this guideline and in an atmosphere set up to handle risks. All visitors have an important role in keeping their loved ones healthy by adhering to the policies outlined in this guide and the practical arrangements made by care homes.
The possibility of COVID-19 transmission is still present when people from the community are welcomed into care homes. These risks, however, can be handled and mitigated, and they should be weighed against the value of visiting and the benefits it provides to residents and their families in care homes. Each care facility is distinct in terms of its physical environment and amenities and the needs and desires of its residents.
As a result, care home administrators are in the best position to formulate strategies to safeguard that the visits drawn in this supervision are approved out in the most efficient method possible for separate inhabitants, their loved ones and care home staff. When designing realistic plans or advice to bring this guidance into effect, care home administrators should feel free to use their discretion. This will ensure that visiting goes smoothly and safely for everyone in the care home. Visiting is just as critical for people who live in assisted living and other types of care facilities.
This advice does not extend explicitly to those environments; the diversity of those settings and the needs of those who live there mean that it would not be appropriate in all situations. Managers of assisted living and extra care facilities, on the other hand, can find the advice useful in promoting healthy visiting in the facilities they oversee in Care Homes Hemel Hempstead.
Additional rapid lateral flow testing will be offered for visitors in assisted living and extra care settings where workers are currently qualified for testing and will continue to receive visitors by creating a support bubble.