Hi everyone
I’m hoping this email finds you all well.
Thank you for your patience from one update to the next. There are a few recent updates and events that we wish to share with you.
After speaking with the CQC inspector and Shropshire Public Health, we have decided to review and amend our visiting arrangements at the home.
As you are all aware, at present, we offer 4 visiting options:
- The lobby where no mask or LFT tests are required.
- The conservatory option where masks and LFTs are required.
- Room visits for 1 visitor at a time with LFT and mask.
- Taking residents away from the home, where we trust you are facilitating the visit in the safest possible way.
Both residents and staff are happy with the current options and the way the process is working.
As you will all be aware, we have actively encouraged visiting in the least restrictive way and have been in regular contact with the local GPs and Public Health England to ensure we achieve the minimum number of full lockdowns, which we believe has achieved maximum flexibility and safety for everyone.
We would hope that if any family members had any concerns about the options provided, they would speak about it with us so that we are given the opportunity to explain and justify our actions.
As a result, we believe that we have adopted a very open and transparent relationship with all our residents and their families.
Sadly and surprisingly, we have been alerted by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) today that a photograph of one of our residents has been uploaded onto a social media platform, presumably by a family member or friend, highlighting a “perceived” blanket ban on visiting at the home.
Nothing could be further from the truth, and we would ask you to relay to all family members who may have visited over the last few weeks to explain the various visiting options that have and continue to be provided at the home as there appears to be a misunderstanding of the visiting options available.
In order to achieve further clarity on this matter, I have attached the latest guidance for you all to peruse:
Visiting arrangements in care homes
Access inside the care home
Contact with relatives and friends is fundamental to care home residents’ health and wellbeing, and visiting should be encouraged.
There should not normally be any restrictions to visits into or out of the care home.
The right to private and family life is a human right protected in law (Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights). In the event of an outbreak, each resident should be able to have one visitor at a time inside the care home.
This visitor does not need to be a family member and could be a volunteer or befriender. It is important that any visitor follows the IPC processes put in place by the care home, such as practising hand hygiene and wearing appropriate PPE. Please see the section on outbreak handling for further details on flexibility in visiting arrangements during outbreaks, such as for end-of-life visits.
Visitors should not enter the care home if they are feeling unwell, even if they have tested negative for COVID-19, are fully vaccinated and have received their booster. Transmissible viruses such as flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and norovirus can be just as dangerous to care home residents as COVID-19. If visitors have any symptoms that suggest other transmissible viruses and infections, such as cough, high temperature, diarrhoea, or vomiting, they should avoid the care home until at least 5 days after they feel better.
Precautions for visitors
Visitors should be encouraged to wear a face mask when visiting a care home, particularly when moving through the home. Individual approaches may be needed as the wearing of face masks may cause distress to some residents. In circumstances where wearing a face mask causes distress to a resident, face masks may be removed when the visit is not in a communal area of the care home.
Removal of the mask in non-communal areas may also be considered following a risk assessment if it hinders communication or if the visitor is eating or drinking. However, other mitigations should be considered, including limiting close contact, increased ventilation (while maintaining a comfortable temperature) and transparent face masks. For more information on transparent face masks, please see the section above on face masks.
Some residents may need support with personal care from a visitor with whom they have a close relationship. This may include activities such as supporting someone with washing, bathing, or cleaning themselves, getting dressed or going to the toilet. Visitors who are providing personal care should have a negative COVID-19 lateral flow test result from a lateral flow device before entering a care home unless medically exempt.
Care homes are being provided with tests to support this. If these visitors attend once or twice a week, they should only test on that day (testing can be completed at home or on-site). If they visit more than twice a week, they should test a maximum of twice weekly, 3 to 4 days apart.
Visitors providing personal care should show proof of their negative test results prior to entry. This may be an email or text reporting the result, a date-stamped photo of the test cartridge, or any other proof. If they are not able to produce a negative test, they may be asked to reschedule. Care homes do not need to retain records of proof.
In addition to negative test results, care homes should ask all visitors to wear face masks, in addition to other PPE if they are providing personal care, to ensure visits can happen safely. This should be based on individual assessments, considering any distress caused to residents by the use of PPE or detrimental impact on communication.
Children under the age of 11, who are visiting a care home, may choose whether to wear face masks. However, they should be encouraged to follow the IPC guidelines, such as practising hand hygiene.
Care home residents will no longer be asked to isolate following high-risk visits out of the care home (including following emergency hospital stays) and will not be asked to take a test following a visit out.
The above was extracted from the current guidance: COVID-19 supplement to the infection prevention and control resource for adult social care – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The guidance is still encouraging the testing and wearing of face masks/shields, but it isn’t mandatory. However, we hope you agree that if no face masks are being worn, then the risk to yourself, the resident and our staff increases greatly.
Booster Vaccination
With regard to the 5th booster, the GP has been in touch to advise that in the next month, they should be holding another resident’s clinic. All residents will be offered the vaccine.
Activities
Activities have still been taking place daily. However, no programme has been circulated as residents were changing their minds and becoming distressed when a pre-printed activities sheet identified might have identified bingo only to find that just 1 resident wanted to do this.
At the same time, a number of residents may have expressed a wish to carry out another activity such as exercise to music as an example. For this reason, we have tried not to be too prescriptive in activities planning to meet most residents’ needs on a given day.
Tom the Singer was in the home last week, and we have arranged short trips away from the home for those who wish to join in. We have planned a trip to the river and lunch at the squirrel, but the residents will be asked on the day to allow us to consider the weather and determine their interests.
In closing, can I thank you all for your support and understanding as ever, and please get in touch with either myself, Vince, or a member of staff if you have any concerns.
Kindest Regards
Lindsay, Vince and all of Team Hendra x