Aberdeen excluded from care home visiting expansion
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Care home residents will be able to receive more outdoor visitors from Monday, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has confirmed.
However rules for those within Aberdeen City will not change it has been confirmed.
From this date care home residents will be able to have up to three outdoor visitors from no more than two households provided their home meets strict criteria, with infection control measures remaining in place.
Since July 3 care homes which have met this criteria have been able to allow residents to meet with one designated visitor outdoors.
A care home will only be able to permit visiting if they have been Covid-free throughout the pandemic or if all affected residents have fully recovered and no residents or staff have had symptoms for 28 days and the home is actively participating in weekly staff testing.
Visitors will need to wear face coverings throughout their visit and physical distancing and hand and cough hygiene will need to be adhered to at all times.
Care home providers have also been asked to develop plans on how they can safely allow one designated indoor visitor for residents within their homes.
These plans must be submitted by August 24 and will be signed off by the relevant health board’s Director of Public Health once they are satisfied with the plan and the home meets all the criteria for indoor visiting.
Essential visits, including those involving end of life care, and visits for residents who are experiencing distress have been permitted throughout the pandemic and should continue to be supported by care homes.
Ms Freeman said: “This has been, and continues to be, a very challenging time for care home residents, their families and staff.
"Care homes are first and foremost people’s homes and we are committed to reintroducing measures that allow residents to connect with their family and friends.
"But this must be done safely and with precautions.
“Progress has been made since we reintroduced one designated outdoor visitor earlier this month, and I am pleased the clinical advice is now that care homes that meet the strict criteria can now allow residents to have up to three outdoor visitors from no more than two households.
“It is important that we continue to monitor this situation and that all changes within care homes happen incrementally and with real caution to protect residents and staff.
“At this point in time clinical advice is not to restart indoor care home visiting, but to ensure the necessary plans are in place to move to this as soon as safe to do so.
"This is being continually monitored and I hope we can give a further update on this in the coming weeks.
“We are also working to identify the necessary steps needed to restart communal activity within care homes and to reintroduce external outings by residents.
"This is a complex piece of work and we will of course include key partners in this.”
Care home visiting in Aberdeen City will not change at this point.
Local advice and measures for Aberdeen City is available online, including information on care home visiting in the area.
