Care home visits could resume within weeks but it must be done 'cautiously' and 'carefully'

Health minister Helen Whately has hinted family and loved ones may be able to resume face to face visits with residents in care homes within weeks, but clarity still remains over "PPE and what safety measures" are required.

Ms Whately also suggested people would not have to wait for their loved ones to receive their second dose of the COVID vaccine before seeing them.

Appearing on BBC Breakfast, Ms Whately said: "Visiting will be taken step by step and we will, for instance, when people come back to more normal visiting, still be asking people to use PPE and follow those kinds of procedures.

“I really want us to be able to open up cautiously and carefully. To enable residents some contact with family members, because I know it's just so, so important."

"There is still a way to go to see, whether the vaccine stops people from being infectious and how it plays through.”

She added: "I don't want to have to wait for the second vaccination dose. Clearly, that's really important to give care home residents maximum protection.”

Age UK and Mike Padgham, chair of the Independent Care Group welcomed the minister's announcement but urged care homes to "proceed with extreme caution".

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK said: "We were so pleased this morning to hear the care minister's determination to make sure care home visits happen sooner than later, especially as we know not seeing their loved ones is simply breaking the hearts of hundreds of thousands of older people and their families and friends."

Mr Padgham said: “Residents and their families have been apart for too long and we want to see all visiting resume as soon as is safely possible. People have been amazingly patient, and we thank them for that.

“But before we open the doors, we have to be sure we can do so safely. We need proper guidance on whether it is safe to allow proper visits when our residents might only have had one vaccine dose.

“And we need clarity on what form this visiting can take, whether it can include physical contact, or still include PPE and what safety measures will still need to be in place."

He added: “But we have also to remember that these are very vulnerable people and COVID-19 has claimed the lives of more than 28,000 of them in the past year, so we must proceed with extreme caution.”

'Many residents will have waited more than a year to see and touch their loved ones'

This announcement comes after the National Care Forum (NCF) joined with leading charities and family campaigners and signed a joint statement calling on the government to resume care home visits by 1 March 2021.

The NCF along with Age UK, Relatives and Residents Association, John’s Campaign, Rights for Residents and the Registered Nursing Homes Association are appealing for urgent action to re-open care homes for all residents and their families and loved ones.

The statement reads: ‘If we delay any longer, many residents will have waited more than a year to see and touch their loved ones. This is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue. The absence of meaningful indoor visiting fails to recognise the fundamental role that relationships and love play in a resident's wellbeing.’

Vic Rayner, executive director of the National Care Forum said: “Many care homes have continued to offer visiting throughout the pandemic, balancing risks with the need to retain ongoing family contact. However, all care homes must now be better supported to enable meaningful visiting and the NCF together with a number of organisations are calling on the government to ensure that by 1 March 2021, essential caregivers can, once again, visit their loved ones in care homes."

This statement comes after the government announced they will reveal the roadmap out of lockdown on 22 February.

Ms Rayner said: "If dates have been set for the opening of bars and pubs, restaurants, schools and other industries, then the same effort and resolve must be given to opening up care homes to reunite families."

“This must extend to all people receiving care and support in different care settings, so they too can look forward to being reunited with their families and friends. Providers have worked incredibly hard to keep visiting as available as possible through the strictures of ever-changing guidance, and this is a moment where we pull out all the stops to make visiting happen.”