As you will no doubt have seen, the government has recently announced that some lockdown measures, related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, are starting to be eased. After more than two months of restrictions, this is a move that we are encouraged by with measured optimism. Therefore, we wanted to let you know how these moves will impact the processes and restrictions that we currently have in place in our home.
Without government guidance to date, the Directors have stated that we would need to be at Level 2 within the government’s coronavirus alert levels, of which there are 5 levels. Until recently we have been operating at Level 4 which was eased to 3 last week and the upcoming government restriction easings.
With this in mind, our existing processes and restrictions for visitors will remain in place for now. This is a decision in line with the stance taken by many other care home groups. These processes we have established, with your support, have enabled us to look after all of our residents and staff to the best of our abilities. Relaxing these measures too quickly could inadvertently result in all of our collective hard work and sacrifices being undone.
There are other factors to consider as well, for instance wanting to provide visitors with ample PPE so that they are protected, manging social distanced visits and ensuring extra cleaning and disinfecting of the visitation areas. At this moment in time, all of these additional steps would be resource heavy and increase the pressure on colleagues, which is something we are hesitant to do, considering everything they are already doing to make sure that all of our residents’ safety and wellbeing is cared for.
Our Directors will continue to monitor all developments and unless there is a major shift across the country beforehand, will be reviewing our position on visits again in the week commencing 22 July.
I’m pleased to say that we have had some positive weeks recently. Testing kits have started to arrive and it is great to see staff and residents returning negative results – we have been declared COVID-free for nearly 6 weeks now. These results mean we are now able to start relaxing some of our social distancing measures, specifically distancing within rooms. This will go a long way to easing any feelings of isolation while maintaining safe distancing protocols.
The negative results also make it easier for residents to have increased light physical exercise and movement around the home in line with their individual care plans. Our approach to facilitating this will be similar to those taking place in schools, with small groups of residents enjoying activities one at a time and rotating time outdoors.
Please do continue to take advantage of the technology available in our homes to stay in touch with your loved ones. I know Natalie and John have been supporting the video calls in line with their daily routines and it is great that we have these options available to help keep relationships with loved ones strong during this challenging time.
If you have any questions about our plans to manage coronavirus or if indeed you have any suggestions on how to manage visit to the home, please do not hesitate to contact Natalie by phone.
We remain ever grateful for your continued support and understanding while we all work through this difficult and unsettling time together.