Full guidance on visiting arrangements in care homes for the period of national restrictions is available here.
This guidance applies for the period of the national restrictions beginning 5 November 2020. This supplements the legal position set out in the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 4) Regulations 2020.
Receiving visitors is an important part of care home life. Maintaining some opportunities for visiting to take place is critical for supporting the health and wellbeing of residents and their relationships with friends and family.
This guidance sets out measures that can be put in place to provide COVID-secure opportunities for families to meet using visiting arrangements such as substantial screens, visiting pods, and window visits.
Care home providers, families and local professionals should work together to find the right balance between the benefits of visiting on wellbeing and quality of life, and the risk of transmission of COVID-19 to social care staff and vulnerable residents as we enter national restrictions.
We will review our overall approach to care home visiting as national restrictions come to an end. We are continuing to work to increase our capacity to test visitors, and exploring the options that testing will provide to enable further visits.
We have provided additional funding for providers to help them facilitate some visits through our Infection Control Fund.
Each care home is unique in its physical layout, surrounding environment and facilities. Residents vary in their needs, health and current wellbeing. Providers are best placed to decide how to deliver visits in their own setting in a way that meets the needs of their residents individually and collectively. The individual resident, their views, their needs and wellbeing are an important focus of decisions around visiting.
These decisions should be reached through working with the resident, their family and friends and the provider and other relevant professionals such as social workers or clinicians where appropriate.
All decisions should be taken in light of general legal obligations, such as those under the Equality Act 2010 and Human Rights Act 1998, as applicable. Providers must also have regard to the DHSC ethical framework for adult social care.
We recognise how important visiting is as residents approach the end of their lives. As has been the case throughout the pandemic response visits in exceptional circumstances such as end of life should continue in all circumstances.
This guidance supersedes previous guidance on visiting policies for care homes.
