On the 1st April 2022, the Care Home Visiting Guidance for England was withdrawn. The information in that guidance has now been superseded by other guidance called COVID-19 supplement to the infection prevention and control resource for adult social care. This guidance applied from the 4 April 2022. Under the heading Visiting Arrangements in Care Homes, the guidance states:
'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). Where visiting is modified during an outbreak of COVID-19 or where a care home resident has confirmed COVID-19, every resident should be enabled to continue to receive one visitor inside the care home. End-of-life visiting should always be supported, and testing is not required in any circumstances for an end-of-life visit.'
The guidance goes on to state that visiting professionals are also still able to visit in line with the infection control guidance such as the use of PPE and testing.
Our readers will also find the additional document Summary of changes to COVID-19 guidance for adult social care providers useful. This contains a table with a side by side analysis of the changes between the old and new guidance.
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