Dear client,

Happy New Year.

I am writing to share with you changes to our policy on mask wearing in OSJCT services including extra care housing schemes. Since the Government updated its guidance on mask wearing and outbreaks in adult social care (Mask and outbreak guidance updated in care settings - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), we have kept our policy under regular review. As cases of winter illnesses have declined since the beginning of the year, we can now confirm that under normal circumstances, the wearing of masks in OSJCT extra care housing schemes by employees will no longer be mandatory. If the scheme goes into an outbreak of any kind (this may be due to cases of flu or other infectious illnesses) our employees will wear resume universal mask wearing as part of our infection prevention and control protocols for the duration of the outbreak.  

We have made this decision after careful consideration, based on data on infection rates across our services and thorough risk assessments. We track infection rates among employees across all our services on a daily basis and should the risks change, we would be able to swiftly reintroduce mask wearing in some or all of our services.

Any employee, or visitor to the extra care housing scheme, who wishes to wear a mask is welcome to do so, and free masks will continue to be provided by OSJCT. In some circumstances, OSJCT carers and managers will also don PPE for example to provide personal care to clients or if a client has an infectious illness, such as Covid-19 or flu.

If you have any concerns about this change, or if there is anything else you wish to discuss, please contact your extra care housing scheme manager.

With best wishes,

Robert Black

OSJCT Care Quality Director