Mar 2021
Latest update: 4 March
Latest update for family and friends.
The Orders of St John Care Trust is determined to extend visiting in our care homes as soon as it can.
The Government announced a change to visiting arrangements in care homes to allow close contact visits almost two weeks ago and set the date for this change as Monday 8 March. However, the guidance to which providers must adhere was not published until mid-afternoon on Thursday 4 March.
This has left those in the care home sector in the difficult position of needing to manage the expectations of all those looking forward to a visit with their loved one, without being able to make the plans necessary to allow the visits to commence.
We tried to anticipate what the guidance might state and prepare accordingly, and we will now work through the published guidance to ensure that our internal policies are in line. In the meantime, we are allowing bookable visits in services that are not considered to be in outbreak through the use of our visiting rooms, and outdoor spaces.
We want to get to the same place as you do in terms of allowing greater access and for loved ones to have truly meaningful contact. However, we also need to remember that these arrangements to allow access for our most vulnerable members of society are taking place when general society is discouraged from visiting in each other’s homes until three weeks later, and even then - only outdoors.
The risks are high, and the safety and wellbeing of our residents is our top priority. Therefore, we must have time to understand the guidance and adopt it safely.
We will provide an update once the Government guidance has been reviewed in full and we have been able to determine our protocols and guidance.
Please be assured we will continue to post to this page with any updates on this and will ensure you receive communication when the change to visits can go ahead.
In the meantime we ask you to bear with us and not to contact the homes for updates or to arrive at the home hoping to visit, unless it is a pre-booked visit in our designated visitor room/pod.