Coronavirus (COVID-19): Safeguards when visiting an adult care home
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This guide explains what to expect when visiting a loved one and how you can help keep everyone safe.
Before your visit
Talk to the care home before your visit and arrange a suitable time. This will let them plan for the number of visitors they’ll have that day.
Follow any guidance the care home gives you about pets, gifts, snacks, and anything else you want to bring in.
Check with the care home whether they would prefer you to take a coronavirus test at home on the day of your visit or at the care home.
If you have coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms
Do not go to a care home if you feel at all unwell or have any symptoms of coronavirus.
If you’re an older adult, coronavirus symptoms can be a little different. So it’s important to stay at home if you feel at all unwell.
What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
The most common symptoms are:
- a new continuous cough
- fever/high temperature (37.8C or greater)
- loss of, or change in, sense of smell or taste (anosmia)
A new continuous cough is where you:
- have a new cough that’s lasted for an hour
- have had 3 or more episodes of coughing in 24 hours
- are coughing more than usual
A high temperature is feeling hot to the touch on your chest or back (you don’t need to measure your temperature). You may feel warm, cold or shivery.
Indoor visiting checklist
These steps are a summary of the safety measures you can take when visiting care homes during the pandemic.
- Contact the care home to confirm timings and arrangements.
- Ask the care home whether you should organise your own coronavirus test to take on the day of the visit (in your own home) or whether you should take a test at the care home.
- You’ll only be allowed to visit if you are feeling well and do not have any coronavirus symptoms.
- You’ll be asked some health questions to ensure that you do not have symptoms of coronavirus.
- On arrival, you’ll be asked to take a coronavirus test or confirm you have a negative test result if you have taken the test in your own home before the visit.
- You should wear the mask provided by the care home. Staff will complete the visitor’s book.
- You’ll be asked to wash your hands and/or apply alcohol based hand gel regularly.
- Staff will provide an update on the resident’s wellbeing and any instructions to support safe visiting.
- Staff will clean visiting areas between visits.
- You are encouraged to maintain at least a 1 metre safe distance where possible and wear a face mask. It’s ok to hold hands for parts of your time together.
- When you're leaving the care home staff will tell you how to safely remove and dispose of your mask and any PPE and how to clean your hands.
- If you’re going home to someone vulnerable, you might want to consider going straight home, washing clothes separate to other laundry and taking a shower or bath.
Download the indoor visiting checklist (PDF, 497K KB)
SAFE HOMES
Everyone plays an important part in opening up safely. This SAFE HOMES advice outlines how:
- family and friends can help keep everyone safe
- the care home staff will help people visiting to keep their loved ones safe
This was developed with input from:
- care home residents’ relatives
- care homes
- clinical and professional staff
How family and friends visiting can help
SAFE stands for:
- Staying at home if you are unwell
- Arranging your visit in advance (and any changes)
- Face coverings – wearing these and any other PPE required by the care home
- Engaging with the care home – you have a shared responsibility to follow advice and keep family and others safe, and take the test when offered it
How the care home will help
HOMES stands for:
- Helping you to feel supported when visiting (for example being informed, having a safe and welcoming space, appropriate equipment, and providing on site coronavirus testing)
- Open to your concerns and needs
- Managing time with your loved ones in a safe manner
- Essential visits arranged in partnership with you and your family member
- Showing you how to visit safely
Safeguards during your visit
The care home team can help you with the infection prevention control measures you’ll have to follow during your visit.
Safety advice
To keep everyone safe, when you arrive at the care home you should listen carefully to advice from staff about:
- cleaning your hands (with soap or alcohol hand rub)
- putting on and taking off a mask
- any personal protective equipment (PPE) you’re asked to wear
Wearing a mask
When you arrive, the care home will provide you with a face mask. You should keep your mask on during your indoor visit, as well as when travelling to and from the visiting area. Wearing a mask is not necessary for outdoor visits.
Do
- ensure the mask covers your mouth, nose and chin
- remove the mask from behind your ears (touching ties/loops only)
- discard the mask in the bin
- avoid touching or readjusting the mask once you’ve put it on
Don't
- do not remove the mask to cough or sneeze
- do not touch the front of the mask or readjust it
- do not wear the mask under your chin, around your neck or over an ear
- do not remove the mask to speak into your phone
Everyone visiting a care home should follow the advice on wearing a mask, unless you’re exempt.
Speak to the care home staff if you’re concerned a mask might make communicating with your loved one difficult.
Cleaning your hands
Wash your hands thoroughly or use hand sanitiser when you enter the care home or outside visiting space.
How to wash your hands
Steps 3 to 8 should take at least 15 seconds.
- Wet hands with water.
- Apply enough soap to cover all hand surfaces.
- Rub hands palm to palm.
- Right palm over the back of the other hand with interlaced fingers and vice versa.
- Palm to palm with fingers interlaced.
- Backs of fingers to opposing palms with fingers interlocked.
- Rotational rubbing of left thumb clasped in right palm and vice versa.
- Rotational rubbing, backwards and forwards with clasped fingers of right hand in left palm and vice versa.
- Rinse hands with water.
- Dry thoroughly with tower.
- Use elbow to turn off tap.
- And your hands are safe.
If you have a skin complaint, speak to your GP for advice.
The best way to wash your hands infographic
How to use hand sanitiser
- Take a single application of gel.
- Rub hands palm to palm.
- Rub palm over the back of hand interlacing fingers.
- Rub palm to palm interlacing fingers.
- Rub back of fingers to opposing palms with fingers interlocked.
- Rotational rubbing of thumbs.
- Fingertips cleaning palms.
- Allow hands to dry naturally.
Physical distance
Maintain physical distance of at least 1 metre, apart from times when touch is valuable to the resident and visitor. It’s okay to hold hands for some of your time together.
Closer contact
To support safe touch and closer contact, make sure you maintain good hand hygiene.
You can also consider if your loved one might be able to wear a mask.
Personal protective equipment (PPE)
Wear any PPE advised and provided by the care home. For example, you may be asked to wear additional PPE if you’re providing personal and direct care with your loved one.
The care home staff will show you the correct way to put on and take off your mask and other PPE.
Working together with the care home team
You might feel nervous about care home visiting, so it’s important that you and the care home communicate as much as possible.
Care home residents and their loved ones have a right to know:
- the reasons that visiting decisions have been made
- why visiting arrangements might be different in different care homes
Care homes can play a part in supporting residents and their loved ones by:
- telling them about changes as quickly as possible
- giving clear reasons for decisions
If you have any concerns about your loved one or questions about visiting, each care home will have a key person you can talk to. This is often the care home manager.
Keeping everyone safe
Work with the care home team to help protect yourself, your loved one, other residents and staff. You can do this by:
- staying at home if you feel unwell or have symptoms of coronavirus
- following safety advice
- listening to all guidance carefully
- trying to fit in with the timetable offered by the care home
- taking time to read infection prevention and control measures in the care home
- carrying your own hand sanitiser if you can
- removing hand and wrist jewellery
- being a role model to others by following the safety measures advised by the care home – even if you see others who are not
- touching as little as possible, unless it’s part of the interaction with your loved one
- respecting care home staff
Every care home will have different arrangements, depending on staffing levels and routines. The time for every interaction will be scheduled to be as safe as possible during these times.
By following this advice, you’re helping to protect against coronavirus and providing support to care homes.
