The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Health secretary announces a ‘cautious’ return to care home visits.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has said the government will take a ‘cautious, phased return’ and establishments will have to prove they are 28-days clear
The health secretary has announced a “cautious, phased return” to the resumption of care home visits from next month.
Jeane Freeman said “significant progress” has been made in tackling the virus in care homes, allowing residents to receive visitors outdoors from July 3.
However, in the guidance issued yesterday, a care home will only be able to permit outdoor visiting if they have had no Covid-19 cases or have been Covid-19 free for 28 days.
The move allow access to a single nominated visitor, with face coverings worn for the majority of the visit.
Currently, only essential visits, including those involving end of life care, are permitted.
Speaking during the Scottish Government’s daily coronavirus briefing, the health secretary said “necessary restrictions” had been introduced during the pandemic, which had been “both difficult and distressing for people living in care homes, for their loved ones and their staff”.
She added:“It’s crucial that we do this incrementally and proceed with caution to protect residents and staff.”
In a letter to registered care home providers, Ms Freeman said the 28-day period from the last symptoms of any resident is twice the extreme incubation period for the virus and given the possibility of asymptomatic carriage, is the safest estimate of when a home could be declared “outbreak free”.
The next stage would be followed by indoor visits of one key visitor and garden visits with multiple visitors and a relaxation of measures around communal activity with appropriate measures still being observed.
The final stage would be controlled indoor and outdoor visiting.
The health secretary also confirmed that she hopes to give more details next week on the phased reintroduction of visiting for those staying in hospital, or other healthcare settings.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also used her statement to parliament to announce there had been two Covid-19related deaths recorded in Scotland in the past 24 hours, taking the total death toll under to 2,482. There were five new positive cases, taking the total to 18,196.
Latest figures show there were eight new cases in care homes as of June 24 .
Further data shows a total of 330 of adult care homes in Scotland had a current case of suspected Covid-19.
Scotland’s care homes have taken the full force of the Covid-19 outbreak. As the virus spread it is clear serious mistakes were made in protecting the most vulnerable in society from the storm brewing around and amidst them.
That coronavirus-related deaths in care homes in Scotland currently outstrip those which have occurred in a hospital setting is evidence of the scale of that failure.
Lack of access to PPE and the transfer of patients from hospital back into homes without Covid-testing are believed to have strongly influenced the death toll within the care community, but virus transmission as family members made visits to loved ones is also believed to be a factor.
Some care operators took the initiative – unpopular in some quarters at the time – and shut down all non-essential visits. It was a stance that was to be adopted across the sector as lockdown restrictions were imposed and one that helped slow the virus spread and, ultimately, saved lives.
But it all added to the isolation of elderly residents, who have had to live for the past three months without seeing or physically interacting with relatives and friends.
That has been an anxiety-laden cross to bear for families and the prospect of an easing of those restrictions to allow visits once more is welcome.
But it is a transition that must be carefully managed and with safety utmost in mind at all times. No-one wants to see a repetition of the past weeks and months.