Responding to an Age UK report on care home visiting and for in-person visiting to become the default option for the rest of the pandemic, Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said:
“Councils and care providers want to do all they can to ensure people can visit their loved ones in care homes and other care settings, safely and securely, without risk of passing on the virus.
“Families, residents and care staff all need to have full confidence in arrangements for testing, knowing that the risks and benefits are fully understood, alongside continued safety measures including use of PPE, social distancing and hand hygiene.
“It is important for government to be open and transparent about the reliability and limitations of lateral flow tests, and the ability of care homes to implement these fully and safely as part of opening up visiting, in time for Christmas.
“We want to work with government and providers to plan and resource these changes in a fair and reasoned way, so that families have the best possible chance to see their relatives over Christmas, but within realistic expectations of what is possible.”
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