From all of us at Somerville house, we would like to begin by thanking everyone for their patience during this difficult time. The decision to place restrictions on visiting the home was not an easy one, however it was an essential one to enable us to protect our staff and residents from the threat of coronavirus.
As the government begins to ease lock-down, we have been considering ways in which we could re-open the home to visitors. With the threat of transmission still very much a reality, we are considering the following
- All visits will be strictly by appointment only. We will contact you to arrange a convenient time to come in. It is important that all visitors keep to their allocated times including length of visit. You will receive an e-mail with your appointment date and time. To enable us to control visits and maximise safety, you will need to produce the e-mail when you visit. Staff will be instructed to turn visitors away without this confirmation of visit. Visits can only be arranged by the manager and can not be changed unless it is confirmed by the manager.
- There will be a restriction of only two visits per day. By this we mean two different residents per day can receive only ONE visitor each per day. We will issue ONE morning visit and ONE afternoon visit. This will enable us to clean between visits and maintain infection control.
- Visitors will be required to complete a short COVID questionnaire upon arrival. Visits can be cancelled if criteria is not met. Visitors will need to have their temperature taken on arrival and recorded. Any temperature that is >37.8 deg C or above will result in your visit being cancelled and a recommendation to follow the self isolation guidelines. Visitors will be required to wear the necessary PPE. This will be provided to you when you arrive.
- We are sourcing screens that we can use in the garden to ensure safe visiting, especially when the weather is nice.
- We are also sourcing social distancing screens to be used indoors should garden visits not be appropriate.
We will continue to monitor our staff and service users. Should any begin to show symptoms. We will have no other option but to re-introduce total lock-down.
We have maintained a COVID free status throughout the pandemic and I am sure you would agree that we wish that to continue. I hope that by working together we can all ensure that it does.
Should you have any further questions with regard to the introduction of visits, please do not hesitate to contact me.
When the time is right and we are ready to introduce the new visiting policy, we will be in touch to arrange a date and time. We will work our way around the care home to ensure everybody receives a visit.
Once again, many thanks for your patience and understanding from all the team at Somerville House.
JUST TO BE CLEAR
- WE WILL CONTACT YOU TO ARRANGE A VISIT, SO PLEASE BE PATIENT – WE WILL GET TO YOU
- VISITS ARE BY STRICTLY PRE-ARRANGED APPOINTMENT.
- WHEN YOU ARRIVE, PLEASE WAIT TO BE ACCOMPANIED BY A MEMBER OF STAFF.