Matt Hancock’s new guidelines

For the last couple of hours I have been reeling from Matt Hancock’s announcement that “ Close Family should be allowed to say their final Goodbye’s”

End of Life care is the hardest part of our job, but one that all carers take with the upmost respect.  We have experienced the terribly sad situation when a resident has died without their loved one with them.  For this to happen is terribly upsetting for everyone involved.

This evening Matt Hancock has said close family members are able to see dying relatives “wherever possible”.  We have not yet seen the guidelines.

When a resident is provided with end of life care, and we follow end of life protocols end of life may come in a few hours, 8 hours, 72 hours or weeks.  What does Mr Hancock actually mean when he speaks about “dying”?
So where does this leave us?
Can I allow one family member in, two, three?
For just one visit?
What about the risks to other residents?
Who will provide the PPE (and most visitors are unlikely to be trained in donning and doffing PPE)  How long should visitors stay?
What about the other residents who see a visitor (the first visitor in over a month) and ask why their loved one can’t visit?

This is a terribly difficult subject, and what feels like a knee jerk reaction is not helpful.  As soon as the announcement was made staff were contacting me, nervous about the risk to residents and to them if we have visitors, for whatever reason.

We are currently Covid19 free and all our residents are healthy, happy and well.

I have given you and my staff my word that I will do all I can to keep ALL residents and staff safe,

I will be in touch again when we have more clarity.