Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what further steps his Department is taking to ensure that care home (a) staff and (b) residents are protected from covid-19 infection transmitted by visitors.
We have issued guidance on care home visiting during the pandemic, which is available at the following link:
To ensure both care home staff and residents are protected from COVID-19 infection, we expect care homes to ask visitors to take steps including booking appointments, taking a test on the day of their visit, wearing a mask throughout and washing their hands thoroughly on arrival. Care homes are also asked to develop a dynamic risk assessment for how visits are managed, including consideration of infection prevention and control measures and ventilation.