Residential and nursing care

Local guidance

Updated care home visiting guidance: Guidance on care home visiting has been updated to reflect the following:

  • there is now no limit on visitor numbers 
  • following a normal visit out, residents do not need to test or self-isolate
  • following an emergency hospital stay or other high-risk visit out, residents should self-isolate for 10 days, with testing arrangements to end isolation sooner.

Full guidance available here - Guidance on care home visiting - GOV.UK(www.gov.uk)

Care Homes and COVID-19 Impacts Letter 31.12.2021

Please find attached letter containing important information from Dr Andrew Furber, Regional Director of Public Health.

This letter outlines the move to 'standard variant outbreak management’ of 14 days restrictions after the most recent confirmed case be recommended for the majority of care homes as standard across the region'.

Other key messages in the letter (page 2 onwards) are for the following areas. Please do review and share this information where applicable with your care home community: 

  • Outbreak criteria
  • Admission to Care Homes During Outbreaks
  • Visiting during outbreaks
  • Staff member receives a positive result
  • Vaccination and Boosters

Changes to the Management of confirmed and suspected Omicron outbreaks in care homes

23 December 2021

Today we have been made aware of the latest guidance from UKHSA relating to the management of confirmed and suspected Omicron outbreaks in care homes. Due to the increasing incidence of Omicron in the North West the guidance has been reviewed and all COVID-19 cases are to be considered as Omicron. As such all outbreak restrictions will be in place for 28 days and whole home testing should be undertaken on day 29.

All existing and new outbreaks will adhere to this arrangement.

Risk assessment framework for discharging residents back to care homes with outbreaks

This local guidance applies to professionals visiting care settings and covers guidance regarding testing, PPE, IPC and other considerations to enable safe and risk-assessed visiting within care settings.

A letter from the Lancashire Resilience Forum (LRF).

This document regarding COVID-19 discharges into care homes has been signed off by the Lancashire Resilience Forum; this note and flowchart has been created for care homes in order to simplify and clarify existing national guidance on discharge into care homes (Discharge into care homes: designated settings, which was published in December and updated on 13th January), particularly in relation to people who have tested positive for COVID-19.

The purpose of this local policy is to highlight the relevant key messages and guidance for care home visitors which came into effect from 17th May 2021, it has been updated to reflect the updated national visiting out of care home guidance (27th May), which advises that private cars and taxis are acceptable to use for visits out of the care home.

See also the national guidance for visits out of care homes.

The Local Resilience Forum is mindful of the need to protect our most vulnerable adult citizens from the COVID-19 virus and has taken decisive action to develop and support a range of measures to mitigate this risk since the onset of this pandemic. It understands how vital it is for those in receipt of care and especially those people in care settings, such as nursing or residential homes, to have contact with their family and ideally for this to be face to face not just virtual.

The LFR will continue to work with the care sector and organisations such as Alzheimer's UK and Age UK to establish an agreed system of measures which support and enable safe and suitable visiting arrangements to ensure contact is retained and continues during this winter period and irrespective of how rates may vary across this period between districts and across county.

Financial support

You can find further information in the financial advice and support section.

  • Adult social care infection control fund - the Department of Health and Social Care has issued a circular to local councils which provides further information on the grant conditions, reporting and financial management requirements. Below is a copy of the LCC template letter that all care homes will receive in the coming days, about our local grant arrangements.
    Infection Control Letter (DOCX 24.8 KB)
  • The auxiliary workforce - To support both your organisation and the individual on placement, Lancashire County Council has produced the following Guidance on Shadowing Placements. Thank you to all of you who have been in touch so far. We do require as many additional placements as possible so if your care home has the capacity to offer face to face shadowing activity, please do get in touch: contractmgmt.care@lancashire.gov.uk.
  • New £600 million Infection Control Fund

National guidance

Supported living services during coronavirus (COVID-19)

Guidance for providers of supported living settings (published 6 August 2020)

This guidance sets out:

  • key messages to assist with planning and preparation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic so that local procedures can be put in place to minimise risk and provide the best possible support to people in supported living settings;
  • safe systems of working including, social distancing, respiratory and hand hygiene and enhanced cleaning;
  • how infection prevention and control (IPC) and personal protective equipment (PPE) applies to supported living settings