NEW COVID-19 GUIDELINES for long-term residential care facilities allow for unrestricted access to be given to a nominated support person for a resident.

The HSE has published a new version of the “Covid-19: Normalising Access in Long Term Residential Care Facilities” guidance following the relaxation of most pandemic restrictions.

The new guidelines, which are to be implemented from 8 February, say that residents should be able to choose a support person who should usually have unrestricted access to them.

“Each resident should have the opportunity to identify one nominated support person. The nominated support person should normally have unrestricted access to the resident for most of the day,” the document outlines.

“If it is considered necessary to limit access in the morning or evening when staff and residents are occupied with getting up or preparing for bed, at a minimum the nominated support person should have access from at least mid-morning to late afternoon,” it says.

The nominated support person should comply with infection prevention and control measures that apply to visitors.

Access for the nominated support person should only be limited if they should be self-isolating, restricting their movements or otherwise pose an infection risk to staff or residents, or if there is a written recommendation from a public health or infection prevention and control practitioner to limit access for nominated support people “for a defined period in a specific context”

Care Champions, an advocacy group for families of nursing home residents, welcomed the announcement.

“Care Champions have been advocating for a care partner scheme for some time. We are glad that the new guidance has an essential nominated person and hope that guidance will be adhered to by all homes,” the group said.

The latest version of the guidance also removes a differentiation between care facilities with high and low levels of vaccine uptake due to high uptake being almost universal.

It removes the requirement for a vaccination certificate for visitors and allows visitors to visit residents in multi-occupancy rooms in their rooms.

Even in the event of a Covid-19 outbreak, a “minimum level” of visiting should be facilitated, and any limits on visitation during an outbreak should be reviewed twice a week.

CEO of Nursing Homes Ireland Tadhg Daly said: “We hope the easing of visitor restrictions will represent a hugely important milestone for residents and broader society as we look to move on from Covid-19.”

“Meaningful engagement with family and friends is vital to support the wellbeing and health of residents and the guidelines represent a move to a pre-Covid environment within our nursing homes,” Daly said.

“While outbreaks are still occurring, the vaccination rollout has greatly reduced the risk of the severe disease. The guidelines offer better scope for visits to be facilitated if Covid-positive cases are within a nursing home.

“We have engaged with the HPSC and HSE to support development of the guidelines and contact continues as we monitor the impact of the virus within our nursing homes and broader society.”