The Government relaxed the restrictions on visiting care home residents on Wednesday, July 22.

The general guidance was for ‘a single constant visitor’, meaning that residents can now receive regular visits, but preferably from the same person each time.

However, all decisions relating to visits are ultimately made by the care home providers themselves, based on advice from their local director of public health.

In the Sidmouth and Ottery area, the care homes the Herald spoke to were all allowing socially-distanced visits, with masks, hand sanitisation and PPE, but with different guidelines, according to their circumstances and those of their residents.

Doveleigh Care runs three residential homes: Arcot House in Sidmouth, Dove Court in Seaton and Doveridge in Colyton.

Managing director Keith Mills said all three homes would start welcoming visitors from next week (Monday, August 3), following the Government and public health guidance.

Visits will take place in outdoor areas, weather permitting, and with additional Covid-19 precautions if they had to take place indoors.

Only one visitor is permitted, and it must be the same person each time. All visits have to be booked in advance.

Residents and visitors meet with a table between them so that they cannot touch, and visits are restricted to 20 minutes, with a five or 10 minute break between visits.

Sidmouth Nursing Home is allowing visits in the garden from one relative at a time, restricted to one in the morning and one in the afternoon, with all visits by appointment only.

But if two people wanted to visit at the same time, this could be arranged, provided that strict PPE and social distancing measures are observed.

In the case of end-of-life care, visitors can come into the resident’s room, again with strict Covid-19 precautions in place.

The King’s Manor home in Ottery is run by Maria Mallaband Homes, which has its own policy on visitors.

It has been allowing residents one 30-minute visit per week by one person; no-one else can visit in the same week, but a different person can come in a different week. Visits are booked in advance and limited to 30 minutes, with full PPE and two-metre distancing in place.

The Government guidance on care home visits can be found at www.gov.uk

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visiting-care-homes-during-coronavirus/update-on-policies-for-visiting-arrangements-in-care-homes