24th December Update

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a healthy & safe New Year. With the latest announcements from the government we have had to update our visiting policy. Please see below for more details.

Visits:

With the deterioration of the COVID-19 situation across the country and the new variant spreading rapidly, we urgently need to change our visiting policy. The end of this terrible period is within reach with the government promising that all care home residents will have been offered the vaccine by the end of January. With the end in sight, we have made the decision to suspend visits from the 27^th December until residents have been offered the vaccine and lockdown has ended. Window visits will continue to be allowed and there will be an exception for visitors of residents on palliative care. The manager will keep you updated and let you know once dates have been booked in for each dose of the vaccine.

We hope you understand that we need to be proactive regarding this virus and make decisions quickly depending on the changing situation. We ask that you respect the rules that are being put into place as the staff are working so hard to keep the residents safe and well. We will keep you updated with any further developments and please do ask the manager if you have any questions. We hope to have more positive news soon.

New Admissions or New Staff Members:

We are pleased to say that new admissions are being accepted around the group and that new staff are still being recruited. Rest assured we are doing everything we can to keep the virus at bay in the care homes and any new admissions or new members of staff members are tested before entering the building. New residents will be subject to a short isolation period on admission. New staff are training in handling Coronavirus as well as Infection Control in their first few weeks.

10th December Update

We are pleased to say that visits have resumed in the homes now that lockdown 2.0 is over. The festive period is a time to see family and loved ones and we do not want anyone to miss out on this. The type of visit will vary in the different care homes due to the difference in facilities and the virus levels per region. We are using the government’s tier system to guide us around the type of visits we allow. Please see below:

Tier 1 – if the home is in a Tier 1 region we are offering indoor, socially distant visits in our COVID-secure visitor area with the use of our new protective screens.

Tier 2 – if the home is in a Tier 2 region we would like to offer doorway visits with the protective screen in place, window visits and socially distant garden visits (weather permitting). As so many areas are currently in Tier 2, indoor visits in our COVID-secure area with the protective screen are at the discretion of the manager of the home.

Tier 3 –  if the home is in a Tier 3 region we will be closing the home to visitors. However closed window visits will be permitted. We also encourage video and phone calls to keep in contact with your loved ones.

Please note that if you are in a higher tier than the home then you must abide by the rules of your own tier. If there is a positive test or an outbreak within the home (staff or resident), we will need to return to lockdown or follow guidance from Public Health England. Indoor visits will continue for residents who are on palliative care, with visitors taking the necessary precautions. All visits must be booked in advance with the manager so we can arrange for your loved one to be ready for you. We will need to be able to adapt this guidance depending on how the virus progresses so please note that the above is subject to change.

Your visits are so important to our residents and their mental health and we would really like them to restart as soon as it is safe to do so. We appreciate your cooperation with this and hope you understand our reasons behind the restriction of visits and our duty of care to both residents and staff. Thank you for the part you are playing in keeping them safe.

We are encouraged about the positive news regarding the vaccines that will  be rolled out soon, giving priority to care homes. These will enable us to relax restrictions considerably and so we are keeping our fingers firmly crossed that they continue to make progress on this.

New Admissions or New Staff Members:

We are pleased to say that new admissions are being accepted around the group and that new staff are still being recruited. Rest assured we are doing everything we can to keep the virus at bay in the care homes and any new admissions or new members of staff members are tested before entering the building. New residents may be subject to a short isolation period on admission. New staff are training in handling Coronavirus as well as Infection Control in their first few weeks.

10th November update:

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Buckland Care Homes have restricted visitors to enable us to effectively shield our residents and keep them safe. We know how extremely difficult it has been for residents and relatives to not see their loved ones over the past few months and we thank you all for your understanding on this matter. We really do think it has played a huge part in keeping people safe. We wanted to update you on a few key issues.

Testing & PPE:

We are now being provided with large scale testing kits to enable us to test and re-test staff and residents regularly allowing us to react quickly and minimising the risk of an outbreak. We have ample PPE from a private source available for staff, residents and visitors to use if required.

New Admissions or New Staff Members:

Rest assured we are doing everything we can to keep the virus at bay in the care homes and any new admissions or new members of staff members are tested before entering the building. New staff are training in handling Coronavirus as well as Infection Control in their first few weeks.

Visits:

Between lockdowns, we were able to allow socially distanced visits depending on the facilities at each home. During this November lockdown and with the advice of several councils we have stopped visits with the exception of window visits in order to protect our residents in the second wave of the pandemic. Indoor visits will be encouraged for residents who are ‘end of life’, with visitors taking the necessary precautions. We would appreciate your cooperation with this and hope you understand that the reasons behind the restriction of visits is to ensure the safety of both residents and staff. Window visits must be booked in advance with the manager so we can arrange for your loved one to be ready for you. Socially distanced visits will be able to resume when the lockdown ends, unless the local councils advise otherwise. We very much look forward to welcoming you into our care homes again.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Buckland Care Team