Family Visiting Arrangements at all Homes From 1 August 2020

Dear all,

Once again, we would like to thank you for your continued support and encouragement during this COVID-19 pandemic. This has been a real boost to the residents and our colleagues and is much appreciated.

Six weeks ago we were pleased to be able to open our homes to you albeit in a very different way to usual. Our residents have loved to be able to see you in person once again and it has been so rewarding for us to be able to facilitate it. Thank you for following our ‘rules’ as this has helped us to organise and manage these visits successfully.

On 1 August (16 August for Wales), the government are pausing shielding unless the transmission of COVID-19 in the community starts to rise significantly. This means that those of you who have been shielding can choose to visit our homes. Alongside this, as the lockdown in much of the UK continues to be relaxed by the government, we feel able to change our visiting criteria slightly to enable more of you to visit our residents at once. As always, it is essential that we maintain the safety of our residents and colleagues and you.

We have updated our criteria (shown below) that our homes must meet. The design and size of each of our homes is very different and this affects the way that visiting can be safely managed. It also may mean that the residents are unable to access the grounds of the home as normal during the set visiting days. Balancing this alongside person-centred care is challenging but we will endeavour to do our best. Due to these differing challenges, the final three visiting criteria will vary amongst the homes. At the end of this letter there are details about the specific arrangements in the home where your relative lives.

Updated visiting criteria relevant to ALL homes…

• Those who have been told to isolate by the NHS Test and Trace service must not visit.
• Please do not arrive more than 10 minutes before your appointment time and you must remain in/by your car until instructed by a member of staff.
• If arriving later than the appointment time the length of appointment cannot be extended so as to ensure a 30 minute turnaround of the area.
• Any items for the residents must be left in the visiting ‘pod’ when you leave – please do not bring fresh foods, only shop bought and sealed foods will be accepted.

Visiting criteria variable across homes…

• Each location will allow a maximum of four visitors at any time. This will be dependent on the size of the pod and the suitability of the route from the car park to the pod. We apologies but not all locations will be able to accommodate increased numbers.
• All visitors should be from the same household or coronavirus ‘bubble’.
• Each location will facilitate the frequency of visits based on demand and resource. This will be within the range of one visit per fortnight to a maximum of two visits per week for each resident or couple.
• Each location will facilitate a time duration for each visit based on demand and resource. The maximum time for a visit is 60 minutes.

As before, if at any time we feel that the safety of residents, colleagues and visitors is being compromised we reserve the right to withdraw or amend these arrangements without notice. Reasons for doing so may include (list not exhaustive):

• Government advice changing
• A confirmed case or outbreak of COVID-19 in the home - we will need to stop visiting for 14 days
• A suspected case of COVID-19 in the home - we will need to pause visiting whilst testing is done
• The ‘R’ number increasing nationwide or in specific areas
• The health and safety and infection control measures not being stringent enough or being followed by visitors

In the event of any of the above, unfortunately booked visits will be cancelled, not postponed.

Whilst we acknowledge that this form of visiting is far from ideal, it is currently the only way that we feel it is possible to implement it safely for all those concerned. There is a significant cost to Christadelphian Care Homes in setting up these visits both in the initial cost of creating the pods and in the ongoing significant investment of extra staff to safely facilitate the visits. Therefore, it will be under constant review by the trustees.

Once again, thank you for your support and prayers. We will continue to update you over the coming weeks. If any of you would like to provide your email address so that we can keep in contact with you directly please send this to .

Of course all of us pray that the return of the Lord Jesus is very soon – “even so come Lord Jesus”.

Yours sincerely,

Jeremy Brown | Managing Director – Christadelphian Care Homes