East Sussex care homes close to visitors

An email sent out by East Sussex County Council in the last few hours says that following government announcements about the introduction of Tier 4 restrictions and the new variant of coronavirus, the authority is introducing new restrictions to visiting arrangements for all care homes and that from yesterday (Tuesday December 22) until January 7 2021 all care homes should restrict visitors.

A spokesperson said care homes must close to visitors apart from exceptional circumstances such as End of Life family visits; continue with alternative methods adopted to maintain contact such as video calls and consider if they can safely facilitate limited outdoor visits only during this time.

The use of ‘visiting pods’, ‘external rooms’ or anything that could be viewed as ‘indoors’ is not recommended.

Communicate these changes to the visitor policy to your residents, families and other visitors

A spokesperson at the council said, “We acknowledge this local advice is stricter than the current guidance for visitors to care homes in Tier 2. This is to reflect the local pace of spread and our concern of the current situation. This situation will continue to be kept under review.”