News updates
COVID-19: Care home visits with hand-holding to be allowed as first step on PM's roadmap out of lockdown
Hugging and kissing will not be allowed, as the government looks to start easing lockdown restrictions.
Care home residents in England will be able to hold hands with one named visitor starting from 8 March, the government has announced.
Those inside facilities will be able to have one person who can regularly come to see them - and while hand-holding will be allowed, hugging and kissing will not. Read more
Restart essential care home visits in England, relatives demand
Campaigners urge government to allow visits, saying it is a matter of ‘fundamental human rights’
Relatives of people isolated in care homes are demanding a restart to essential visiting by 1 March declaring it “a matter of safety, common decency, and fundamental human rights”.
But care operators and the government believe it may be too soon, with the risk of infection still high and second vaccination doses yet to be administered to many vulnerable elderly people. Read more
Can care homes force their staff to have the Covid vaccine?
In the wake of up to a fifth of care workers refusing the Covid vaccine and some care providers saying they will make it a requirement for all new employees to have the jab, carehome.co.uk asked legal experts whether it is a breach of human rights and what the risks are of making it mandatory.
The National Care Association revealed that some care workers are refusing the vaccine for ‘cultural reasons’ while others are doing it on health grounds or are worried it has not been tested on enough people.Read more