North Yorkshire County Council has told care homes to stop regular visitors during October.
The county council’s director of health and adult services, Richard Webb, has written to care providers today to advise that routine visiting to care homes should cease from October 1 for a month after which the situation will be reviewed.
Families and friends will still be able to visit loved ones who are at the end of their lives and essential visits by NHS and social care practitioners will still take place as long as national rules around hand-washing, face masks, PPE, distancing and other requirements are followed.
Richard Webb, North Yorkshire County Council, said:
We must thank our care providers across North Yorkshire for the huge amount of work they have undertaken and the dedication they have shown to protect our care home residents and staff during the pandemic and, in recent months, when care homes have been able to open up to visitors again. We know how much these visits mean to residents and families and how important they are to people’s mental and physical well-being.
We are seeing infection rates rising across the county, including household and community transmission. Whilst we are orking hard to contain and manage outbreaks, including within the care sector, the overall rates within the community are worrying.
We are making this recommendation with great regret. However, it is important that we follow Public Health advice and act now as cases and hospital admissions increase.
The County Council is advising homes to bring the restrictions into effect from Thursday, 1 October to give homes time to prepare residents.
