Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will relax the rules on the number of family visitors for relatives in residential care on compassionate grounds in circumstances where residents are approaching end of life.

We are aware that limiting visits in care homes has been difficult for many families and residents who want to see their loved ones. Our first priority is to prevent infections in care homes, and this means that visiting policy should still be restricted with alternatives sought wherever possible.

As set out in our guidance on visiting guidance for care homes, visiting policies will now be tailored to the individual care home, and will be based on a local dynamic risk-based approach. The guidance sets out how there may need to be different rules applied to different residents or categories of resident, taking into account tahe benefits to a person’s wellbeing by having a particular visitor or visitors. Specifically, the guidance confirms that any imposed visitor restrictions should have regard to exceptional circumstances such as end of life. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visiting-care-homes-during-coronavirus

This guidance will be updated as the risk posed by COVID-19 continues to change.