Care Homes: Visits

(asked on 6th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative assessment he has made of the consistency of recommendations on visiting care homes in the Social Care Sector COVID-19 Support Taskforce: report on first phase of COVID-19 pandemic published on 18 September 2020 and the Adult social care: our COVID-19 winter plan 2020 to 2021.


Answered by
Helen Whately Portrait
Helen Whately
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 16th October 2020

Learning from the COVID-19 first wave is essential in building effective, ongoing contingency planning and resilience across the health and care system.

The Social Care COVID-19 Support Taskforce, set up and chaired by David Pearson (social care COVID-19 Lead for the National Health Service and past President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services), formed part of the Government’s overall commitment to the sector. The Taskforce concluded at the end of August, and their recommendations have shaped our approach to tackling COVID-19 in the adult social care sector and, in particular, the plans we have put in place for winter.

The Winter plan, was published on 18 September and builds on the work of the Taskforce and sets out the actions we will be taking at a national level; and the actions that every local area (local authorities and NHS partners) and every care provider must be taking. This has included considering the Taskforce recommendations in respect to visiting care homes and introducing a range of measures which will enable residents and their loved ones to have safe visits to care homes.

Reticulating Splines