Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Methodist Homes' care home visitor policy.

On 1 December, we published updated online only guidance to enable more meaningful indoor visits to take place for care home residents across all tiers. This is enabled by providing testing to visitors, which will be available before Christmas. It is a matter for care providers to make decisions about their visiting policy, based on the national guidance.

The guidance enables care home providers, families and local professionals to work together to find the right balance between the benefits of visiting on wellbeing and quality of life, and the risk of transmission of COVID-19 to vulnerable residents and social care staff.

When developing this policy, we have engaged with a range of stakeholders from across the sector including the Methodist Home Association.