North Tyneside care home welcomes unlimited visitors for residents as Covid restrictions ease

Care home residents in North Tyneside have finally been able to spend quality time with their loved ones as the government lifts further Covid restrictions across England.

Residents at Eothen Homes in Whitley Bay will now be able to welcome visitors into their rooms, after almost two years of having to meet either outside, in specified visitor rooms or pods.

Vera Elliott had her nephew Robin Duckett visit her room for the first time, after months of meeting him outside or in the home’s visitor booth.

The 89-year-old said: “It hasn’t been an easy time for people in care homes. It has been a very lonely time for me, and for other residents.

“I’m glad restrictions have lifted – being able to see friends and family is very important and now we can all do more of that.”

Dawn Esslemont, manager at Eothen Homes said: “It’s a very encouraging step for our residents, not just having their named contact visitors but opening to all of their friends and family and people they have missed for the last two years.

“It has been a tough time and residents have had to deal with a lot. Even when they’ve been going out they’ve been having to isolate when they get back or have tests every other day.

“Covid hasn’t gone away it still going to be main priority to keep the residents safe. We are still waiting for full guidance to come to let us know what expected to do but still going to be screening visitors to keep our residents safe.”

From Monday (31 January), those living in care homes will be able to receive unlimited visits from family and friends, meaning they will be able to reunite with loved ones they may not have seen for months.

Mike Padgham, who represents independent care providers throughout North Yorkshire, says the majority of care homes want visitors back, but ask for patience while they get measures in place.

Mike Padgham from Independent Care Providers said: "It's been tremendously difficult during the pandemic over the last two and a half years.

"But we welcome those changes because relatives and those in care homes deserve better than they've had so we have to work hard to make sure we can facilitate it as easily as possible for everybody."

Listen to the latest episode of ITV News' podcast, Coronavirus: What You Need To Know:

The announcement made last week means there are no nationally-set restrictions, but individual homes will continue to be able to set their own visiting policies.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid acknowledged care homes have “a lot of discretion” over the rules they set, urging providers to do “everything they can to allow as many visitors as they can”.

He said: “If a care home needs to act differently because of an outbreak, then that is understandable as long as they are doing everything they can to allow the maximum number of visitors.”

Full guidance setting out further details on the changes is yet to be published.

Other changes include care homes only having to follow outbreak management rules for 14 rather than 28 days, and self-isolation periods will be cut from 14 days to 10 days for those who test positive – with further reductions if they test negative on days five and six.

Isolation periods for those in care following an emergency hospital visit are also being reduced from 14 to 10 days.

And staff will be asked to start using lateral flow tests before their shifts instead of weekly PCR tests from February 16.

Care home residents in England were previously only allowed three visitors and one essential care worker each.