Welsh care homes to trial rapid coronavirus tests in bid to 'reunite families'
Care homes in Wales are going to be given access to rapid coronavirus tests as part of a UK-wide pilot to help "reunite families."
Temporary visiting pods are also going to be given to care homes across Wales to accommodate visitors over Christmas and the winter months.
15 Welsh care homes will be given new lateral flow devices to test visitors. These tests give a result within 20 minutes and are same devices being used in the Merthyr Tydfil mass testing programme.
The pilot will start next Monday and there could be a wider roll-out to more care homes from 14 December.
Speaking at the Welsh Government's coronavirus briefing on Monday, Vaughan Gething said: "These tests will give home managers extra confidence and reassurance that visits can go ahead without coronavirus also coming into the care home.
"These tests do not replace all the other measures, such as infection control, social distancing and hand hygiene, which are so important to preventing the spread of coronavirus, especially in care homes."
Alongside this, the Welsh government announced a £3m project to cover the installation of 100 meeting pods, with 30 set up and ready to be used before Christmas.
The semi-permanent units will be available for a six month period, whilst the government and its partners seek out longer term solutions.
Health Minister Vaughan Gething said he was confident the measures would allow 'meaningful visits' to take place.
He said: "We all know how difficult recent months have been for people living in care homes and their loved ones, however ensuring the safety of our most vulnerable has always been paramount.
"We recognise both the distress and sadness that has been experienced since March, but also the desire from care homes to facilitate visits before and during Christmas as well as throughout the winter.
"Having engaged with key stakeholders, we are confident these units are a way to enable meaningful visits to take place."
The project includes £1m for care homes that would prefer to adapt their own visiting arrangements.
Since August, government guidance has advised on the reintroduction of indoor visits where possible with a designated visitor.
Mr Gething added that the project will be assessed to judge if there is potential to keep it going for longer.
He said: "The pilot scheme will help us to understand whether visiting pods are an effective and practical way of supporting meaningful visits.
"We will use this learning to determine whether we should consider commissioning a bespoke Wales-based solution in future if the course of the pandemic means this is required.”
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