The strict Level 5 restrictions imposed on the country’s nursing homes were eased today with one visit per person a week now allowed.
And there have been calls for those nominated visitors to be among the first to get a Covid vaccine.
Until today only window visits were permitted but from now on one family member or friend can call to see a resident for up to an hour.
It has also been revealed that residents can also have an extra visit during the Christmas period.
But if the country is forced to revert to Level 5 just one every two weeks will be allowed.
There is no requirement that the same person call each week but arrangements must be pre-planned.
In some circumstances longer visits will be allowed especially if the resident’s life is in danger.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) which set the new rules says visitors must continue to adhere to the basic public health measures as part of the efforts to prevent any virus outbreaks.
The chief executive of Nursing Homes Ireland said a nominated visitor for nursing home residents should receive a Covid-19 vaccine as soon as it becomes available.
Tadhg Daly told RTE’s Today with Claire Byrne said his organisation is engaged in a process to examine the vaccination of healthcare workers and will be advocating for a plan to get nursing home visitors vaccinated during the early rollout phase so that they can return to nursing homes on an ongoing and consistent basis.
He said: “The challenge now for us all is to get back to some form of normality and while the vaccine is a very welcome development the complexity around its rollout… I wouldn’t underestimate the challenge.
“We met with Ministers Donnelly and Butler (Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly and Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler) last week and we’re encouraged by the fact that residents and staff will be vaccinated at an early stage but we also believe that consideration at this time should be vaccinating visitors to ensure that we can get visitors back into nursing homes on an ongoing basis.”
Mr Daly said it makes sense for a nominated visitor to be vaccinated as it would ensure they would be free of Covid-19 going into the nursing homes.
He added: “It makes sense on a number of levels, obviously from the point of view of getting visitors into nursing homes but also logistically, nursing homes are located in communities right across the country and if there’s a vaccination programme ongoing for residents and staff it may make sense then to vaccinate nominated visitors for those residents concurrently.”Mr Daly said visitors to nursing home should be very conscious of their social contacts.
He also urged people to be ‘hyper vigilant’, adding that we can not return to the tragedy of the first wave of the pandemic when up to one thousand nursing home residents died.
Separately, the executive director of Sage Advocacy, the support group for vulnerable adults, described yesterday as very important for nursing home residents and their families who have made enormous sacrifices throughout the pandemic.
Sarah Lennon said families had been eagerly looking forward to the lifting of the restrictions but also highlighted the importance of visits being booked in advance.
She said that some families have complained of restrictions being applied such as visits being limited to 15 minutes, despite guidelines that say they should be an hour.
