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Nursing home visits are allowed starting today when the new guidelines from the Center for Health Protection Surveillance go into effect.
Until now, visits to nursing homes were only allowed between Levels 3 and 5 of the Plan to live with Covid-19.
However, starting today, one visit of one person per week in Levels 3 and 4 must be facilitated for residents who wish to receive visits.
If the country returns to level 5, it would be limited to one visit by one person every two weeks.
Residents can also have an additional visit during the Christmas period.
Under the new rules, it is recommended that visits be limited to one hour.
There is no requirement that they be with the same person each week, but they must be planned in advance.
Longer visitation times and more visitors may be allowed under certain circumstances, such as end of life.
The HPSC says that visitors must continue to adhere to basic public health measures as part of efforts to prevent any virus outbreak.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Nursing Homes Ireland has said that a visitor nominated for nursing home residents should receive a Covid-19 vaccine during the initial vaccine launch.
Tadhg Daly said he is involved in a process to examine vaccination of healthcare workers and will advocate for a plan to vaccinate nursing home visitors during the early implementation phase so they can return to nursing homes in a manner continuous and constant.
She told RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne show that this is a practical measure and is not about jumping the queue.
Mr. Daly said that visitors to a nursing home need to be very aware of their social contacts.
He urged people to be ‘hyper-vigilant’, adding that we cannot go back to the tragedy of the first wave of the pandemic.
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Earlier, the Executive Director of Sage Advocacy said that today is an important day for nursing home residents and their families who have made enormous sacrifices during the pandemic.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Sarah Lennon said families are anxiously awaiting today and no one is taking any of this lightly.
He said it is important that resident visits are booked in advance and that there is sufficient contact tracing, but added that it is also important that families are housed as much as possible.
He said some families have complained about the application of restrictions, such as visits being limited to 15 minutes, despite guidelines that say they should be one hour, while others have said visits to the window and outdoors to allow for face-to-face visits. .
Ms. Lennon said that Sage understands that nursing homes and their staff have been through a lot, but urged them to honor the spirit of the new guidelines.
He said that the Minister for the Elderly has assured everyone that nursing homes have had a significant investment to make them as safe as possible.
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