Will the Minister consider whether long COVID hospital patients could be treated in the same way as care home residents, with regard to visiting arrangements?
On 30 November the latest guidance on hospital visiting during the coronavirus outbreak was issued. The guidance aims to reduce footfall in healthcare settings in order to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 and ensure the health and safety of patents, staff and visitors themselves. It is designed to be flexible and person focussed rather than providing advice on different services or specific conditions such as long COVID.
The guidance already recognises that visiting, with agreement from the ward sister/charge nurse/nurse in charge, can be facilitated for people with long term conditions which necessitate increased length of stay in a healthcare setting or people with specific care and well-being needs that the visitor/carer actively contributes to, for example, feeding, supporting communication needs and supporting rehabilitation. The guidance recognises the health and well-being of these patients may benefit from seeing appropriate visitors, as their length of stay is over many weeks. This should be documented in their care plan.
The guidance also contains an ‘exceptionality’ paragraph and health boards and trusts have the discretion to agree visiting requests where they are satisfied the benefits to the wellbeing of the patient outweighs the infection control risks and any other practical difficulties in facilitating access.
In addition, the Supplementary Statement which was published on 30 November and which supports the Hospital Visiting Guidance states how health providers can depart from the guidance in response to rising or falling levels of Covid-19 transmission in their localities.
People who need assistance in order to attend healthcare settings for treatment, for example due to mobility or cognitive difficulties, may nominate someone as an essential support assistant to accompany them to appointments.