Care Home Reunions Begin Again as Lockdown Eases


Residents at the Wimbledon Beaumont home getting to meet family members

A resident shows delight at meeting her daughter again
A resident shows delight at meeting her daughter again

The newly relaxed regulations governing visits to care homes have allowed residents to see family members once again including those of the Wimbledon Beaumont care home.

One single named visitor is now allowed to visit each resident in their bedroom after guidance was issued by the Government on March 4.

Barchester Healthcare, who run Wimbledon Beaumont care home, has reintroduced visits with strict protocols in place requiring all visitors to have a negative Lateral Flow Device test result before being allowed into the home, and infection control measures and social distancing in place for every visit, with hand holding allowed but not recommended.

Despite the need for testing and social distancing, it was still welcome news for so many residents and their family members to be able to meet in their own bedroom.

Brenda, who is a resident at the home said, “The staff here have been so wonderful supporting me to use video calls and creating the visiting suite so I could keep in touch with my family, but nothing beats seeing my daughter in the comfort of my bedroom. This was a special moment, and I was over the moon.”

Gayane Selimyan, General Manager at the home, said, “This is the first cautious step towards having a buzz of visitors in the home again. It was wonderful to see how happy it made the residents and their relatives. We have a great booking system in place to ensure the visits are well organised, and visitors are doing a great job of following the safety measures to keep everyone as safe as possible. For those that are not able to come inside the home we are pleased to be able to continue to offer visits in our visiting suites or outdoors when the weather allows”

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March 13, 2021