Guild Care is safely admitting residents into its care homes during the pandemic

With thanks to the incredible staff and support from local hospitals, authorities, healthcare professionals and relatives, Guild Care has been safely providing admissions into its care homes. The charity has managed this by strictly adhering to the advice given to them by the government and Public Health England.

Guild Care’s three independently-managed care homes provide residential, nursing and specialist dementia care. From a week of respite or convalescence to a home for life, they offer lengths of stay to suit any need. Each of their homes are not-for-profit, enabling the charity to keep enhancing residents’ facilities and support the local community.

One important way Guild Care is keeping everyone safe is through self-isolation measures. Covid-19 can be carried and transmitted by people who do not show symptoms, so new residents are required to self-isolate for 14 days.

Those arriving from their own homes self-isolate in their new bedroom, during which time they are tested for Covid-19. As per Public Health England guidance, all new admissions from hospitals are required to self-isolate in their hospital rooms before coming to a Guild Care home. They are also tested prior to discharge, with the results made available to Guild Care before admission. Tests are then used on an ongoing basis, with each staff member being tested weekly and each resident every 28 days.

In the pursuit of safety for its residents and staff, Guild Care also made the tough decision to allow only essential visits to its care homes. Following government guidance, this means only allowing emergency medical visits and pre-booked socially distanced visits in dedicated environments that are ring-fenced from the rest of the care home.

However, not wanting to take away the opportunity to get to know their potential new home before deciding, Guild Care has produced virtual tours of each of its care homes for new residents and their families. It can also facilitate live virtual tours, which show the care home and the resident’s new room in real time. These give a taste of the feeling of each home and the ability to ask questions, just like a real visit.

All new residents have a pre-admission assessment to ensure Guild Care has a full understanding of care needs, personality, likes and dislikes. During the Covid-19 pandemic, these will be conducted via video call or telephone – preferably with the prospective resident and somebody else present.

If you would like further information, please get in touch with Guild Care’s friendly Customer Service Team by calling 01903 327327 or by emailing [email protected].

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.