Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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406. To ask the Minister for Health if nursing home residents will be allowed to be visited twice a week by two family members one at a time in all levels of the Living with Covid-19 plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42554/20]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The importance of continued social interaction of residents and their families cannot be overstated and every effort should be made, in line with public health advice, to ensure that these interactions continue.The Plan for Living with COVID-19 Framework has been developed to help us to go about our daily lives as much as possible, with measures aimed at the key priorities of protecting health, strengthening employment, and supporting communities.  The system is communicated through a numbered system of alert Levels, from 1 to 5 with Level 1 being the lowest with the least amount of restrictive measures in place and Level 5 being the highest with the most restrictions in place.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre published updated guidance on visitations to long term residential care facilities on 30^thNovember.  The new guidance which came into effect from the 7^thDecember, aims to further support long-term residential care services, including nursing homes and residents in planning visits across all levels of the framework for restrictive measures in the government’s Plan for Living with COVID-19.

This new guidance outlines an updated definition for ‘critical and compassionate circumstances’, which now provides that, subject to risk assessment, residents may be facilitated to receive:

- up to one visit by one person per week under Levels 3 and 4 of the framework;

- up to one visit by one person per two weeks under Level 5.

It also notes that at all framework levels every practical effort should be made to accommodate an additional visit on compassionate grounds during the period of a major cultural or religious festival or celebration of particular significance to the resident, such as the Christmas/New Year period. 

Nursing home providers are ultimately responsible for the safe care of their residents. Under Regulation 11 of the Health Act 2007 (Care and Welfare of Residents in Designated Centres for Older People) Regulations 2013 it is the legal responsibility of each registered provider to make arrangements for a resident to receive visitors, having regard to any risks that may present for the resident or other residents.  I encourage all nursing homes to remain familiar with the latest public health advice and support, and to make every effort to continue to facilitate visitors in line with public health advice and to communicate with family and friends on an ongoing basis in order to support positive mental health and wellbeing.  I have communicated with the sector outlining the need for them to be flexible, innovative and to facilitate visiting arrangements, in line with public health advice.  

Notwithstanding this, it is also important to be cognisant of the wider epidemiological situation and the risks associated with same. On the 19^thNovember, the European Centre for Disease Control published its latest risk assessment with regard to long-term care facilities across Europe. It highlights that the probability of COVID-19 introduction into a long-term care facility depends on the level of COVID-19 circulation in the community, with a higher risk associated with higher incidence rates in the community.  

This highlights the importance of suppressing the level of the virus in the community as one of the primary measures for protecting nursing homes. As citizens, we all have a responsibility in this regard and our actions across all of society can directly impact the outcomes for nursing home residents.