Open with Care: supporting meaningful contact in adult care homes – principles

Overview

Care home staff have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to adopt Open with Care visiting guidance and maximise opportunities for people living in care homes to see and spend time with their loved ones.

The purpose of this guidance is to:

• update the Open with Care visiting guidance for adult care homes
• set out principles and expectations for continuing to support people living in adult care homes to connect with others
• provide an overview of the measures that currently remain in place to support visiting, signposting to other more detailed guidance where relevant

This guidance should be read in conjunction with the following public health and infection prevention and control (IPC) guidance, which provides more details on the measures required to support visits in and out of the care home safely, including during an outbreak:

• COVID-19 IPC guidance can be found within the Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection (ARHAI) Scotland, National Infection Prevention Control Manual Appendix 22 - community IPC COVID - 19 Pandemic
• Public Health Scotland (PHS): COVID-19 - information and guidance for social, community and residential care settings - version 2.2 - COVID-19 - information and guidance for social, community and residential care settings - Publications - Public Health Scotland 
• visiting guidance for the public can be found on NHS Inform
• we have published a leaflet for friends and family and an easy read document on visiting adult care homes