The Scottish Government has reviewed policy with Public Health Scotland and ARHAI Scotland and made updates outlined in a letter to the sector.
In summary, the updates are:
- Self-isolation periods for residents who are contacts of Covid-19 positive case or are themselves Covid-19 positive has now changed from 14 days to 10 days.
- Precautionary 14 days self-isolation of residents following discharge from hospital to a care homes has now been removed for residents on the non-respiratory pathway and has reduced from 14 to 10 days for residents on the respiratory pathway (the respiratory pathway is determined by the Respiratory Screening Tool as per the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual: Winter (21/22), Respiratory Infections in Health and Care Settings Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Addendum. To summarise, if you are on the respiratory pathway this means those that have answered ‘yes’ to the screening tool, that is they are Covid-19 positive or a close contact of someone who is Covid-19 positive within 10 days).
- Removal of guidance on limiting the number of households that can visit a care home resident at any one time to two. This follows the First Minister’s announcement on changes to guidance for the general public.
- Named visitors should be supported during outbreaks unless there are exceptional circumstances.
- Named visitors who visit a resident who is Covid-19 positive can visit the resident again during their isolation period.
Further details on these changes including any conditions that may be attached to them are detailed in the letter. The Scottish Government webpages will be updated by the end of the week to fully reflect these changes and Public Health Scotland will update its guidance to incorporate these changes.