“The British Geriatrics Society has just published an update to their good practice guidance, COVID-19: Managing the COVID-19 pandemic in care homes for older people.

The COVID-19 pandemic raises particular challenges for care home residents, their families and the staff that look after them. This guidance has been developed to help care home staff and NHS staff who work with them to support residents through the pandemic. This is Version 4 of the document.

This guidance is written as the United Kingdom moves into the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is designed to be applicable to care home residents across all four nations of the UK. Residents of care homes for older people have been particularly affected by COVID-19. Across the four nations 28-50% of all COVID-related deaths occurred in care home residents.

This guidance covers the following issues that care home staff are likely to come across when managing COVID-19 in a care home environment:

1. Infection control
2. Staff and resident testing
3. Admissions to care homes
4. Family visiting
5. Diagnosing COVID-19 in care homes
6. Management and treatment of COVID-19 in care homes
7. Advance Care Planning
8. End of life care
9. Continuing routine healthcare

The intended audience includes, but is not limited to, care home staff, primary care teams including general practitioners (GPs), community teams providing care for older people including Hospital At Home teams, hospital discharge teams, and those providing advice on infection control to care homes.

To access this publication click here