New visiting guidelines for nursing homes will allow one support person who has been nominated by a resident, unrestricted visiting access to that resident over the course of a day.
The guidelines, which will come into force on 8 February, have been issued by the Health Service Executive. The guidelines say that a nominated support person will be in addition to and not instead of visitors.
They say that the minimum level of visiting should normally be daily visits by up to two people at one time and that even in a Covid-19 outbreak a minimum level of visiting must be facilitated.
The move has been welcomed by Sage Advocacy and Care Champions. The latter has been calling for a care partner scheme - similar to one implemented in the UK - for some time.