Coronavirus: our response as the government takes steps to ease lockdown
Update on how we are protecting the people we support and our staff from coronavirus.
We realise families and friends are keen to meet up with their loved ones. However, the health and safety of the people we support, and our staff, remains our top priority.
You will be aware that the government have been easing restrictions and allowing people to meet up to six people outside whilst strictly keeping to the social distancing. There have been no changes to people being allowed indoors, and we realise for some of the people we support, understanding social distancing will be difficult.
We will fully risk assess any requests for meetings or visits to family homes, and if we believe the visit cannot safely be carried out without introducing the risk of coronavirus into our service – putting lives of the people we support and our staff at risk – then we will do our best to work with you to try and find an alternative solution.
To reassure you on how we are keeping your family member safe, our response to coronavirus is:
- All our services remain in lockdown, with no visits, not even from families. This was a difficult but necessary decision to take to protect all the people who live in our care homes and supported living services. We will continue to facilitate regular Skype/Facetime conversations between the people we support and their families and loved ones. We have provided more iPads for the people we support so they can maintain contact with their families more easily.
- Our day services remain closed, and staff have been redeployed where possible in services nearby, as well as finding really creative ways to support our day service members who are missing out on a huge chunk of socialising and activities.
- Love4Life has completely changed how it delivers sessions but is still maintaining a strong online offer.
- We have provided our staff with the PPE resources they need, and we are monitoring stock levels and doing everything we can to ensure that our staff have everything they need to carry out their vital work.
- We have tightened our guidance and procedures around social distancing and where anyone has shown any signs of symptoms, we have been supporting people to self-isolate.
- Due to some elements of care and the very nature of the people we support, our staff can’t always maintain those social distances, so we are doing everything we can to make sure they stay protected with PPE and increased cleaning and hygiene measures.
- Operational and senior staff have been meeting daily to monitor all services very carefully and taking immediate action where required to keep our staff and the people we support safe and ensure we remain responsive to this unprecedented challenge.
When we have a suspected case, or someone has had contact with a confirmed case, we have been working closely with our local health protection teams at Public Health England, who will assess and advise on actions that should be taken, including testing, and the management of staff and people we support.
If we do get any confirmed cases in our services, we will inform all the families and staff linked to that service promptly.
Reducing the chance of spreading infection, while trying to keep things as normal as possible for the people we support, is our absolute priority. Our support staff and managers are being amazing, going above and beyond in the most challenging circumstances FitzRoy has ever faced. You can read more about their work in our blogs.
If you have any questions about how we are keeping your family member safe, please contact the service manager or you can contact our Head of Operations, Julie.Bruce@fitzroy.org.