Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Information about care homes and Villages
Last updated: 24 July 2020
The care and safety of our residents and our staff continues to be our priority.
We have been calling on the government to issue specific guidance for visits to care homes, so that we and other providers are able to manage visits in a safe and consistent way. As such, we welcomed this week’s announcement for England, which follows the advice previously published for care homes in Scotland and Wales.
We know the significant impact that visits from friends and family have on our residents’ wellbeing and we are reviewing this guidance as a priority to be clear on how it applies to each of our homes. We have commenced outdoor visits across most of our homes and villages, which comply with national guidance on infection control and social distancing. Please be assured that we’re doing all we can to facilitate family visits as quickly and safely as possible.
As always, we are exceptionally grateful for your patience and support. Our home managers will be in touch with families directly to share details for visits when the home is ready.
This hub has the latest information across our homes and villages to help relatives and families feel connected and informed about your loved one. Please also follow your local Bupa care home or Richmond Village on Facebook for updates.
If you have any further questions, call our customer care team on 0345 6004 622^.
Bupa Buddy
Having someone to chat to can help fend off boredom and loneliness amongst any elderly relatives who’re shielding or self-isolating. That’s why we’ve created our Bupa Buddy service.
The care and safety of our residents and our people continues to be our priority. In line with other providers, we made the decision to stop visits across our care homes and Villages.
We have clear standard operating procedures and are maintaining strict infection control measures in line with Public Health England guidance to keeping residents safe. If a resident displays symptoms or are confirmed to have the virus, they are cared for in their rooms, away from other residents, by our staff using the appropriate personal protective equipment.
Our teams will take all the necessary measures in line with Public Health England’s stringent guidelines to ensure the continued care and safety of our residents. If a resident displays symptoms or are confirmed to have the virus, they are cared for in their rooms, away from other residents, by our staff using the appropriate personal protection equipment.
No, unless the resident’s specific care needs mean they need to be cared for in bed, they are free to use the home facilities.
We are taking extra measures to prevent the spread of infection in the home and will continue to monitor the health of all our residents. If a resident displays symptoms or are confirmed to have the virus, they are cared for in their rooms, away from other residents, by our staff using the appropriate personal protection equipment.
As long as they are discharged by the hospital, they do not fall into a risk category and the home is able to take admissions, they will be able to come back to our home/ village.
We are working with other health care professionals to ensure residents receive the medical assistance they need. Many hospitals are now postponing routine hospital appointments or rearranging them to calls or Skype to limit the number of visitors into hospitals.
Our priority is the care and safety of our residents and our staff and minimising the chance of spreading infection, and we really appreciate the support we have had from families to implement our No Visitor policy to keep their loved ones safe. Our home and Village managers encourage families to keep in touch using technology and our staff are ready to help residents with this. Letter writing stations are being created so that residents can write (or be helped to write) letters for family members. Relatives can also follow your local home on Facebook, where we share pictures and information on activities, entertainment and general home life for our residents.
In exceptional circumstances, where residents are in the last days of life, our home and Village managers will contact relatives to closely manage visits, whilst taking measures to minimise any spread of infection.
Our staff and activity coordinators have programmes of activities that the residents can participate in. We are limiting the group size and offering more one-on-one activities with residents such as walks outside and gardening activities, in line with social distancing measures.
Keeping our residents and our people safe is our priority. We currently have all the necessary PPE required, allowing us to follow the strict guidance from Public Health England. All homes have been supplied with adequate levels of stock and our in-house procurement team is ready to source further supplies of PPE, such as hand sanitiser, masks and gloves, as needed.
We know that testing is critical for our residents and staff and have been lobbying the government over the past weeks to make this happen. We were pleased that the government announced testing of residents and staff with COVID-19 symptoms as part of its social care plan on Wednesday 15 April 2020. Testing is being managed by Public Health England and, while some homes have already received testing, we are speaking with Public Health England daily to ensure it reaches all our homes as soon as possible.
The government has informed care providers that it will co-ordinate testing centrally. This allows them to manage supply across the UK, and also accurately measure results. It is vital that the tests reach care homes, and so it was a positive step when the government announced on Wednesday 15 April 2020 that symptomatic residents and staff in care homes would be tested. We are working with Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG), the Care Quality Commission (CQC), local authorities and Public Health England to make this happen.
All our staff practice good hand washing procedures and have the necessary personal protective equipment in line with guidance from Public Health England. We are also following strict infection control measures in all our homes.
Our staff are following government guidance on self-isolating if they, or a family member they are living with, is symptomatic or confirmed with COVID-19.
In addition, we ask our staff not to travel to and from our care homes in their work uniform. We have an in-house laundry service across our care homes, which staff can use for their uniforms in readiness for their next shift.
Please be assured that as part of our planning, we have ensured there are enough staff to ensure we can always care for our residents.
It is really important that everyone at Bupa feels supported. Our Anytime HealthLine provides around-the-clock support for physical health concerns, for use by colleagues and their families. Healthy Minds helpline provides free and confidential access to trained mental health nurses, 24/7. The team can also offer information and support on financial and legal matters.
We offer Emotional Wellbeing Online – an interactive digital tool to support colleagues with emotional wellbeing and life balance. We also have a range of financial resources in place to help our staff, including an emergency fund.
We welcomed the government’s announcement on Wednesday 15 April 2020 of a recruitment campaign to encourage experienced colleagues to return to social care and attract new colleagues into the sector. We are closely following the government guidance on Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, and making sure these are in place for all new staff members working in care and clinical roles. We also recently introduced Home Assistant roles, which offer the opportunity for people to give support across a number of domestic duties in the home, where needed.
Our food supplies have not been impacted across our homes, and orders and deliveries are arriving as normal. All deliveries made to homes follow a robust delivery process to ensure we keep our homes, residents and staff safe from the current outbreak.
If you do not have any symptoms of the virus, and the home or village is able to meet your needs, we may be able to assist you in finding a Bupa home or village (dependent on availability).
If you’re thinking about care, it can be difficult to know where to start. Our customer care team can guide you every step of the way, whether you have questions about care or need advice on funding. Please call us on 0345 600 4622.^
For more information on choosing a care home, please visit - https://www.bupa.co.uk/care-services/choosing-a-care-home
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Vulnerability and coronavirus
We asked one of our medical experts to provide information around who are classed as vulnerable people in the current pandemic and what this means.
00:14 condition, that is to say a long-term health condition, and women who are pregnant.
00:19 Chronic heart failure, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, neurological conditions
00:26 such as multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's disease and finally
00:32 being overweight. We recognise that individuals with a BMI of 40 or above
00:35 are also considered vulnerable.
00:41 The first is anybody who has had a solid organ transplant. The second would be anybody
00:47 with a chronic and severe lung condition. These include all people with cystic
00:51 fibrosis, people with severe asthma and those that have severe COPD.
00:56 These would also be women who are pregnant, who have a congenital or an acquired heart
01:02 condition, that is to say a heart condition which they were born with, or a
01:06 heart condition which they have acquired during the course of their pregnancy.
01:09 This will also include individuals who have rare conditions that weaken their
01:14 immune system or inbuilt errors of metabolism that make them more
01:17 susceptible to infection. This would also include individuals who have medication
01:23 which weakens their immune system, to the extent that they are more vulnerable to
01:27 background infections. These are individuals who have active cancer at
01:31 this time and are having chemotherapy, individuals with lung cancer who are
01:35 having radical radiotherapy, anybody with a bone marrow or a blood cancer,
01:41 individuals who have had a bone marrow or stem cell transplant in the last six
01:45 months, or those individuals who have had a bone marrow or stem cell
01:49 transplant but are still on immunosuppressive therapy and finally
01:53 those individuals are on immunotherapy, continuing antibody treatment or any
01:59 kind of radical cancer therapy which weakens or suppresses the immune system.
02:07 It's because we recognise that for them the disease course with Covid-19
02:11 infection could be more severe than that experienced by the general population.
02:17 We also unfortunately recognise that those who are extremely vulnerable are at
02:21 higher risk of requiring hospitalisation due to the seriousness of the disease
02:25 they can experience with Covid-19 infection.
Asthma and coronavirus
We asked one of our medical experts to provide information on what it means if you have asthma during the current pandemic.
00:15 have asthma of any severity, this does make you vulnerable to Covid-19.
00:20 However we also recognise that if you have severe asthma, this places you in
00:24 the extremely vulnerable category.
00:26 Well broadly-speaking this is asthma that has
00:29 required hospitalisation, usually in the last 6 to 12 months. This is the kind of
00:34 asthma where you may have required hospitalisation for oxygen therapy, or be
00:38 given oral steroids as treatment for your asthma flare-up.
00:42 This could also be asthma
00:44 where you've been hospitalised for medication via a nebuliser, and
00:48 finally this can also be the kind of asthma where you have been hospitalised
00:51 because you required medication intravenously or through a drip.
00:55 If your asthma has not required hospitalisation in the last 12 months, you can consider
01:02 this not to be severe asthma and therefore this places you in the
01:05 vulnerable rather than the very vulnerable, or highly vulnerable category.
Here you’ll find information and advice from our experts to help you stay healthy in body, and mind.
The situation with coronavirus (COVID-19) is continuously changing. To ensure you have the latest information, advice and guidance explore these external links and resources.
World Health Organization
Read the latest updates from the World Health Organization (WHO)
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
UK Government
Find out more about the UK Government response from Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England
https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response
NHS England
Read NHS information about how coronavirus is spread and how to avoid catching or spreading germs.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
NHS Scotland
https://www.scot.nhs.uk/
NHS Wales
https://www.wales.nhs.uk/
^Lines are open 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 12.30pm Saturday. Closed Sundays and bank holidays. Calls are charged at no more than local rate and count towards any inclusive minutes from mobiles. We may record or monitor our calls.
