COVID -19 continues to present issues within the nursing home sector as it does in all sectors of life. We have worked very closely with our families and residents to navigate our way through the pandemic.

Vaccination is of course very important and we have undertaken all vaccination programmes offered and these will continue into the future to help us all return to a more normal way of living.

We have instigated a full COVID -19 preparedness plan and staff have worked very hard to ensure that our infection control plan is maintained and this has been bolstered through the education and training of our own inhouse Infection Control Nurse and through the participation of staff in continued training.

We have maintained weekly phonecalls with all of our families as well as communicating via our family WhatsApp group. However, as always, we are available to speak to families at any time should they have concerns or queries.

COVID-19 and Visiting

Visiting remains essential for residents who, like us all, have the right to maintain meaninful connections with their loved ones. Therefore, we endeavour to accommodate visiting but must ensure that such is conducted in the safest way possible.

From the end of February visiting will be changing again in Nursing Homes 

Visiting may be affected if we are in ‘Level 5’ within Ballinamore House, which is the centre’s ‘lockdown’ mode. The centre will enter this level should there be a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19. However, if in this level, or if there is an extremely high prevalence of COVID-19 in the community, every resident will have a nominated visitor whom can continue to visit them within the centre. We will no longer need to do a health screening with visitors but you must declare if you are unwell or if you have been identified as a close contact to a person with Covid.

Nevertheless, we will aim to accommodate families and their visitiation at all times and we will work in a collaborative and co-operative manner with both residents and their family in order to ensure that the needs of all are upheld while also ensuring the safety of everyone. There is no longer a requirement to book a visit by phone but the HSPC wish us to avoid gathering of visitors at the building so at busier times an appointment may be advisable.

In January the HSPC introduced guidelines that are to remain in place regarding antigen testing  Within these guidelines, it has been recommended that family members complete an antigen test as follows

 Occasional visitors ( people whom visit infrequently ) are asked to complete one before visiting and Regular visitors( those that visit daily/weekly) are asked to complete one twice weekly, we at Ballinamore House, strongly echo this recommendation and, if a family member so wishes, they can provide evidence of same via WhatsApp or upon arrival.  However, irrespecitive of whether evidence of an antigen test having been conducted is presented, visitors are still asked to co-operate with all other requirements in our visiting policy. 

Self-testing, in addition to the other elements of our visiting policy and continued compliance with general public health advice issued by the HSE and HPSC will assist us in ensuring both the social needs and safety of our residents are upheld. 

Thank you for your continued understanding and co-operation.