During the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian long-term care homes implemented strict no-visitor policies to reduce the risk of introducing COVID-19 in these settings. There are now concerns that the risks associated with restricted access to family caregivers and visitors have started to outweigh the potential benefits associated with preventing COVID-19 infections. Many residents have sustained severe and potentially irreversible physical, functional, cognitive, and mental health declines. As Canada emerges from its first wave of the pandemic, LTC homes across the country have cautiously started to reopen these settings, yet there is broad criticism that emerging visitor policies are overly restrictive, inequitable and potentially harmful.
The National Institute on Ageing reviewed the emerging LTC home visitor policies for Canada’s ten provinces and three territories as well as international policies and reports on the topic to develop? National Institute on Ageing ?guidance for the re-opening of Canadian LTC homes to family caregivers and visitors. This guidance? is evidence-informed and data-driven, and ?strives to find the right balance between infection prevention and supporting resident health and wellbeing?. It describes six core principles and planning assumptions ?which were used to create recommended and expert-reviewed visitor policies for family caregivers and general visitors to LTC homes.
Finding the Right Balance: An Evidence-Informed Guidance Document to Support the Re-Opening of Canadian Long-Term Care Homes to Family Caregivers and Visitors during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Toronto, National Institute on Ageing, 2020, 32 p.)
English / North America / Canada