Call To Make Way For Care At Home Staff Over Christmas 

A key method to prevent the spread of coronavirus is keeping interaction to a minimum.

As a result, over the Christmas and New Year period a request is being made to help Care at Home staff carrying out their duties within the region’s communities.

Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership Deputy Chief Officer Nicole Hamlet said: “When a Care at Home worker is due to visit a home, we’d ask that anyone other than the person receiving care creates space for the worker to carry out their duties.

“Other people may live at the same address, and current national guidance permits people to visit another residence in situations such as providing care to a vulnerable person.

“Aside from this, there should be no other person present within these homes, other than on the December 25 when a maximum of 8 people from 3 different households is permitted.

“However, we would again ask if they could arrange to either be out of the house or in another room when the care at home worker calls.

“This will really help, as it means that the worker is only coming into contact with the person needing support, keeping that interaction to the very minimum.”

As of December 26, Dumfries and Galloway moves into Level 4 in the national COVID protection framework – along with the rest of mainland Scotland – at which point mixing should not take place in other households unless for a specifically permitted reason.

People are thanked for all the help they have provided, are asked to continue to assist Care at Home staff as they carry out essential work during this difficult period, and encouraged to stay safe this Christmas.