Jason Leitch has said the Scottish government is “collectively disappointed” with the decision taken by the UK-wide care company Barchester Healthcare that designated care home visitors must all be vaccinated against covid-19 – triggering concerns this will exclude too many younger family members.

But the company says the answer is to ensure all designated visitors are prioritised to get the vaccine.

The Scottish government has announced steps to allow up to two designated visitors weekly indoor meetings from next month.

In a letter to family and relatives of people living in their 260 care homes across the UK, the company says “any designated visitor should be vaccinated to ensure, where possible, everyone entering the home or hospital is both protected and helps to protect others”.

This has led to concerns from some family members that the advice discriminates against people who have not yet been vaccinated and, in the case of people under 50, will not be vaccinated for several more months.

Scotland’s National Clinical Director, Professor Jason Leitch says the advice goes too far:

“The fundamental challenge here is one of equity.

“Of course, we want the residents to be safe and those who visit to be safe.

“Our expert group has decided that the layers of protection that we have in place, which is pretty much 100% vaccination of residents along with PPE, testing and all the other things that we know about around hand washing, is enough for this level of visiting to come back.”

Professor Leitch says the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Jeane Freeman, met representatives of Barchester and other larger providers in Scotland last week to outline the nine layers of protection that will now need to be in place to allow what he said was the “essential positive step” of reopening indoor face-to-face visits for loved ones.

He revealed that the Health Secretary has written to Barchester today asking them to reconsider and offering another meeting to discuss their concerns:

“So, we are collectively disappointed with that approach and were going to try and talk to them to get them to change their mind.”

A spokesperson for Barchester Healthcare told healthandcare.scot:

“We are looking forward to having visitors back in our homes in an appropriately safe manner.

“As such we think it is important to take a cautious and phased approach, ensuring the one designated visitor per resident or patient is supported in complying with the protocols including the use of PPE and being tested using a Lateral Flow Device test before entering a home, and our desire is that they are also vaccinated, if possible.

“In order to support this, we are lobbying with the Government for designated visitors to be prioritised for a vaccination. We are engaging with relatives and residents and taking a phased and cautious approach.”

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