Caring Together have written to our care customers to reassure them that we have a contingency plan in place in relation to the spread of COVID-19 virus, otherwise known as the Coronavirus.
While we cannot predict what will happen over the next few weeks and months we recognise that they may be concerned about what will happen to their care should our staff be unable to work, and how we are going to support our staff to stay well.
We are assessing any office or care staff returning from annual leave before they return to their duties to establish if they should return to work. We are following the Public Health England guidance, which is on the government website and the NHS website at www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
Part of the government advice includes self-isolation for people returning from certain countries. This may change in the coming weeks and months but should this be necessary for any of our staff we will pay them for this period of time.
We are closely monitoring all the updates from the government and relevant authorities that regulate and give guidance to care providers. We hope there will not be any disruption to services we provide our care customers. However, as is normal in the event of any staff illness, we will contact care customers if any changes or cancellations need to be made.
As with all staff illness or unavailability, we will endeavour to continue to deliver our care calls as planned but may, on occasion, offer a different care worker or care team member of staff to deliver a care call.
Should any of our care customers believe they have been affected by COVID-19 and/or are self-isolating please contact NHS 111 and then contact us to let us know so we can act as appropriate to protect our staff, other clients and carers from potential infection.
