Background 

This project ran from January – March 2021 and researched family visits to care homes and the experiences and perspectives on policies and practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Care home resident deaths made up around a third of all COVID-19 deaths in the UK. Visits to care homes from family members had been strictly curtailed to prevent COVID-19 transmission. However, visiting has health and wellbeing benefits for residents and visitors. A key issue is to balance the risks of COVID-19 transmission against the benefits of visiting.

Aims and Objectives 

The research team were approached to carry out research exploring experiences and preferences of care home staff, families and relatives on visiting in the time of the pandemic. It was agreed that a scope of current ongoing research was needed.

This briefing presents a summary of ongoing UK-based research studies that include collection of data about experiences and perspectives of care home staff, relatives and residents on policies and practices for family visiting. Potential studies were identified through web searches and professional networks. At the time, we identified 17 ongoing UK-based research studies and the findings can be found in our report (the link for this can be found below). 

Resources and further information 

• Full Report (PDF) – Family Visits to Care Homes During Covid-19

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