There will be a sea of smiling faces across aged care homes in two Australian states as the easing of coronavirus restrictions will allow grandchildren to finally visit their grandparents in aged care facilities.
As of yesterday, nursing homes in Queensland are now able to allow residents to receive visits from two people at a time, including children who are under the age of 16 who have been banned from all aged care homes across the country for the last three months.
Time limits on visits to aged care homes have also been removed in Queensland and there are no restrictions in place regarding the number of visitors a resident can receive each day.
Residents are also permitted to leave their facilities for exercise, health appointments, and family gatherings with no more than 20 people.
However, groups of residents are not yet allowed to leave aged care facilities in groups for excursions.
Aged care facilities across Tasmania will also be welcoming children back into their homes as an announcement by Premier Peter Gutwein revealed that people under the age of 16 would also be allowed in aged care homes across the state from Monday 22 June 2020.
Tasmanian aged care residents will also be permitted to leave their facilities for trips with family and friends, while outside services such as hairdressers will be allowed back into nursing homes.
Unlike Queensland, Tasmanian nursing homes will remain limited in the number of visitors they allow per resident ( one visit per-day of up to two residents) and these visits will be limited to two hours.
Both Tasmanian and Queensland aged care homes will not be permitting any travellers into their homes if they have returned from overseas or interstate within the last 14 days, or anybody who has been in contact with people who are suspected to had had COVID-19 within 14 days.
Operators of aged care facilities in both states will still be screening all visitors before they are allowed inside the premises.
Photo Credit – iStock – grandriver
