COVID-19: Heathlands Village Updates

The latest data on Wednesday revealed that coronavirus infection rates are continuing to rise in all 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester.

In Bury, the number of cases is up by 11 per cent compared to the previous week – leaving the infection rate at 403.2 cases per 100,000 of the population.

In light of the continued increase in positive rates, we have been advised by Bury Council and Bury Infection Control to continue to pause allowing residents to visit outside of the care home until further notice.

We have allowed an increase in essential care givers this week as we do recognise how important this is, and it has been lovely to see some you who we have not seen in a very long time.

We still advise caution and have no plans to make any changes to the visiting regimes as yet. We will review the guidelines again next week after the Prime Minister delivers his speech on Monday 12th July

The Village is currently virus free and we need to keep it this way.

On your visits to us, we rely and trust you all to maintain good infection control by doing your lateral flow test, staying away if you feel ill, and wearing a mask during your visit.

Thank you all for your patience and understanding.

Keep well and stay safe.

Kind regards

Karen Johnson
Director of Clinical Services

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10th June 2021

Dear Friends & Relatives,

I would like to think that Heathlands Village represents an oasis of calm in comparison to certain parts of Greater Manchester at the moment.

The Village is currently virus free.

We have a number of staff isolating due to being in contact with friends and family who have tested positive, but the lateral flow testing regime has again shown its benefits by helping to minimise the risk of potentially asymptomatic individuals coming into work.

All ten boroughs of Greater Manchester now have double the national average of infections and as a result have been designated “enhanced response areas” where surge testing is being implemented.

At this stage it is too early to predict whether we can make any changes to our visiting regime, however it will be interesting to see what the Government decides to do regarding their road map – either before, or on, the 21st June.

Therefore, we are going to stick with all the current arrangements. There will be no changes.

In light of the growing infection rates we are asking all visitors to keep to the guidelines.

We encourage everyone to take up the vaccine and be cautious about how they socialise and interact.

If you are supporting one of our residents to visit you at home, please ensure you take every precaution to minimise the risk of infection.

Finally a really important request:

I appreciate people are anxious to return to normal and are frustrated by testing and the PPE arrangements, but please recognise that our staff are doing their best in difficult circumstances.

We have had a few isolated incidences of visitors being quite disrespectful to staff. Please be patient and polite and if you are unhappy, use our complaint procedures.

If we could have done something better we will try to learn and get it right next time.

Many of our staff are working very hard in very warm, uncomfortable conditions, whilst wearing a mask and PPE – and it can be tough going.

Hopefully next week will bring greater clarity for us all.

Stay safe.

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Dear Friends & Relatives,

I mentioned last week that we would have further updates for you today.

As you will be aware, the infection rate has continued to increase in Bury (71%) with the spike being attributable to the Indian variant. As a result Bury are opening up more satellite vaccination clinics.