Bupa's approach to living with COVID-19

Update to Bupa Care Home Residents, Families and Whānau

Kia ora residents, families and whānau, 

Hope you are doing well as winter approaches. 

I wanted to update you on the COVID-19 situation at Bupa, and the protocols we have in place to keep everyone safe.  

Like many of you, we are adjusting to the new normal of, managing our lives around COVID-19 or living with COVID-19. 

Throughout this pandemic we have strived to reach a balance between best practice infection prevention and control protocols, Ministry of Health and DHB requirements, and the wellbeing of our residents and people.  We feel now is the right time to revisit our approach and modify it to reflect our new reality.  

In doing so, we’ve had the benefit of being able to work with our colleagues in Australia, who are about 3-4 months ahead of us in the COVID-19 cycle and see what from their approach might benefit us.  

As we move into this new phase, our strict infection prevention and control protocols continue, but there is a greater self-responsibility around COVID-19 risk management and as such we will be adjusting our protocols in care homes and villages.   

From 2 June, visitors will no longer be required to RAT test.   

We have undertaken a thorough review of this process and believe the time is right to stop testing visitors. The overwhelming evidence shows that masks are the best tool to stop the spread of this airborne virus, along with good hand hygiene and not visiting when symptomatic.  The first and most accurate sign of COVID-19 is when the person starts experiencing symptoms. The tens of thousands of RAT tests we have undertaken in recent months have validated that it is at this stage that people test positive, not before. And because our visitors know not to come when they are symptomatic, we have had very few visitors test positive at the care home door.  This change will also bring us into alignment with DHB practices and visitor requirements for hospitals.  

Revised visiting guidance from 2 June 

Our revised visiting guidelines will allow you to spend more time with your family and friends. However, there are some requirements in place as we continue to keep our residents safe and well.  

•  Visitors must wear surgical masks at all time. If you do not adhere to our mask policy, you may be asked to leave the care home. 
• Do not visit if you feel unwell, have any symptoms (scratchy or sore throat, cough, runny nose, fever, temperature, body ache, fatigue, or shortness of breath), or if you potentially are a household or close contact. 
• You will be required to sign the Health Declaration to state that you are well and symptom free. 
• Hands must be sanitised on arrival and on leaving.  
• Residents can have up to 2 visitors at a time. Visitors are encouraged to visit residents in their room, where possible, and maintain 1 metre physical distancing. 
• Visiting hours will no longer be restricted, unless there are specific circumstances communicated by your care home manager. 

Second COVID-19 Booster 

On Friday 27 May, The Government announced a second booster will be made available from July for those most at risk from serious illness from COVID-19, including aged care residents. The recommendation is for the booster to be given either 6 months from your initial booster or 3 months after COVID infection.  We will be working with our GP’s and local providers to administer the second booster to our residents who qualify. 

The vaccine has done an incredible job in minimise the impact of the virus and we would encourage anyone who is eligible to have a second booster shot to keep their immunity up. 

Flu Vaccination  

It is predicted that this winter will bring a bad flu season. Please take the opportunity to get a flu vaccination - it is an important tool in minimise the spread and also the severity of flu symptoms. 

As you may remember from previous years, if two residents test positive for influenza in our care homes it is declared an outbreak and we close the home to visitors. We want to try and take every possible step to minimise this occurring. We are also actively working with our GP’s and local providers to ensure our residents have their flu vaccine should they wish to. 

Thank you 

We cannot overstate how much our team have appreciated the support and kindness that has been shown by our residents and families. We understand that people are getting tired of all-things-COVID. We are not out of the woods, but we are using all our experience to learn how to live with it. Our teams have and continue to work incredibly hard to protect our residents every day and we remain as determined as ever to keep everyone safe.  

Thanks for your support and please, don’t forgot your masks when visiting our care homes or villages.  

Update to Bupa Village Residents

Kia ora Bupa Village Residents,

I hope you are doing well as winter approaches.

I wanted to update you on the COVID-19 situation at Bupa, and the protocols we have in place to keep everyone safe.

Like many of you, we are adjusting to the new normal of, managing our lives around COVID-19 or living with COVID-19.

Throughout this pandemic we have strived to reach a balance between best practice infection prevention and control protocols, Ministry of Health and DHB requirements, and the wellbeing of our residents and people.  We feel now is the right time to revisit our approach and modify it to reflect our new reality.

In doing so, we’ve had the benefit of being able to work with our colleagues in Australia, who are about 3-4 months ahead of us in the COVID-19 cycle, and see what from their approach might benefit us.

As we move into this new phase, our strict infection prevention and control protocols continue, but there is a greater self-responsibility around COVID-19 risk management and as such we are adjusting our protocols in care homes and villages. 

Changes in our villages

We are trying to minimise restrictions in our communal areas and from now on we will only close when there has been a high degree of risk of transmission to a number of residents. We will assess each situation carefully and ask that you will be understanding of our decision.

The overwhelming evidence shows that masks are the best tool to stop the spread of this airborne virus, along with good hand hygiene and not socialising when symptomatic. We will no longer require you to wear a mask in the communal areas in the village, however we strongly recommend that you still do so in order to keep yourselves safe.

Please remember to let your Village Team know if you have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, or if you are feeling unwell, or have been diagnosed with COVID-19 yourself. We will support you through your isolation period as much as possible.

Revised visiting guidance for our care homes

We also want to let you know that we have revised visiting guidelines for our care homes which will allow people to spend more time with their family and friends, this includes:

• Visitors must wear surgical masks at all time. If you do not adhere to our mask policy, you may be asked to leave the care home.
• Do not visit if you feel unwell, have any symptoms (scratchy or sore throat, cough, runny nose, fever, temperature, body ache, fatigue, or shortness of breath), or if you potentially are a household or close contact.
• You will be required to sign the Health Declaration to state that you are well and symptom free.
•  Hands  must be sanitised on arrival and on leaving.
• Residents can have up to 2 visitors at a time. Visitors are encouraged to visit residents in their room, where possible, and maintain 1 metre physical distancing.
• Visiting hours will no longer be restricted, unless there are specific circumstances communicated by your care home manager.

Second COVID-19 Booster

On Friday 27 May, the Government announced a second booster will be made available from July for those most at risk of serious illness from COVID-19. There will be further communication regarding the details of eligibility coming from the Ministry of Health that we will notify you of. 

The vaccine has done an incredible job to minimise the impact of the virus and we encourage anyone who is eligible to have a second booster shot to keep their immunity up.

Flu Vaccination

It is predicted that this winter will bring a bad flu season. Please take the opportunity to get a flu vaccination - it is an important tool to minimise the spread and also the severity of flu symptoms.

Thank you

We cannot overstate how much our team have appreciated the support and kindness that has been shown by our residents. We understand that people are getting tired of all-things-COVID. We are not out of the woods, but we are using all our experience to learn how to live with it. Our teams have, and continue to work incredibly hard, to protect our residents every day and we remain as determined as ever to keep everyone safe. 

Thanks for your support.