Care home visiting rules 'should be tightened before Christmas'

Mario Kreft MBE, chair of Care Forum Wales, is also urging the Welsh Government to step up the programme of booster jabs for care workers.

It was clear, said Mr Kreft, that Omicron was far more transmissible than previous variants and would soon overtake Delta to become the dominant strain.

His view came as Mark Drakeford leader of the Welsh Government said over the coming days the Government would consider whether rules over visiting needed to be tightened up.

“Our first and overwhelming priority is to ensure the vulnerable people for whom we provide care and our wonderful workforce are kept safe," Mr Kreft said.

“We are calling on the Welsh Government to look at the rules. We want to keep homes open safely but we need to do that in a very measured and responsible way.

“We have a new enemy in the Omicron variant which is spreading at a scarily rapid rate with the number of infections doubling every two days.

“It is possible we may need to close down for a week or a fortnight so I think the advice would be to get to see your loved ones as early as possible because we just don’t know where this virus is going.

“It would be absurd for me to pretend that everything is going to be fine. Over the next few weeks we could be overwhelmed by this virus.

“The people working at the front line have been heroic. They’re worn out, they’re jaded but they are doing the best they can to keep people safe."

He said he wanted to ensure the booster was rolled out to those caring for the vulnerable.

“We want to see that everything that can possibly be done to make sure that the booster is rolled out right across the country, especially to those who are caring for the vulnerable.

“What we now have to do is work with our partners in government and local health boards to ensure that people working on the front line get those jabs as soon as possible.

“A very high percentage of residents are fully vaccinated and some care homes are reporting that 100 per cent of their residents have had all three jabs.

“It is now imperative that we ensure any remaining residents and staff who have not been triple jabbed are vaccinated very soon.

“It would be ideal if they could organise for vaccination teams to visited larger care settings so that the necessary booster jabs can be done in one fell swoop."

“We also need to have boosters for domiciliary care workers who are the key to ensuring that people can remain safe in their own homes."