The Scottish Government has announced £1 million of funding to keep care home residents connected.
It comes after months of controversy and debate surrounding Scotland's care homes during the pandemic.
But First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today announced that care homes are to be given iPads, so that residents can easier keep in contact with friends and family.
The Scottish Government has said it will provide “one or two” tablets to every care home in Scotland for personal calls and medical consultations.
Speaking at the Scottish Government’s coronavirus briefing on Monday, Ms Sturgeon stressed the devices will not be “a substitute” for in-person visits but could allow residents to see and speak to loved ones when visits are restricted.
The First Minister said funding has been committed to providing all care homes in Scotland with at least one tablet.
“This will enable more than 1,400 care homes to help their residents to stay connected with family and friends while visiting remains restricted,” she said.
“It will also help clinicians such as GPs or speech and language therapists with remote consultations when that is necessary.
“That will allow them to assess residents health conditions without always needing to visit in person.”
Current rules allow designated visitors to see residents indoors but only in certain care homes and those that fulfil criteria such as weekly testing of staff.
Residents are also allowed up to six outdoor visitors at one time from no more than two households.
Ms Sturgeon added: “The iPads are not intended to be a substitute for personal visits to care homes – we know and understand how vital in-person visits are both for residents and for their family members.
“For that reason, we are currently finalising our plans to ensure that routine visits from designated visitors can take place as safely as possible.
“As we’ve indicated before, these plans will include regular testing of care home visitors. and the Health Secretary will set out further details soon, probably in a statement to Parliament next week.
“However, this funding will give care home residents an additional way of keeping in touch with family and friends and receiving expert clinical advice.”
After the briefing, the Scottish Government announced £1 million has been identified to fund the iPad project, with all care homes able to apply for up to two devices.
READ MORE: Coronavirus: Care homes denying elderly 'essential' visits due to virus prosecution fears
The scheme is based on a pilot that provided digital devices to six care homes in Aberdeenshire to address digital exclusion, supported by Scottish Care, the Care Inspectorate and Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC).
Dr Donald Macaskill, chief executive of Scottish Care, said: “We hope that it is the start of an increased recognition of the critical contribution of technology in the care home sector and that we will see an enhanced commitment to the appropriate use of technology and digital in social care as a whole.”
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “Digital devices can never replace human interaction and we continue both to actively review what more we can do to support visiting with input from family members, carers, and clinicians and finalise our plans for routine designated visitor testing.
"But the pandemic has shown us that digital technology can help keep us in touch with our loved ones and provide vital access to healthcare through services such as NearMe for video consultations.
“This fund will give care home residents an additional way to keep in touch with family and friends. Staying connected will be even more important as we approach winter, and the Scottish Government is committed to doing everything we can to prepare and support care home residents and the staff who look after them.”
Isla Cowe, acting care home manager at Allachburn Care Home in Aboyne said: “Many of our residents have really embraced this new technology and are delighted to be in regular contact with their loved ones.
"It really makes the difference to their general wellbeing and they don’t feel such a sense of loss at being unable to have the physical contact with their families at this time.
“Having the Near Me technology has proved so useful in reducing the number of people who need to visit whilst still being able to provide the same level of service that our residents and their families would expect.
"We recently had a consultation using this technology with the Speech and Language Therapy team, and were able to change the course of action to be taken for this particular gentleman which has proved immensely beneficial to the care that we deliver to him.”
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