Emotional photos of long-awaited family reunions in Leamington care homes

For residents at care homes in the Warwick district, the long awaited reunion with one family member has become a reality, as one single named visitor is now allowed to visit each resident in their bedroom.

There has been much anticipation of this moment by families and residents alike.

Guidance was issued by the Government on March 4 and Barchester Healthcare, who run Cubbington Mill care home, is proceeding with a safe and cautious approach to visiting.

Strict protocols are in place with all visitors required to have a negative Lateral Flow Device test result before being allowed into the home, and infection control measures and social distancing in place for every visit, with hand holding allowed but not recommended.

Despite the need for testing and social distancing, it was still welcome news for so many residents and their family members to be able to meet in the comfort of their bedroom. Residents and their loved ones in the home enjoyed getting together and catching up face to face.

Dimpho Kavangah, general manager at the home, said: “This is the first cautious step towards having a buzz of visitors in the home again. It was wonderful to see how happy it made our residents and their relatives. We have a great booking system in place to ensure the visits are well organised, and visitors are doing a great job of following the safety measures to keep everyone as safe as possible. For those that are not able to come inside the home we are pleased to be able to continue to offer visits in our visiting pod or our garden when the weather allows”

One resident at Cubbington Mill said: “The staff here have been so wonderful supporting me to use video calls and creating the visiting suite so I could keep in touch with my family, but nothing beats seeing my daughter in the comfort of my bedroom. This was a special moment, and I was over the moon.”

The same scene was mirrored across care homes in the district.

Arden House in Leamington said it was a great day for their residents and carers.

"As you can see it has brought a big smile to our residents," said activity coordinator Julie Packer.