Tips for social distancing

Posted on March 19, 2020

Everyone should be taking steps to minimise contact with others. This is particularly important for you, as you will be coming into contact with people in at risk groups. Specific points included in NHS guidelines include:

  • only travel on public transport if you need to avoid social activities, such as going to pubs, restaurants, theatres and cinemas
  • avoid events with large groups of people
  • use phone, online services, or apps to contact your GP surgery or other NHS services

We have put together some additional practical tips on how you can make adaptations to your care routines to support social isolation. Please discuss these directly with your customer.

Trips out of the home:

Government guidance includes minimising all non-essential travel. Therefore, if you normally support trips out of the home you should discuss reducing any that are non-essential.

Staying active:

Physical activity and exercise remain important for many people’s physical and mental health. If exercise can be completed inside or in a garden that would be encouraged. If this is not possible, a distance of 1.5m should be maintained with other people whilst staying active outside.

Shopping:

Supermarkets remain open and can be accessed, however any trip to the shops will result in additional contact. If you normally do shopping for your client, you may want to consider the option of online shopping with your customer. Most major supermarkets have online delivery options, please see links below.

You should first check that the selected supermarket delivers to your area and you will then normally need to create an account, before selecting the items you want. Demand on these services has been high, so delivery slots and choice of items may be low.

If you are a live-in carer and normally complete separate personal shopping from the customer you may want to consider combining orders to save time and resources.

Social engagement and support:

There are lots of community groups arising to support people, including local facebook groups. Signing up to nextdoor is a good way of staying up to date on what is going on in your local community.

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