On-going safety procedures around COVID-19
At Consensus, the health, safety and wellbeing of our supported individuals and colleagues is always our absolute priority. Throughout the pandemic we took comprehensive action to prepare for and respond to the coronavirus outbreak in the UK, including setting up a dedicated steering group comprising senior leaders across the business to review and develop on-going plans and response throughout the evolving situation.
Whilst many restrictions for the general public and to an extent in health and social care have now eased, we are still continuing to be cautious to protect the people we support who live in our homes as they can remain extremely vulnerable. In addition we are ensuring that people transitioning into our services can do so as safely as possible.
Vaccinations
As at 11 November new regulations come into force requiring all staff working in registered Services to be fully vaccinated unless they are exempt for identified medical reasons. And that all visitors should be vaccinated unless they are medically exempt or visiting for one of the reasons listed in the below documents.
Visiting a Consensus Service
From 24 February 2022 the government guidance for visiting residential care services in England was updated.
Visiting our services in England >
Our procedures are based on the government guidance and respective documents are provided below. The regulations are part of the Health & Social Care Act 2008 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/891/regulation/5/made
Testing
The government guidance for testing for Supported Individuals in residential care services was updated on 25 February as set out below:
The full guidance can be found here.
PPE
The wearing of PPE equipment (masks and gloves) is still a requirement in registered services. We are awaiting any updated Government guidance.
Our referrals process
During the pandemic we adapted our referrals and placement process to keep everyone safe – both individuals moving into a new setting and the people already living there. This will continue to be the case and we can now continue to offer virtual assessments and tours instead of these being in person if that is the preference.
