From "this week", the government will send the nursing homes a new protocol of health recommendations in order to alleviate the constraints weighing on the elderly and take into account the progress of vaccination, we learned on Wednesday from the Ministry in charge of Autonomy.
"These are recommendations, there is no obligation, because the competence rests with the directors of the establishments", indicated the entourage of the Minister Brigitte Bourguignon.
But the government's wish is that "residents can see their families when possible", it was added.
“Vital and necessary” relief measures
"Yes, we will lighten the protocols" because "there are relief measures which are vital and necessary," Brigitte Bourguignon said Tuesday on France Inter.
Now, 87% of nursing home residents have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, and 50% benefit from “maximum coverage” because they have received a 2nd dose for at least three weeks, a- she observed again.
The new protocol, drawn up after consultation with scientists and ethics specialists, will relate in particular to the arrangements for organizing visits, outings or activities in establishments, she detailed.
"We want all that life to resume, that people are no longer isolated in their rooms but that they go to the collective places of the establishment," said Brigitte Bourguignon.
The minister also wanted the management of nursing homes to remove the plexiglass walls that sometimes separate residents from their families during visits.
Authorized outings after vaccination
“I don't want any more plexiglass, it's terrible.
I have heard too many things about it, from people who are deaf, who need to touch in order to understand each other, we cannot continue to hear that, we have to take it into account ”.
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Last week, the Minister of Health and Solidarity Olivier Véran had already announced that residents of accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people (Ehpad) would "be able to go out if they are vaccinated" and thus "gradually find freedom" .
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On March 3, the Council of State ruled "disproportionate" and "suspended" the recommendation of the public authorities to completely ban outings to residents.
The government, however, "did not wait for the Council of State" to consider a reduction in the protocol, Brigitte Bourguignon assured Tuesday.
