COVID-19: How To Work Safely In Domiciliary Care In England

A resource for those working in domiciliary care providing information on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

This resource is primarily for care workers and providers delivering care in the following settings:

• visiting homecare
• extra care housing
• live-in homecare

It provides guidance on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) during sustained COVID-19 transmission in the UK, and explains how PPE guidance applies to the homecare (domiciliary care) setting.

There are guides for:

• putting on PPE for home carers
• taking off PPE for home carers

These instruction sheets should be used alongside the video guide to putting on and taking off PPE. Although the video is titled as being for workers in care homes, the content is just as relevant for home care. Watch the video.

Please note that this guidance is of a general nature and that an employer should consider the specific conditions of each individual place of work and comply with all applicable legislation, including the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

There may be further information specific to each country in the United Kingdom, as this guidance was written by Public Health England primarily for an English health professional audience. To see if country specific information is available, please refer to Health Protection Scotland, Public Health Wales, or Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland.

DOCUMENTS: 

- PPE: A resourcce for care workers delivering homecare in England

- Putting on PPE for home carers 

- Taking off PPE for home carers

- COVID-19 PPE: recommendations for domiciliary care workers within 2 metres of a client and providing close personal care (for example, touching) OR within 2 metres of anyone in the household who is coughing

- COVID-19 PPE: recommendations for domiciliary care workers within 2 metres of a client or household members but not delivering personal care or needing to touch them, and there is no one within 2 metres who has a cough

- COVID-19 PPE: recommendations for any other work situation when in a client’s home; or in your work premises; or with other staff members

- PPE recommendations for domiciliary home care workers explained

- COVID-19 PPE: recommendations for those providing support to people with learning disabilities or autistic people in domiciliary care

- Case scenarios for care workers delivering homecare (domiciliary care)

Source: COVID-19: how to work safely in domiciliary care in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)