Day services to welcome more people back

Lancashire County Council and other social care providers will be able to welcome more people back to adult day services from Monday 8 March.

The services, which provide daytime support for adults with physical and learning disabilities and older people, have been open for very limited numbers of people since early January because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Some have been closed during this period.

There are now more measures in place to help prevent the spread of coronavirus including:

• Provision of regular testing for staff using the services as part of the national support programme.
• Additional asymptomatic lateral flow testing for staff.
• Vaccinations being made available to all staff, and many service users in vulnerable groups being vaccinated as part of the national programme.

These measures mean more people will be able to use the services. However, people will still not be able to access services yet if they are shielding.

County Councillor Graham Gooch, cabinet member for adult services, said: “We had to put people’s safety first and have been limiting the number of adults who can use day services to reduce the spread of coronavirus and protect vulnerable people.

“However, falling infection rates and new measures such as asymptomatic testing and the vaccination programme mean we can now welcome more people into the services again.

“Social distancing and strict infection prevention measures are still in place as they have been since last year, so we won’t be able to fully reopen the centres yet.

“However, we’re pleased that more adults who need day services support will be able to access our services. This will be great news for them and their families.”