A West Bay care home has remained coronavirus free and continues to make changes to allow families to visit safely.

Harbour House has managed to keep its residents entertained throughout lockdown, as well as implementing a variety of measures to ensure staff and residents are kept safe.

Anna Knight, registered manager at Harbour House said: "All our staff and residents are tested on a regular basis and we have just created two visiting pods. One inside and one outside to ensure that residents are not prevented from seeing their loved ones in bad weather"

Residents have enjoyed frequent trips out in the Harbour House car with staff, sightseeing, picnicking and enjoying ice creams in Abbotsbury. They have increased their crafts, games, painting and entertaining to try and keep everyone's spirits up. Local musicians have been playing outdoors for residents and Rotary members organised a concert over Zoom. One resident has even been running exercise classes.

Contractors have moved in to Harbour House and are now living with the residents to ensure they are part of the home's 'bubble' while essential fire maintenance works are being carried out.

All Staff are being tested weekly and residents are tested biweekly to ensure that the home remains safe. Families are staying in touch via Zoom, Teams and Skype or balcony visits. One family member per resident is able to join the weekly testing to enable them to visit the new indoor pod to try and keep some sense of 'normality' for everyone. These visits will commence from next week now that the pod has just been completed.

Anna added: "Our wonderful hairdressers are tested weekly to ensure that everyone looks their best and this helps keep everyone's morale strong.

"We remain open for respite and permanent residents at Harbour House and currently have vacancies for rooms with balconies and sea views.

"If you are interested in joining our wonderful residential community, give us a call on 01308 423277."