Bedbug Control Hook

What the Home Is Responsible For

Treating the resident’s room, and any others affected, is for the care home to arrange. Ask them which rooms are involved, when treatment is happening and whether there is anything they would like visitors to do. The London guide on bedbug treatment in care homes explains how that work usually runs, which helps you know what to expect.

Your part is smaller and simpler: not carrying them from the home to your own house in Hook, and not carrying things from your house into a room that is mid-treatment.

If the home asks visitors to wait until a room has been treated, go along with it. Meeting in a lounge or a garden for a week or two is a small price for keeping the treatment on track, and your relative still gets the company.

During the Visit

• Sit on a hard chair rather than on the bed or an upholstered armchair in the room.
• Keep your handbag or coat on your lap or on a hard surface, not on the bed or the floor.
• Take in only what is needed, and bring in fresh items in a sealed bag.
• Do not take laundry home unless the home has asked you to; if it has, bag it in the room.
• Hold off on new soft furnishings, cushions or blankets until the home says the room is clear.

Getting Home After a Visit

1. Leave your bag in the hallway, not the bedroom, and check its seams and base.
2. Put what you wore into a tied bag and then into a hot wash and a hot tumble dry.
3. Wash any of your relative’s laundry on hot as soon as you get in, and do not sort it on a bed.
4. Keep the car simple: bags in the boot rather than on the seats.

The guide to bagging and storing belongings covers which bags to use.

If You Find Signs at Home

Look for dark spotting on mattress seams, shed skins and small bugs in the joints of the bed frame. Bites alone are not proof, and some people do not react at all. For skin reactions a pharmacist or GP can advise; call 999 for signs of a severe allergic reaction.

If you are unsure, an inspection starts at £120. If they are there, treatments start at £220. For a single bedroom caught early, chemical treatment is often enough; where more than one room shows signs, heat is usually the better choice. When you ring about a house in Hook, tell us how often you visit, so we can think about timing. The Kingston page has more on the borough.

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