Families whose loved ones died “scared and alone” during Covid-19 are urging the House of Lords to ensure it “never happens again”. Peers will this week debate a new legal right to ensure no one is left cut off from relatives and friends in care homes, hospitals and other care settings.
Campaigners warn relatives — who are crucial ‘care partners’ — are still being blocked, all these years after the pandemic. In one recent case, a woman with dementia was left confused and heartbroken after her daughter was barred from the hospital ward during a flu outbreak. The 89-year-old woman ended up crying down the phone, asking her daughter: ‘Why have you left me? Why have you abandoned me?’
Amendment aims to end restrictive visits
It is hoped the amendment to the Health Bill, put forward this week, could see an end to care home “Pod” visits, distant window chats, visits like “viewing animals in a zoo” and Zoom calls. It aims to give everyone relying on health and care services the right to nominate a trusted relative or friend to provide ‘in-person’ support.
Diane Mayhew, 61, from Preston, Lancashire, who is the co-founder of Rights for Residents, is pleading with the House of Lords to take action. She was not allowed to say goodbye to her dying dad during the pandemic. She told The Mirror: “It terrifies me this will happen again. We owe it to all those we’ve lost and all of us who will need it in the future. My father Alan died alone in hospital. I will never forget it. He was 81, without even one family member by his side to hold his hand, tell him we loved him, or say goodbye.”
Campaigners share personal stories
Jenny Morrison, also 61, co-founder, told how her mum never smiled again after the family were kept from seeing her during Covid. She said: “During the pandemic, my mother Jean, was 88 and living in a care home. She needed a lot of family support as she lived with dementia and was very confused.”
“She went from seeing one of her family every single day, to being completely isolated as all visits were banned. We had to witness her fade away through a closed window. I couldn’t even hold her hand, which would normally calm her and remove her anxiety. She was known in the home as ‘Smiler’, but when she was forcibly separated from those she loved dearly, she never smiled again.”
Labour’s Lord Philip Hunt tabled the amendment to introduce a legal right to a ‘Health and Care Partner’ which will be debated in the House of Lords this Tuesday.
Families back the legal right
Sian Kilcoyne, 65, from Bolton, Greater Manchester, whose 90-year-old mum Norah, is in a residential home with Alzheimer's and rheumatoid arthritis, says if she was stopped from seeing her mum it would “crucify both of us”. Helen Heywood, 63, from Manchester, said she had months during Covid-19 not being able to see her mum who was left confused by the FaceTime calls and window visits.
Campaigners want to see the same rights as exist in Scotland since earlier this year when ‘Anne’s Law’ was introduced, giving people the legal right to nominate a care partner. They say they are hoping the Lords will push it through after Baroness Hallett recognised the importance of this in the Covid-19 Inquiry report on the care sector published last week, stating: “In a future pandemic, visits from essential carers should be available to all residents where possible and should be distinct from considerations regarding general visiting.”
