Care homes are like ‘prisons’ with residents ‘losing will to live’

CARE homes have been turned into prisons, with residents “losing the will to live” as they are deprived of contact with families, charities have warned.

The all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus was told that restrictions on visiting homes had become so extreme that vulnerable people were being left distressed and in some cases unable to recognise their loved ones. Charities said attempts to keep residents safe were too often creating misery and isolation.

They criticised the Government for acting so slowly to protect care homes that 6,000 deaths had occurred by the time testing was introduced.

Last month, the Government issued guidance to care homes, after four months of lockdown, suggesting that future visits should be restricted to just one family member. Helen Wildbore, director of the Relatives and Residents Association, suggested that attempts to protect the vulnerable sometimes forgot about their “social” needs. She told MPS: “Sadly, many of the callers to our helpline have been telling us that the current situation in care homes is now very much like a prison, with such restricted visiting, residents unable to leave the grounds of the home, and limited interactions with other residents and staff.”

Ms Wildbore said the impact of such isolation was particularly devastating for those with dementia. Often such residents could not understand why they had been denied visits, with some fearful of what had become of their family or whether they would visit again. She said: “We hear daily from our helpline callers about how relatives in care are deteriorating, not just their mental health but also the knockon impact on their physical health of older people losing weight and losing speech; losing their memory; no longer being able to recognise their family members. One relative put it to us that they’re losing the will to live.”

Judy Downey, the charity’s chairman, criticised the Government for acting too late to attempt to protect homes. She said that by the time hospitals were told to start testing those discharged to care homes in April, there had been 28,000 patients transferred and almost 6,000 Covid deaths.

Other charities said the circumstances in which people had lost loved ones would make bereavement more difficult. Morgan Vine, from Independent Age, said: “You couldn’t be there with the person, you don’t know if they had a good end of life, and all of that can combine to create a situation where people experience PTSD symptoms.”

‘They are losing weight and losing speech, losing their memory and no longer able to recognise their family’