Families demand ‘right to visit’ as care homes reopen
●Freeman urged to act amid concerns guidelines will not guarantee reunions
Families of Scotland’s care home residents are demanding guaranteed visits to their loved ones amid fears many operators will not follow new government guidelines.
Limited visits to care homes resumed yesterday after fresh guidance announced by the Scottish Government last week, but campaigners warned the measures must be enshrined in law.
Care home relatives scotland, made up of family members of those in care homes, called for legislation to allow one designated visitor regular access to their family member’s care home.
The proposed “Anne’s Law” aims to combat discrepancies between the attitudes of different care homes, and the risk that some private care homes may not follow the Scottish Governmentguidance, or may introduce their own limits or criteria.
It comes after Barchester, a major care home operator, announced
the new guidance that visitors would only be allowed after they had received a Covid-19 vaccine. This limitation has since been withdrawn.
Care Home Relatives Scotland has signed an open letter, with other campaign groups of care home relatives, which has been sent to governments in Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland.
"People living in residential and nursing homes, for whatever reason, have been treated differently to the rest of society. They have had no agency. those they have trusted to speak for them have not been properly listened to. Their well-being has been compromised in the name of care,” the letter reads.
Alison Leitch, of Care Home Relatives scotland, believes the Scottish government has acted better than governments in other nations, and said the group feels grateful for the engagement it has had from the govfollowing ernment. But she added that there is still work to bed one, and that she and other campaigners are “not getting excited” about the new guidance yet.
"There can still be these barriers, and until that’s dealt with, we won’t be celebrating,” she said.
“We put our name to [the letter] in support of other campaign groups in the other nations, but ultimately it is pushing for the need for legislation.”
"We’ve already seen that Barchester initially said they wanted everybody to be vaccinated, and then they did au-turn after quite a bit of pressure.
“There are 815 care homes in Scotland, there are going to be barriers put up all the time, and it just brings it all back to the fact that unless there’s legislation, these care homes can do what they want.”
Asked about the appeal for legislation in the coronavirus daily briefing on Monday, health secretary j ea ne freeman said while she“understood” the calls for a new law, in her view the situation“doesn’ t work quite like that”.
"I would rather work hard to bring providers with me to this because they are confident that they can, that the risk is manageable, that they have everything in place to protect residents from the risk of corona virusthan to enter into some compulsion .”
But she added: “Even so, that option of course remains.”
Anne’s Law is named after Anne Duke, who has dementia and lives in a care home in East Kilbride. A petition from her daughter Natasha Hamilton has been signed by tens of thousands of supporters.
After the new guidelines came into force yesterday the daughter of one care home resident said she hopes this is "the start of more hugs for many, many people".
Fiona Scott was able to meet her90-year-oldmotherindoors for the first time in three months after the easing of restrictions allowing residents to have two designated visitors, with each visitor able to see their relative once a week.
Ms scott was at queen' s house in Kelso, in the Borders, to visit her mother, Mary Cook. It was the first time she was able to meet with the grandmother-off our indoors for three months.
She said: "It's hard to put into words, you don't feel as separate. It's just normal isn't it?
"I just feel very sorry for all the folks that cannot get together like this."
Ms Scott added: "The touch and feel, it can speak a volume of words. A hug's a gesture that you can't put into words but it conveys so much to the person. Let's hope that this is the start of more hugs for many, many people."
Steven bailey, concierge at the care home, said :" the difference is amazing-to see mary and fi on a today, it' s just the best feeling in the world. it reminds me of all the reasons why I do this job. I think it will be very overwhelmingfor everybody-including the staff. It's been a long time coming."
Data released last week showed that care home corona virus deaths had fallen by 62 per cent in the last three weeks, with the figure cited by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as the first "hard evidence" of the vaccine's impact.
The scottish government said that with the extra protection in place, the greater risk to residents'well being is from a lack of family contact.
Visitors will be "strongly recommended" to take a coronavirus test on-site and will have to wear PPE.
Cathie Russell, who has been campaigning with the Care Home Relatives Scotland group, said: "We look forward to working with care home providers, public health and oversight teams to ensure that the new guidance allows residents to enjoy meaningful contact with their closest relatives and friends once more."
Yesterday one of the UK'S biggest care home groups announced it is selling 52 of its homes and closing four so it can "better meet" current and future care needs.
HC-ONE said it is planning to sell 52 homes in areas where "we feel our communities would be better served by a local operator".
Four homes will close, more than 200 will be refurbished, and two new homes are due to open.
The provider runs 328 care homes across the UK, employs 23,000staffandcaresfor14,000 residents.
The gm bunion said the move "just show show broken the current system is ".
HC-ONE said its plans will allow it to adapt to the "growing demand for more complex care and dementia care".
Chief executive James Tugendhat said: "As we plan how best to use our resources to continuously improve our care homes, we are determined to invest where we can have the greatest impact and more effectively ready ourselves for the evolving needs of those we care for.
"As a result, we are putting 52 of our homes up for sale in areas where we feel our communities would be better served by a local operator in conjunction with other local services.”