ALL CARE HOMES MUST OPEN UP TO LOVED ONES
Families desperate for contact with relatives can finally meet again today
CARE homes which fail to allow relatives inside for a visit face being blacklisted.
From today nominated family members can finally hold hands with a loved one after months of no-contact visits.
But residences risk being rated “inadequate” by the Care Quality Commission watchdog if complaints are upheld by families refused access.
Care home chiefs
last night faced ending up with the lowest marks from the CQC which says it will carry out on-the-spot inspections if it receives complaints about homes failing to comply.
Around 18,000 homes should be welcoming families inside today, many for the first time in a year, as restrictions slowly ease.
Under the new rules, each resident will be able to nominate one family member to regularly visit and hold hands with them, as long as there is no Covid outbreak at the home.
But there is widespread concern that some homes will simply ignore the Government guidance and continue to lock loved ones out.
Kate Terroni, chief inspector of adult social care at the CQC, said: “Blanket bans are unacceptable.
“Where we receive information from the public or through whistleblowing about a provider potentially taking a blanket approach to banning visiting, or if we receive information that indicates a closed culture, we may undertake a risk-based inspection.
“A closed culture could include where there are blanket visiting bans when there is no active outbreak; people being discouraged from having regular calls with loved ones or people not being effectively supported to communicate with relatives.
“I call on all care providers to seek a proactive and personalised approach to supporting contact with loved ones where it is safe to do so.”
CQC inspections form part of the national rating system which ranks facilities as outstanding, good, requiring improvement or inadequate.
Department of Health and Social Care guidance says residents with the highest needs can nominate an essential care giver which, in theory, gives families the right to access.
It also makes clear neither a visitor or resident needs to have had a Covid jab for a reunion to take place. And a single named visitor will be allowed inside for “meaningful visits”. Holding hands is permitted. However, access remains at the discretion of individual managers, sparking fears providers will continue to disregard the rights of families and residents, some of whom are at the end of their lives.
Guidance clearly states homes cannot impose a blanket visiting policy for all residents and “risk assessments should be completed for all residents in order to establish what type of visits are appropriate for them and whether they should be assigned an essential care giver in addition to the nominated named visitor”. It also says home bosses should share assessments with residents and families to explain decisions. A Daily Express audit found Barchester, Four Seasons Healthcare and Care UK, which together run more than 500 homes with 24,000 residents, are restricting visits to 30
minutes, while Bupa is allowing hourlong visits.
MHA and HC-One did not say how long they’d allow visitors to stay. Sanctuary Care said it would allow visits but “essential care givers are not allowed until the national vaccination programme progresses”.
Families now fear a postcode lottery of access.
Jenny Morrison and Diane Mayhew, of campaign group Rights for Residents, said: “Many care homes are already defying the Government’s instructions, and in the last few days we’ve been inundated with emails and calls from distraught families.
“Many care home managers are refusing to follow the rules that require them to assess relatives for their suitability as essential family care givers.
“Others display a complete disregard for the wellbeing of their residents by offering a 30-minute socially distanced visit.
“These are clear abuses of the rights of the most vulnerable in our society and the Government must take swift and decisive action to ensure they’re protected in law.”
Visiting restrictions to protect vulnerable residents from Covid have caused heartbreak and anguish to hundreds of thousands of families denied the chance of a final goodbye to loved ones, who have perished of the virus frightened and alone.
It is known that seven in ten care home residents have dementia. Some 34,000 of these are reported to have died from Covid, while deaths of care home residents are 30 per cent higher than previously thought, with the total at 12,000 since January alone.
Fiona Carragher of the Alzheimer’s Society said: “Close contact indoor visits are crucial to the wellbeing of people with dementia, worst hit by coronavirus, including months of agonising isolation.
“Nearly a third of people we surveyed who lost a loved one during the pandemic felt a lack of social contact was a significant factor in their death. Visiting must be the default position. We’ll be monitoring to ensure visits happen across the board.”
●●Is a care home continuing to ban you from seeing a loved one? Email giles.sheldrick@reachplc.com