CAMPAIGN

Why is it still so hard to visit loved ones in care homes and hospitals?

Three years after the start ofthe pandemic, some people in care homes and hospitals are still being denied visitors or facing cruel and arbitrary limits. So today, we're getting behind a campaign to lift restrictions and ensure residents will never again be left in isolation

by RACHEL CARLYLE

At last the pandemic is receding into memory for most of us. But spare a thought for those with relatives in care homes and hospitals who are still living under Covid-19 rules and regulations long after the rest of us have been freed.

Campaigners report that some homes are shutting out visitors for all kinds of 'random' reasons, or imposing conditions such as time-limited visits, no visiting after 3.30pm or at weekends, or visits by appointment only.

This is despite Government guidance issued in March last year lifting all restrictions. Even if the home has a Covid outbreak, it is supposed to allow residents one visitor at a time. It's why Saga is backing a campaign to force homes to follow the guidance, and to create a new legal right for vulnerable people to have named 'care supporters' in homes and hospitals.

'They're the most vulnerable people and should have been first in the queue for getting their rights back, not last'

'Older people who need care are being repeatedly failed by the very systems designed to protect them,' says Helen Wildbore, director of the Relatives and Residents Association (RRA). 'Three years after the start of the pandemic they are the only group left in the country still living under Covid rules. They're the most vulnerable people and should have been first in the queue for getting their rights back, not last.'

Almost all homes are, in theory at least, open to visitors. But there are two problems. One is that some are shutting out visitors in the event of an outbreak of Covid, sickness and diarrhoea or even flu, which is against the guidelines. In a survey in the autumn by the RRA and Rights for Residents, 60% had imposed visiting restrictions over and above Government guidelines. The second problem is that even with no outbreak, C) some homes (the survey suggests 40%) are restricting visitors - for example, limiting times of day (12%), the number of visitors (11%) or insisting on appointments (7%).