‘Care home residents need to see visitors’ pleads Greater Manchester charity

A coalition of charities and organisations have spoken about the importance of seeing friends and family for elderly, vulnerable people.
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The boss of a Greater Manchester charity is supporting a national campaign to improve visiting rights for care home residents.

One Dementia Voice, which brings together a number of organisations supporting those with the devastating memory-loss condition, says too many people in nursing or residential homes are facing ongoing restrictions on who can come in to see them.

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Although new guidance has been issued by the Government, they say this is not enough and it needs to be written into law.

The CEO of The Lewy Body Society, which is based in the city-region, has explained why she is supporting the campaign and says care home residents face a “postcode lottery” when it comes to visiting rights.

What has One Dementia Voice said?

One Dementia Voice has said in its call to action that too many care home residents are still unable to see family, friends and loved ones.

It says the Covid-19 pandemic has brought into sharper focus an issue which was already there beforehand, with people struggling to maintain essential relationships once they have gone into a nursing or residential facility.

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One Dementia Voice said: “As the rest of the country returns to normal, the lives of too many care home residents remain severely restricted without due consultation or consent.

“Meaningful contact with loved ones can still too often be left to chance and the degree of variation in the process is completely unacceptable.

“We have heard varying accounts when it comes to access, such as a 30-minute visit once a week right through to some residents without having access to family and friends at all.

“Carers rights are not consistently upheld in relation to essential caregiver status as set out in government guidance. As a group of dementia specialists we cannot sufficiently stress how damaging this is.

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“Maintaining close, meaningful contact even at the end of life isn’t always guaranteed. This can leave a permanent and damaging legacy to those who live on.”

What has The Lewy Body Society said?

The Lewy Body Society is based in Wigan and its CEO Jacqui Cannon said she completely agrees with the call to action and the problems identified by the campaign.

She said the root of the issue is that people in care homes are being treated differently to the rest of society.

She said: “We saw an example where there was a 100th birthday and the person was taken out to a party, but was then forced to isolate when they went back into the care home for two weeks. We wouldn’t have had to isolate for two weeks.

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“The Lewy Body Society is supporting this call to action. When my dad was in a care home I visited him every day. I can only imagine what these families are going through not being allowed to visit people.

Jacqui Cannon, CEO of the Lewy Body SocietyJacqui Cannon, CEO of the Lewy Body Society
Jacqui Cannon, CEO of the Lewy Body Society

“I feel it’s not helping their quality of life and meaning they deteriorate much quicker, especially if they’ve got dementia as they don’t understand why relatives aren’t allowed to go in and see them.

“There are pockets of good practice in Greater Manchester where relatives are allowed to go in and others where care homes have a shortage of staff or don’t have the capacity to allow visitors and people are being turned away. It’s the same as the rest of the country.

“I understand that risk needs to be kept to a minimum, but someone in a care home should have that right to maintain essential relationships, the same way we do.

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“It shouldn’t be a postcode lottery depending on where you live, everybody should be treated the same.”

What has the Government said?

The Government has issued updated guidance on visits for care home residents in which it said seeing loved ones was important while recognising elderly people were still vulnerable to Covid-19 and suggesting measures were in place to prevent transmission.

It said: “There are no nationally set restrictions on friends and family visiting their loved ones in care homes. We expect and encourage providers to facilitate visits wherever possible, and to do so in a risk-managed way.

“Visiting is an integral part of care home life. It is vitally important for maintaining the health, wellbeing and quality of life of residents. Visiting is also crucial for family and friends to maintain contact and life-long relationships with their loved ones, and to contribute to their support and care.”

The coalition, though, says this is not enough and rights to receive visits while living in care homes needs to be written into the Health and Social Care Act.