Labour’s Shadow Minister for Social Care, , is today pledging that Labour will push for
the legal right for care home residents to receive visits from
their loved ones.
Labour has said they would urgently seek to enshrine the right to
family visits in law, as part of the party’s pledge to make
Britain the best place to grow old in and to better support
families. They are calling on Ministers to work cross-party to
swiftly make this a reality.
The Party’s commitment comes following a call from the
cross-party Joint Committee on Human Rights for the default
position to be that those in care homes are able to receive
visits from a ‘significant person’. The committee have said that
blanket bans on family visits are in breach of the legal right to
family life.
The pandemic has seen tens of thousands of care home residents
unable to receive visits from their families for almost a year,
with limited visiting introduced late last year and then scrapped
when the second wave hit.
Changing the default position to a right to family visits would
recognise not only the anguish that separation has caused
families; but would recognise the significant role that family
members play in providing care to care home residents; supporting
their mental and physical health. This is particularly true not
only for care home residents with dementia whose health can
deteriorate quickly if their routines and family connections are
lost; but also for working age adults with physical and learning
disabilities.
Labour’s push for legislation would see those in care homes for
older people, disabled people and those who live in supported
living all given the right to receive visits from families.
, Shadow Minister for Social Care, said:
“Thousands of families have been prevented from seeing their
loved ones, many for almost a year. This has not only cased them
terrible anguish but harmed the physical and mental health of
care home residents too.”
“Government guidelines haven’t worked. We now need urgent action
to enshrine the rights of all care home residents to have safe
family visits, and to end blanket visit bans. Other countries are
leading the way on this issue. Ministers here must now follow
suit and bring forward legislation as a matter of urgency.”
Ends
Notes to editors:
- A review of the evidence of the impact of family visits that
care home residents experienced greater depression and loneliness
and demonstrated more behavioural disturbance during the period
that included visitor bans. They also found that family members
and visitors provide significant levels of unpaid care to their
relatives in care homes, which could have led to reductions in
quality of care or additional tasks for care home staff.
https://ltccovid.org/2020/11/01/pre-print-rapid-review-of-the-evidence-on-impacts-of-visiting-policies-in-care-homes-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/
