Ongoing care home restrictions causing 'distress' and 'hurt'

Families of care home residents are pleading with health chiefs to relax visiting restrictions urgently.

It comes as some businesses prepare to reopen their doors tomorrow, (Friday) as lockdown measures begin to ease in Northern Ireland.

Visiting restrictions were introduced in care homes when the pandemic struck in a bid to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The Department of Health advised care homes to adopt a 'care partners' scheme to try and facilitate safe visiting whilst still maintaining strict infection control measures.

Downtown Cool FM understands 302 homes have reported putting these measures in place, there are over 400 care homes in Northern Ireland.

In a statement a spokesperson for the Department of Health said: "Up to and including 12 April 2021, 302 homes reported that they have implemented the care partner scheme with at least one care partner.

"Information relating to time restrictions or limits to the number of individual care partner visits is not available.

"It is important to note the data reported above is received through care homes self-reporting to RQIA.

"Additional work is being carried out to validate the data on care partner arrangements to ensure its accuracy.

"Other homes may be either working towards implementing the scheme and are being supported to do so, or have not had any requests from family members/carers to do so."

David Clarke's 73-year-old father David Senior is in a care home in County Antrim.

He has dementia and David visits once a week as per care partner guidelines.

His sister has not seen their father in over a year apart from through the window.

David told Downtown Cool FM this is 'heartbreaking' and said it is time for visiting arrangements to change:

"I feel guilty almost because I am getting the contact with him and she isn't...but it is very difficult for her, a whole year has gone by and really she has never seen her dad apart from a couple of times at a window.

"Yes of course there has to be infection prevention control measures put in place, nobody is denying that but given my dad is doubly vaccinated, I as a care partner have been vaccinated and given the fact that the rate of the virus is very small now in comparison, yet here we are in April 2021 and yet still we have homes dragging their heels."

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said a piece of work is underway to review visiting restrictions in care homes,

Recommendations will be sent to the Health Minsiter at the end of April.

A statement said: "The Department of Health has commissioned the Public Health Agency (PHA), to establish a Moving Towards Normalised Care Home Visiting in Northern Ireland Task and Finish Group.

"The purpose of the Group is to develop a new approach which supports the safe and proportionate return to normalised visiting in care homes, as restrictions in Northern Ireland are eased from April 2021.

"The Group’s recommendations will be submitted to the Department , for endorsement by the Minister, by the end of April. The Group includes representatives from the:

• HSCB, PHA, RQIA, Trusts, COPNI and PCC;

• Departmental policy Directorates;

• Representatives from various relatives Groupings; and

• Independent Healthcare Providers

"We recognise the huge sacrifices still being made by many right across the Care Home Sector to protect lives and are thankful to them all. While these new arrangements are being discussed we will continue to support the sector in facilitating visiting and establishing and maintaining Care Partners arrangements.

"We accept that some Providers remain cautious about expanding visiting based on their experiences to date of managing both the transmission and impact of COVID-19. However with the support of Trusts, PHA, HSCB and the RQIA colleagues, we remain very keen to allay those fears."