Urgent calls to allow care home visits as families in West Yorkshire haven't been able to meet for 9 months
Residents must be reunited with their loved ones "before it is too late'', the Government has been told
Last updated 19th Nov 2020
Established care home visiting schemes already show that visits can be managed safely - and residents must be reunited with their loved ones "before it is too late'', the Government has been told.
A petition set up to allow face-to-face care home visits has reached nearly 200,000 signatures, with many families saying they feel their relatives are being treated like "prisonsers."
Last week the Government announced that Bradford was one of several local authorities that will be sent a weekly allocation of new Covid tests, which provide results within 30 minutes.
Head of Public Health in Bradford Sarah Mucklesaid the first priority will be to allow people living in care homes, many of whom have not seen family members for months, to start getting visitors again.
But for others across West Yorkshire, there is still now timeline for when they can see their family again.
Penny Hutchinson, from Halifax, is one of the supporters. Her mum Yvonne has dementia, but due to the tight restrictions that have been in place across West Yorkshire, she hasn't seen her in nine months.
She said: "Before the lockdown my brother and I would visit her twice a day. Since March we haven't been able to do this.
"We haven't been able to hug mum, we haven't been able to hold her hand. And the hardest part of it is, she doesn't understand.
"We can't explain to her...she probably just thinks we're not bothered any more."
Well she's joined up with 'Rights for Residents' which started the petition. They argue families should be treated the same as care workers and be tested regularly to allow them to visit relatives.
She said: "Over 400 residents in care homes are dying every single day...there are residents dying who haven't seen their families for nine months.
"It's unforgivable."
Well the shadow minister for social care Liz Kendall said many care home residents are "fading fast'' after months without meaningful contact with friends and family during the coronavirus pandemic.
She said: "It is clear that safe visits can take place, and yet the Government have been far too slow to act.
"Instead of waiting for the results of a pilot project, ministers must learn from what some care homes have already been doing and begin treating family members as key workers - making them a priority for weekly testing and proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), just as is supposed to happen for care home staff.
"This is something Labour has been calling for since mid-June. Families must be reunited with their loved ones without delay.''
Halifax MP Holly Lynch is also supporting calls for safe visits to take place, after highlighting Penny's situation in Parliament.
The Government launched a pilot scheme this week in around 20 care homes across Hampshire, Cornwall and Devon where relatives will be regularly tested, and hopes to roll it out further before Christmas.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said it is doing everything it can to bring people together, adding: "We must also get the balance right between reuniting families and ensuring staff and residents of all ages in care homes are safe and well, while preventing the transmission of Covid-19.''
The Alzheimer's Society called on the Government to ensure all care homes can receive visitors "before it is too late''.
Fiona Carragher, director of research and influencing, said: "As schemes like this show, with access to protective equipment and regular testing, care home visits can be managed in a safe way now, and hugely improve the health and wellbeing of care home residents, at least 70% of whom have dementia.''
She added: "People with dementia can wait no longer. We need the Government to roll out safe care home visits nationally as soon as possible, before it is too late.''