MPs call for care home visit bans to be made illegal

Care home visitor bans have been branded a human rights breach by MPs who are demanding a new law allowing visits and have given the government a two-week deadline to act and stop residents dying of isolation.

A human rights committee of MPs and peers has called on government ministers to legislate against blanket bans on care home visits in England, which they argue is a breach of human rights – namely people’s right to family life.

The new law would adopt the Canada system of allowing entry to care homes and mental health hospitals by a designated care-giver, provided they test negative before each visit for COVID-19. The new law would require care homes to only block a visit 'if they can prove it is unsafe'.

Harriet Harman, the chair of the cross-party joint human rights committee of MPs and peers, is urging health secretary, Matt Hancock, to tell care homes to allow face-to-face visits without screens.

‘We have continued to hear far too many examples of people being denied meaningful visits, where these might be safely facilitated,' wrote Harriet Harman in a letter to Matt Hancock.

‘Failure to adopt an individualised approach to the safety of visits risks breaching the right of patients, residents and their families to family life.

‘We urge you to look at how other countries are tackling this, such as Canada, where in Ontario they have changed the law to allow access to care homes for a relative who is a designated caregiver, provided they test negative before each visit.

‘I would be very grateful if you could consider our proposal as a matter of urgency and respond to us by 17 February.’

Some care homes remain closed to all but end-of-life visits, despite government guidance that care homes should set visiting policy “on the basis of a dynamic risk assessment taking into consideration the needs of individuals within their home”.

The Committee said: ‘Relatives must now be reunited with their loved ones in care homes and that needs to be backed up by law.’

Families claim care home visit bans are causing deaths as a result of the isolation and loneliness it brings.

West End star Ruthie Henshall is campaigning for care home visits to be allowed to prevent residents “dying from loneliness” during lockdown. She spoke out after her own mother's health rapidly declined in a care home during lockdown. She said her mother Gloria had gone from someone who could move about and talk, as well as eat meals, to someone who sits alone in her room and must be fed by staff.

Care minister Helen Whately was unable to say this week when visits would restart stating: “We're looking right now at what could we possibly do over the weeks ahead to try and enable more individual visits to start again.”

110 care homes not vaccinated because of outbreaks

Meanwhile, Health secretary Matt Hancock told parliament 10,307 care homes had been vaccinated but vaccination has not started in 110 care homes because of COVID-19 outbreaks.

GPs have been told to only vaccinate in care homes with outbreaks where it is safe to do so.

Mr Hancock told MPs: “There are 110 care homes where the vaccination programme is still outstanding because they’ve had outbreaks and, for clinical reasons, the vaccination programme can’t start there,” he said. “But it will as soon as it’s clinically possible.”

Care home residents were top of the UK's vaccine priority list because they are at a high risk of dying if they catch COVID-19. The government target had been to get vaccines to all people living in care homes in England by the end of January.

Ms Whately said on the Today programme: “I would say there's a small number because of an outbreak where the director of public health has said that at the moment it's not appropriate to go in that will need to be visited in the next few weeks.”

The care minister also said: “Any care home that [hasn't] been contacted, just let me know, I will personally follow up.” She urged care homes to contact her.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 36,000 care home residents have died of COVID-19 across the UK.