Boris Johnson takes time out from 'partygate' to see care home residents

Taking a break from the ‘partygate’ scandal, Prime Minister Boris Johnson went to a care home in his Uxbridge constituency to find out how residents have been post-lockdown.

During his visit to Parkfield House Nursing Home in Hillingdon on 15 February, Mr Johnson asked care home staff about their experiences of the pandemic.

As well as a tea break with residents, he was shown portraits, poetry and photographs they had created, thanks to lottery-funded workshops with professional artists.

The care home received a £10,000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2021 to fund its 'A Portrait of Parkfield' project.

With the help of the charity Equal Arts, the year-long project has led to residents working with local schools to create artwork based on the lives of residents and the care home’s history, in time for an exhibition at Uxbridge’s Civic Centre.

Care home resident Douglas Ramsay gave Mr Johnson a painting and a poem as a gift.

Parkfield’s care home manager Wendy Bristow said: “He was interested to hear about our experiences of the pandemic, and, on a more positive note, we were able to show him all the great work being done as part of our Portrait of Parkfield initiative and how the strong connections that we are forging with our local community are benefiting both our residents and our home.”

Mr Johnson's visit this week to the care home, run by Canford Healthcare, comes a day after his health minister Sajid Javid visited another care home run by the same care group on 14 February.

This is Mr Johnson’s second trip to the care home, which he also visited in 2019.

Brian Cooney, the chief executive at Canford Healthcare said: “We were very pleased to welcome Mr Johnson back to the home, he is always a popular visitor with our staff and residents who were delighted that he was able to return to the home for a second time.”

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