I wrote to my local MP - a care home visit rant

Sometimes I just get so cross and it builds and builds but I do nothing about it. I have strong views on matters but have no outlet. Well this weekend I couldn't leave it anymore. I read the news and just wound myself up, so I proactively did do something and I wrote to my local MP.

'Dear Mr .........

Thank you for your stock reply to my stock email, sent via the Alzheimer’s signed letter to the government.

However, I wish to speak to you on a more personal level, especially in light of the news that the government have said this morning that they are going to allow one nominated family member visiting rights to a care home, as long as full PPE is worn together with a negative lateral flow test. This is very good news indeed, but there are three people in my family that need to desperately see my mother and also, critically, the care home where she resides does not support lateral flow tests. 

You say in your email that you can imagine how challenging it must be for families caring for loved ones but, unless you are in the position where you have had a loved one in a care home over this last year, then you really couldn’t imagine how challenging and heart breaking it really is.

My mother went into a care home in February 2020 and, between my father, my brother and I, as well as her friends, she had visitors daily. All that stopped in March when the home, rightly, closed its doors to visitors. Due to lack of clear and timely guidance and staff infections, behind the screen visits have been severely limited and I have only seen my mother once since March.  Due to having no contact she no longer recognises me; any relationship with her in the future is lost. The personal care that I always gave my mother isn’t provided by the care home and the consequential decline in her wellbeing is devastating for me to witness.

You say that the governments aim throughout the pandemic has been to keep people in care homes safe and well, but there has to be a balance between keeping the residents well and causing more distress to not only them but also to their families. My mother would have been and is distraught on occasions, wondering what she had done to make all the people she knew and loved through her visits abandon her. I see photos of my mother occasionally online from the care home and she is no longer recognisable.

My uncle, who also had Alzheimers, went into a care home last month. I saw him the day before he went in and he was smiling and joking with me on the doorstep; he was in good shape. My uncle had to be dropped off outside at the care home and had no visitors to make sure he settled in. My uncle died in less that 4 weeks. We can only put this down to him refusing to eat or drink because he didn’t know what was going on. We have his funeral next week.

I understand that allowing people into care homes brings an infection risk; however, my father is fully vaccinated (since December) and my mother has had her first vaccine, as has my brother. This is more than some of the carers at the home, who are allowed in and out each day. It is safe to say, therefore, that the carers are far more of a risk to my mother than her own family members. 

We have read in the news that some companies are employing a no jab no job rule; why has not been made an essential part of working with the vulnerable in care homes? 

In my mothers care home, visiting has been stopped on the whole because of the carers testing positive, not because of any positive results amongst the residents. On top of this, the home has closed for 28 days each time, not 14 as it states in their official guideline letters. 

I totally understand that you can’t force people to have the vaccine, but you can make a ruling that if they are not prepared to have the vaccine in a role where they have literally hands on contact with vulnerable people then they should look for a different job role entirely, rather than putting other peoples lives at risk.

If you share the governments commitment to bringing an end to the separation of people in care homes, as you state, then can I ask what are you doing on a personal level to help bring this into force? With all due respect, monitoring this issue isn’t doing anything to actually help the situation.

As my representative, I would urge you therefore to bring pressure to the government on the following issues:

Eliminate PPE for fully vaccinated family members so that faces and expressions can be seen by the sufferers of Alzheimers and dementia.

The BBC has reported that only a low percentage of care home workers have been offered the vaccine, is this actually the case or is it actually that only a low percentage of care home workers have taken taken up the offer of the jab? Please can you obtain figures that give a true account of why the care home workers haven’t been vaccinated?

It appears that care home workers are actually a far greater risk to my mother than my fully vaccinated father who is unable to have a proper meaningful visit, why has a rule not been brought into force stating that home care workers should be no jab no job?

I look forward to receiving your full and considered response.

Best regards'