Frances Heaton says 90,000 people can gather at Leeds Festival but only one of her children can visit her
A 100-year-old care home resident has issued a video plea for greater freedom, complaining that thousands of people can go to pop festivals but she is being prevented from seeing two of her children at her home in Yorkshire.
Frances Heaton said “human rights and equality are out of order altogether”, as 240,000 people signed a petition demanding a new law ending isolation for care home residents, with many saying care operators are still refusing to follow government advice on facilitating visits and are imposing their own stricter regimes. The petition is titled: “Please let me hug my family before it’s too late!”.
Government guidance is that every care home resident in England can have an unlimited number of “named visitors” who will be able to enter the care home for regular visits after negative tests and they can also nominate one essential care giver who undergoes regular testing who may visit the home to attend to essential care needs.
Hundreds of families are to protest in Westminster next week over restrictions on residents’ access to their families in care homes and the lack of legal visiting rights after 18 months of lockdowns. The protest, organised by the Rights for Residents campaign group, will be led by the actor Ruthie Henshall, whose mother, Gloria, died recently after isolation in a care home that allowed only “window visits”.
Read More: Yorkshire care home resident, 100, pleads for end to Covid isolation
