Jackie Baillie is pleading with Nicola Sturgeon to let care home residents haqve personal contact with their relatives.
By Democrat reporter
Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie MSP has asked Nicola Sturgeon to have a heart and lift the six-month ban on care home residents receiving visits and having personal contact with family carers.
Scottish Labour raised this issue at First Minister’s Questions recently following lobbying from families who held a rally outside the Scottish Parliament.
Jackie Baillie MSP for Dumbarton, Vale of Leven, Helensburgh and Lomond said:“Care homes have been at the epicentre of the COVID-19 crisis but it didn’t need to be that way.
“Six months since the ban on care home visiting was first introduced, the Scottish Government is still failing to recognise that husbands, wives, children and grandchildren are not simply visitors; they are caregivers and they and their loved ones are suffering mentally, emotionally and physically, the longer contact is prevented or severely restricted.
“Older and disabled people living in care homes cannot be expected to live their lives in isolation without the companionship and affection of their closest family and friends.
“Experts are saying that there is neither logic nor humanity in the Scottish Government’s current approach to not allowing visits indoors at care homes, which they have said can best be described as treating care home residents as prisoners.
“They are clear that it is damaging if a person is starved of their most important human contacts and that this has an impact on their quality of life.
“After making terrible decisions at the start of the pandemic, including sending older people into care homes without testing for the virus and limiting their access to healthcare, the Scottish Government’s caution is understandable but it is not proportionate.
“Car park visits and waves at the window are falling short of the contact and care that older and disabled people in care homes need.
“Scottish Labour has previously put forward proposals for family caregivers to be given access to routine testing and PPE and afforded the same status as care staff. This is supported by charities and people right across Scotland.
“We know that there is a second wave of COVID-19 approaching, with further restrictions to be considered by the Scottish Government, however any fresh regulations should be driven by the importance of human relationships and the rights to have such relationships protected.
“This is a human rights issue that is touching the hearts of thousands of people across the county and the Scottish Government must act now.”