Im thinking of asking the manager of my Mums carehome, if I got a Covid test that came out negative, would I be able to spend some time with Mum. Im fully expecting her to still say no but was wondering if anyone else has tried this and if so, what response they got. I cant think of any reason why this wouldnt be ok but in this crazy situation, logic and common sense seems to be in short supply. ?
Carehome Visits
- Thread starter Kellyr
- Start date
Hi Kelly R
I have been down every route possible to be able to see my Mum.
I offered to be a ‘Volunteer’ was accepted, did a 2 day course, had a DBS check, but was only allowed to take Mum out for 20 minute walks and never did get allowed in the Home to help out in any way, no explanation of this was actually given. I went back to the Manager to ask for longer walks, you can imagine we didn’t get far within 20 minutes. I had another Risk Assessment and was tested weekly, with other staff members, and was allowed longer walks, until my Mum had a positive Covid test?? The only one in a large home, she had no symptoms and everyone wondered if it was a False Positive, but she still had to go through 2 weeks of isolation. I was allowed one more outdoor visit with her, until the next Lockdown in September and I haven’t been able to see her since, apart from one closed window visit and now they have been stopped.
I wish you well and hope you have more luck than me and the many others who are trying to see their loved ones. Do you follow Johns Campaign and Rights for Residents? Lots of support and help on there. In the meantime I continue to try to find a way to stop this cruel isolation.
Hi @Wishing20 Im amazed you got as far as you did so well done for that. My garden visits with my Mum were closely monitored and I wasnt even allowed to push her round the garden in a w/chair. As for stopping window visits, Mums home never really allowed them either. The rules are so ludicrous and have nothing to do with infection control. I do keep up with rightsforresidents (and johns campaign) and they have been amazing. If not for them galvanising pple, I dont know what we would do. I feel so sad for you and all of us going through this madness. Hope you can stay strong and lets keep hoping the Government sees sense and allows us proper visits again very soon. Ps theres a guy called mike yeadon who is questioning everything we're being told about this virus anyway, which if you believe him, makes the whole thing even more frustrating ? Take care..
I’ll look him up... one day this madness will be over and the people who made these unreasonable, decisions and denied families their time together, will hang their heads in shame and live with what has been done to so many!
Well I've certainly tried including the local council risk manager and local director of public health to boot. I'm hoping Johns Campaign makes a difference now as there is little in the way of any change
Last edited:
Exactly! And the Government will be apologising and saying 'lessons must be learned' ...!
Hi @Palerider Im sure youre aware but rights for residents are also doing an amazing job of raising awareness. Unfortunately the powers that be are so far ignoring everyones efforts
I think this recent paper holds some significant points around lockdown:
www.medrxiv.org
The impact of host resistance on cumulative mortality and the threshold of herd immunity for SARS-CoV-2
The risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19 is not uniformly distributed across all age classes, with the bulk of deaths occurring among older ages and those with comorbidities. Evidence is also mounting that some individuals have pre-existing immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 which may...
www.medrxiv.org
For some reason the pple in charge are only listening to Sage who seem to be saying things that are demonstrably untrue. Its all very strangeI think this recent paper holds some significant points around lockdown:
The impact of host resistance on cumulative mortality and the threshold of herd immunity for SARS-CoV-2
The risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19 is not uniformly distributed across all age classes, with the bulk of deaths occurring among older ages and those with comorbidities. Evidence is also mounting that some individuals have pre-existing immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 which may...
Hi @Kellyr , you've probably seen that someone has posted in Rights for Residents a link to a sage publication assessing the prohibition of visitors to high risk settings eg hospitals and care homes. It says most infection is probably via staff, effect of covid in the home can be devastating BUT testing of visitors is a potential mitigation option ( just what we're all saying)
It also highlights that the non covid impact on prohibiting visitors is moderate to high risk , as there is substantial social and emotional impact on residents and, for end of life residents in particular, relatives.
I would argue the impact is on all relatives ( not just those with end of life residents)
Government just choosing to ignore this!
It also highlights that the non covid impact on prohibiting visitors is moderate to high risk , as there is substantial social and emotional impact on residents and, for end of life residents in particular, relatives.
I would argue the impact is on all relatives ( not just those with end of life residents)
Government just choosing to ignore this!
Hi @anxious annie thanks for flagging this up, I hadnt seen it. Im not a fan of Sage and their advice and alot of pple are now questioning it but at least theyve made some effort to look into this I guess. It really is amazing what Rights for Residents have acheived in raising awareness, their hard work and persistence has helped us all so much, and given us a focus but it beggars belief how much the gov have thus far ignored everything. I spoke to a local councilor yesterday who thinks the gov may be making a statement quite soon... heres hoping!! Stay strong!
Was so pleased yesterday to hear the headlines saying " all care home residents should be allowed to receive visits from family and friends in a Covid-secure way- with distancing and PPE" . Then after reading published guidance today, realise very little has changed and for some, reading comments on Rights for Residents, it's just made it worse as care homes can't/won't comply.
Not only Mike Reardon, there are s lot of other experts from various disciplines with similar views.
Worth noting that the paper carries an important caveat "This article is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed [what does this mean?]. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice."I think this recent paper holds some significant points around lockdown:
The impact of host resistance on cumulative mortality and the threshold of herd immunity for SARS-CoV-2
The risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19 is not uniformly distributed across all age classes, with the bulk of deaths occurring among older ages and those with comorbidities. Evidence is also mounting that some individuals have pre-existing immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 which may...
Hi @northumbrian_k -you are right the paper has not been peer reviewed. If you search and look at all of the work on SARS-COV2 you will find none of the papers have been peer reviewed and that includes the ones by SAGE.
I think this report sums up my own thoughts on where we are up to on visitng in care homes:
Covid: Care home visits advice impractical, say charities
New guidance for care homes in England suggests introducing screens, pods and window visits.
www.bbc.co.uk
Peer review means it is published on the authority of the author as it were and has not been gone through and possibly tested by qualified colleagues. There is a huge pressure to get reports out there whereas caution and protocol would have been the order of the day once.I think this report sums up my own thoughts on where we are up to on visitng in care homes:
Covid: Care home visits advice impractical, say charities
New guidance for care homes in England suggests introducing screens, pods and window visits.www.bbc.co.uk
Kindred
I think its fair to say with the pressure on various scientific groups to meet the challenges of SARS-COV2 it is impractical to expect their work to have peer review -this is a long process and reviewers would not be able to keep up with the pace of papers currently being produced.
Anyone who wants to know more about this aspect of research there is an article that is fairly easy to follow:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Anyone who wants to know more about this aspect of research there is an article that is fairly easy to follow:
Peer Review in Scientific Publications: Benefits, Critiques, & A Survival Guide
Peer review has been defined as a process of subjecting an author’s scholarly work, research or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field. It functions to encourage authors to meet the accepted high standards of their discipline ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Its been an emotional day and all that dwells on my mind now is being able to visit mum and just be with her. I listened to the Today program Radio 4 and Johns Campaign gave their interpretation of the updated guidance:
The narrative on care home visits has always been framed on the need to protect residents FROM THEIR OWN RELATIVES. Yet there is no supporting evidence whatsover. Common sense strongly suggests the opposite, which is supported by recent SAGE research. Banning controlled visits from key relatives is no more logical than banning all care home employees. Relatives are being made to pay the price of the reprehensible policy in the first wave of seeding CV from hospitals into care homes. And the vast majority of care homes, meant to be person centered but in reality only profit centered, are only too happy to keep family visitors out.
