A really tricky challenge for care homes in rural settings this article tells us.
Care homes face being “vilified” if they are forced to allow in visitors under new plans being considered by the government, ministers have been told.
The care minister Helen Whately said stopping relatives from visiting loved ones in care homes as a precaution against the spread of Covid-19 showed “a lack of humanity”. Legislation is being planned to give care home residents and hospital patients the legal right to see guests, according to the Times, prompting fury from the care sector.
Nadra Ahmed, the chair of the National Care Association, said she was “really disappointed” and blamed staff shortages and a lack of funding for not being able to allow all visitors.
“I think it’s really disappointing that we’re looking at another piece of legislation in relation to the care home sector,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “And I think it will be really important for people to understand that we’re probably one of the most legislated against parts of the sector.”
She added: “We’re trying to do the very, very best that we can and to be vilified in this way when we’re trying our very best. The government needs to be concentrating … on funding the sector properly so that we can do everything we possibly can.”