Care Campaign for the Vulnerable is learning of the pressures faced by conscientious led Care Providers striving to offer a caring and safe environment to both service users and staff. Safety monitoring is proving to be a invaluable care assist tool - bringing a more open and transparent culture into care homes as well as saving valuable resources within the care home sector and the NHS
Prime Minister
The Covid pandemic, a worldwide crisis has brought unprecedented challenges to the U.K. and around the world. Children, adults and the elderly, from the cradle to the grave, few have been left unaffected.
Care Campaign for the Vulnerable was founded eight years ago to help and support families with loved ones in care homes. Since this crisis, we have seen our workload escalate as we walk the path with families that suffer deep anxiety and desperation after being stopped from visiting.
Coming to our organisation are care partners who would visit loved ones in care homes every day to help stimulate and assist with care. This included helping with feeding, personal care and even coaxing to help take important medication. Care partners are crucial to care homes especially if they are understaffed.
Since lockdown and the ceasing of visitations, the government has left the decision of safe visits in the hands of care home providers. We understand why the government may have done this.
Care Providers are familiar with the areas and can work with the local authorities. In the cases brought to us families were advised that care homes were closing their doors and windows and care partners were deemed a “risk” even more of a risk than the care staff mixing and then going home to their families.
Further more the Government states under special circumstances family members could visit their elderly loved ones especially if they were at end of life. But this didn’t always happen.
We support families who are saying that some care providers did facilitate safe visits understanding the importance of doing so but more often than not we were told of care providers who wouldn’t allow this vital contact. This resulted in family members left pacing up and down outside care homes while loved ones inside took their final breath.
Families told us they were contacted by staff who reported their loved ones were not eating or drinking but when a close family member/care partner begged to go in to assist, this was robustly denied as the home explained they were following the “government guidelines”. Families and staff reported the elderly with underlying health conditions that were refused vital medical attention.
Prime Minister, the devastation Covid has brought to our elderly community in care homes has been more than just the virus itself. It will leave a life long negative effect on loving family members both young and old who have been stopped from hugging or being with loved ones as they became frailer or even dying alone. The guilt families say they now feel, will become part of their lives as they try to move on.
CCFTV from the start of the Covid pandemic advised that one nominated family member could be treated as a key worker and allowed to assist in a loved ones care. We see absolutely no reason why this couldn’t have happened and we call for a change in Government guidelines to have a policy in place of allowing this to happen now.
Care Campaign for the Vulnerable is calling for a public inquiry into the handling of the Covid crisis in care homes. This error of judgement on the Government's part is still continuing and our aim is to ensure it never happens again.
Care Campaign for the Vulnerable
"The evidence from Providers who have installed CCTV seems to me to merit careful attention and to be quite persuasive"
Just some of the Care Providers who support our CCTV Safety Monitoring in Care Homes
Download their 'Safety Monitoring In Communal Areas in Care Homes' document
Chiltern and South Bucks District Council SAFE PLACE SCHEME has called on Care Campaign for the Vulnerable to add our support to the initiative for those who are vulnerable in the community to get help if out and about and feeling scared , lost or confused.
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Care Campaign for the Vulnerable is learning of the pressures faced by conscientious led Care Providers striving to offer a caring and safe environment to both service users and staff. Safety monitoring is proving to be a invaluable care assist tool - bringing a more open and transparent culture into care homes as well as saving valuable resources within the care home sector and the NHS