Experts warn that banning Covid for caregiver visitors risks premature death World News

Elderly care professionals could give up hope and die prematurely this winter by banning visits to thousands of care facilities altogether, even if they don’t have a loved one. Warns.

More than 2,700 sanatoriums in England have already been closed or are imminently closed by local public health authorities, according to a Guardian analysis of new government regulations published to protect the most vulnerable people from Covid-19. Is being pressed.

The care group wants to allow limited visits to the government. This includes designating selected families as key workers.

After Friday, long-term care facilities in the area of ​​the local government designated by Public health England for a wide range of anti-Covid interventions should move to stop visits immediately, except in exceptional circumstances such as the end of life. We also stop visits to windows and gardens and are subject to the 7-month limit at many long-term care facilities that closed the door to regular visits in March.

A total ban will bring about the real reality of “going downhill rapidly, giving up hope, and eventually dying faster than it would otherwise,” said charity Age UK and charitable healthcare providers. The representative National Care Forum (NCF) warned.

The organization estimates that 300,000 inhabitants and families, as well as Brighton’s population, are already affected by this policy. However, outbreaks in long-term care facilities are increasing rapidly. In the United Kingdom, outbreaks of acute respiratory infections were confirmed in long-term care facilities involving Covid, increasing from 35 to 228 on September 6. After a week.. HC-One, the UK’s largest long-term care home operator, has already closed 147 homes across the UK, nearly half of all facilities. We have recorded Covid outbreaks in 30 homes.

The ban is currently applied to 44 areas from Newcastle upon Tyne to Solihull, primarily to homes in northern England and Midland. Birmingham, the most populous area in the intervention area, has 296 homes, nursing homes, and supported living facilities, and the city council now suspends non-essential visits exempt from end-of-life visits. I am instructing. The next affected areas are Merseyside’s Sefton and Durham. As infectious diseases continue to increase, more areas are expected to be added to the lockdown list.

The Alzheimer’s Disease Association also warns that removing family visitors who know ways to help feed people with dementia who are otherwise struggling to eat could cause more deaths. Did. Without a visit, the loved one stopped eating and received a call to the helpline reporting that he had “lost the will to live to death.”

“There is no evidence so far that if the visits were carefully managed, it was a significant risk of spreading the infection,” said Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director of Age UK, and Vic Rayner, Executive Director of NCF. Said. , On a joint blog published on Tuesday. “On the contrary, our understanding is that whether the people entering or leaving the care home, whether staff, GPs or district nurses, or actually CQC inspectors, are inevitably more of an ongoing risk. It’s showing more evidence. “

“For example, it is not uncommon for a partner of a resident with dementia to spend hours together so that they can eat and drink slowly and adequately.”

The Alzheimer’s Disease Association encourages designated families to participate in weekly staff tests and provide PPE to ensure that designated families can continue their visits. They say they are “an integral part of the long-term care system” and that lockouts may have already contributed. To death.

“We want to ensure that family caregivers are on an equal footing with key workers,” said Gavin Terry, a charity policymaker. “We need to be aware of the individual needs of the people in the care facility.”

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHSC) Winter Action Plan for Long-term Care Facilities has set a policy of limiting the number of visits to long-term care facility operators who are not in the area of ​​intervention, based on a dynamic risk assessment that takes into account the vulnerabilities of residents. We are asking you to develop this, both whether the needs of the resident make you particularly clinically vulnerable to Covid-19 and whether the needs of the resident make the visit particularly important. included.”

A DHSC spokesperson said the government’s top priority was to prevent infections in long-term care facilities and protect staff and residents.

“The Adult Social Care Winter Plan provides for stronger infection prevention and control measures to ensure that visits continue as safely as possible,” they said. “The areas listed as” areas of intervention “we hope to immediately limit visits to exceptional situations-such as the end of someone’s life.