So care staff should just allow anyone who claims to be a relative to barge into a home full of vulnerable and frail people then? There's been reports of two homes near me broken into recently. Someone pushes past me to gain access to the unit I work on I'll be calling the police and following the procedure for an intruder.
This has been done for sensationalist headlines, using a confused and vulnerable elderly lady to do so and that's disgusting.
What that woman did was present herself as an intruder, under normal circumstances I would have called the police, never mind while the government have put rules in place regarding access to care homes.
Didn't take long for care staff to go from being heroes back to villains did it?!
There's another side to care, the side no one wants to talk about or admit to.
The side where elderly and frail people cannot cope and their families don't have the time to care for them properly. The side where residents don't get visits for weeks on end even in normal times because their families are too busy.
The side where people spend Christmas day effectively with a bunch of strangers because their families can't meet their needs for even a day. The side where care workers dress up and sing and dance on Christmas Day, feed someone their lunch or hold their hand, see to their personal care, put their presents away, some of which will have been bought by the care staff themselves, watch a Christmas film with them - while the residents families have their own Christmas and the care workers family get on with Christmas without them. The side where a resident reaches up and cups your face and smiles, wishing you a merry Christmas and thanking you for making an effort to make Christmas even a bit enjoyable.
The side where care workers not only do the practical things but comfort people who haven't seen their families for weeks at the families choice, with "They might come tomorrow".
I too think the government have had more than enough time to put something in place to enable visiting to go ahead and be as safe as possible. I too think it's awful that it hasn't been done sooner, that people have just been forgotten. But I'm powerless, even more powerless than the families because I have a legal duty of care, despite my personal feelings. If I allow a visit I'm not supposed to, if I allow a family member to take someone out that shouldn't be happening according to social services or public health or the local authority, and that person comes to harm, society is going to forget all this "family have the right to do it" and I'll be held responsible for that happening.
Most care staff are seeing the impact this is having every day, but we're not allowed to simply follow what rules we like and disregard those we don't. We wear full PPE, and although it's perfectly legal for me to do so, knowing how vulnerable our people are, I'm limiting my personal life to limit my exposure to the virus and the risk I'll bring it in. I'm being tested every week, I'm doing everything within my power to keep it out of our place, and so are my colleagues.
It's saddening, demoralising and down right offensive that yet again, care workers are being slated over this.
Families should be enlisting the help of the care staff in getting things put in place legally and safely for visits, not turning against them and assaulting them. But then that wouldn't be so sensationalist would it? Cooperation doesn't sell papers does it.