To think I shouldn't have to pay to see my mum

[MrsBertBibby]

Just that. "Freedom" is no such thing for care home residents. Imprisoned and deprived of family and now, if we want to visit, we must shell out £20 for a test.

Is it unreasonable to call this government absolute sick psychopaths?

@Serrina

17Katya213 without vaccinations it would probably be more than "just a cold".

👍🏻

The government is doing very little to protect the vulnerable and elderly by removing restrictions. The very least they could do is ask people to test and make sure it’s affordable at a time when the cost of living is skyrocketing.

Stockpiling is a rational response?! You couldn't make it up.

Covid testing - just the testing - has cost billions. The taxpayer can not be expected to fund this forever. Your mum is being cared for properly (I assume) and one of measures is continued testing. Would you rather not see her at all?

Yes, the government are sick psychopaths but not for this reason.

@Gilda152

Dad dad from hospital acquired covid in April 2020. I'm never going to visit him ever again. Get your a to the chemist, Pay the £20 and go and see your dad!!!!*

How dense are you? People cannot afford it! You do not just "rock up" the day your parent is due to die (no offence meant to others). You have to go every day to care and cherish them - now with a big price tag affixed to that!

Can you not understand that other people cannot afford this??

Am gobsmacked at lack of empathy and sheer idiocy on this thread

@TheDoveFromAboveCooCoo

The thing is they can't even have a "pay for tests unless xyz" etc. they certainly don't have the resource to check that every person ordering the free tests are doing so because they work in the NHS, visiting a cafe home etc etc.

It's shit but the testing has drained so much of the country's finances already.

I have absolutely no idea if they are right or wrong, I think that by stopping free tests it will in turn reduce positive reported cases and make UK look better "ooh look our numbers are going down" yet it still makes me nervous.

They could provide stocks to providers in care homes, nursing homes and supported living homes. Visitors would then do an LFT on site. Easy way of managing.

@Wizzbangfizz

Stockpiling is a rational response?! You couldn't make it up.

Of course it is rational. It is free, it will soon cost far too much. Why would you not stockpile while it is free?

@crimesagainstwine yes it can mean every day for weeks and weeks.

@Gilda152

Dad dad from hospital acquired covid in April 2020. I'm never going to visit him ever again. Get your a* to the chemist, Pay the £20 and go and see your dad!!!!

Compassion just flows out of you. Not everyone has endless funds. Not all people in care homes are old. Some people have adult siblings or adult children. It’s a constant, ongoing cost.

I’m so disgusted. My grandmother is basically getting less visits than prisoners and paying out of her own money for the privilege. The manager is so scared of covid she is angry when friends visit as she believes it should only be family. Family live 3 hours away (me), 4 hours away (my mum) or in Canada (my brother) so we are happy for her friend of 50 years to visit! I’ve not seen her since the summer and my dc haven’t been able to see her since Christmas 2020 when she was still at home. My dc and I will be visiting her in the garden once the weather warms up and if the manager doesn’t like it then tough. I am prepared to get arrested to ensure my dc (ages 14-10) see their much loved great grandmother. (Today is not a good day - my dm managed to visit having driven 4 hours and had to leave after 59 minutes. It’s cruel.)

I can only assume a vast number of people commenting on this thread haven't experience the utter torture that is having an elderly relative in a care home in the last two years.

Of course the government can't fund everything indefinitely but have some compassion for goodness sake.

Even if they allocated one funded test per week for each visitor and said you needed to pay for any more it would be something, although I think that would be pretty poor too.

What about people who are on end of life care? Are we going to expect their loved ones to pay £20 a week for tests if they need to be there daily.

There has been an increase of 4.5million in unpaid carers since the start of the pandemic...many of those will have given up work to live on Carers Allowance at the princely sum of £67 a week...and now they have to pay for tests to visit their elderly loved ones.

What a fucking joke.

Care homes have seen so many people they care for die.

That's awful OP and I don't think yabu at all.

I think it's along the same lines as hospity car parking- we shouldn't have to pay for that, but we do and it's extortionate. Just under £3 a test, not sure it's worth moaning about really..

I think the care homes could test visitors upon entry if it’s their policy for visitors to prove a negative status. The government should provide tests to all facilities that have vulnerable clients.

[quote Monopolyiscrap]@DoingsSophie I read about that on MN but have never come across anyone doing multiple tests.
I honestly think this is the equivalent of - those on benefits with loads of money. i.e. bullshit.[/quote]
It really isn’t bullshit, I would hear it constantly about the depth and colours of the lines. I’d be like, “Well I can’t see to give an opinion…. Why not just stop testing now as you also tested positive on PCR so you’re home for ten days regardless?” (This was before the day 5/6 rules came in)

Great. So my sister who already lives on the bones of her arse and struggles to find the bus fare to visit her disabled son now has this extra expense.

@SickAndTiredAgain

My understanding is that in a lot of countries (RoI for example) LFTs were never free. So while I’m no fan of this government, on this specific issue they’ve given more than others.

I live in Belgium. We never had free LFTs. However, we were not expected to take them all the time like in the UK and if people really needed them and were on a low income they are available for £1 each.

PCRs are free if you have symptoms or are a close contact.

I'm not sure a comparison is relevant though because in the UK there is a national health service where health care is supposed to be free at the point of delivery whereas other countries deal with healthcare differently.

@Midlander88 I agree wholeheartedly. I don't understand people's obsession with keeping their relatives alive for as long as possible in care homes with every joy and little bit of pleasure removed.

I think it often stems from a childish inability to deal with death and grief coming from the family of the person in the care home, not the person themselves.

Most people go into care homes because they weren't lucky enough to die at home before they got too ill or immobile or unmanageable or demented to be cared for at home. They go in there to wait to die.

We should be thinking about how we can make their time there as enjoyable as possible not eking it out for a miserable eternity by removing every "risk" like visits from loved ones and interaction with other people. It's been disgraceful.

@NewYearNewMinty

I can only assume a vast number of people commenting on this thread haven't experience the utter torture that is having an elderly relative in a care home in the last two years.

Of course the government can't fund everything indefinitely but have some compassion for goodness sake.

Even if they allocated one funded test per week for each visitor and said you needed to pay for any more it would be something, although I think that would be pretty poor too.

What about people who are on end of life care? Are we going to expect their loved ones to pay £20 a week for tests if they need to be there daily.

There has been an increase of 4.5million in unpaid carers since the start of the pandemic...many of those will have given up work to live on Carers Allowance at the princely sum of £67 a week...and now they have to pay for tests to visit their elderly loved ones.

What a fucking joke.

But you don’t know what will happen yet .

The care homes ma decide testing not necessary so you won’t have to pay. Or may say only test if you have symptoms.

The care homes may provide free tests ( ours does and my mum is on end of life so I do understand the amount of visits) and no she is not privately funded.

It might be up to the care home managers so there may be different scenarios.

I think you are all jumping to conclusions to make a political point at the moment .

It’s early days of the new rules so let’s be grateful for all the free tests and vaccines so far and see what happens .

@Monopolyiscrap

Care homes have seen so many people they care for die.

This isn't unusual though? I mean you must be aware that pretty much everyone who goes in a care home dies there or in hospital after having been moved from there?

Does anyone ever get better and go home from a care home? Most people literally go in there to wait to die because they can no longer be cared for at home and it's the only option available to them.

So many people seem to be like children now and act like they'd never heard of death before Covid came along.

@MrsBertBibby

Just that. "Freedom" is no such thing for care home residents. Imprisoned and deprived of family and now, if we want to visit, we must shell out £20 for a test.

Is it unreasonable to call this government absolute sick psychopaths?

Yes YABU. In addition you're being ridiculous using such mad exaggeration.'Imprisoned'? Really? Take him out to live with you then. . "Sick psychopaths"? Melodramatic cobblers.

[quote hamsterchump]@Midlander88 I agree wholeheartedly. I don't understand people's obsession with keeping their relatives alive for as long as possible in care homes with every joy and little bit of pleasure removed.

I think it often stems from a childish inability to deal with death and grief coming from the family of the person in the care home, not the person themselves.

Most people go into care homes because they weren't lucky enough to die at home before they got too ill or immobile or unmanageable or demented to be cared for at home. They go in there to wait to die.

We should be thinking about how we can make their time there as enjoyable as possible not eking it out for a miserable eternity by removing every "risk" like visits from loved ones and interaction with other people. It's been disgraceful.[/quote]
I lost my aunt and uncle to covid in a care home within a week of each other so I am sorry I don’t agree with you .the risk of covid to them was huge .

Where I live we have NEVER had free tests ...they are €5 a pop. The uk is living in a entitled world, where many people think everything should be handed to them on a plate with brass knobs on ...... who do think is paying for all these free tests ....the tax payers . They are not free

They could provide stocks to providers in care homes, nursing homes and supported living homes. Visitors would then do an LFT on site. Easy way of managing.

I agree with @Mickarooni's suggestion, it would make sense for places where vulnerable people live to have LFT's available onsite.

As PP's have said, though, anything provided by the government isn't actually free, taxpayers are paying for it. If the government can't/won't provide "free" tests anymore, perhaps they could be donated?

I believe there are some influential and wealthy people on MN - it would be an excellent donation/sponsorship opportunity. If this post was started by a journalist (as they often are when the OP posts and disappears), could you please publicize the idea of sponsoring LFT's so vulnerable people can see their loved ones?

I'm being serious, someone could pay for this.