Coronavirus: Treat relatives of care home residents with dementia as key workers, charities say

Relatives of people living with dementia in care homes should be recognised as key workers, an alliance of leading charities has said.

In a letter to health secretary Matt Hancock, the One Dementia Voice collective warned the enforced isolation resulting from the ban on all visitors has caused “much suffering and a deterioration in mental and physical health” among residents with the condition – who make up at least 70 per cent of the care home population.

Granting designated family and friend carers the same essential-worker status as staff would allow them to access to care homes and Covid-19 testing to ensure safe visiting.

The comments came as the government said it would set out details “in the next few days” on allows visitis tocare homes to resume after four months.

One Dementia Voice, which includes Alzheimer’s Society, Dementia UK and John’s Campaign, welcomed the announcement from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), but said recognising relatives as key workers now would allow them to get back to providing the support only they can offer.

“Family carers are an integral part of the care system and when removed from that, the essential care and wellbeing of the individual suffers,” the charities said.

“They may be the only person who is allowed to brush their loved ones’ teeth when no one else can get near, the only one who can get their loved ones to take medicine, to eat or drink, and they act as both their voice and memory, articulating on their behalf and offering support like no one else can.”

The charities highlighted the surge in excess deaths in care homes since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and pointed to the significant rise in non-Covid-19 deaths among people with dementia.

Between 13 March and 1 May, there were 5,404 excess deaths of people with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, representing an increase of more than 52 per cent compared with the five-year average, according to the Office for National Statistics.

One Dementia Voice added: “We look forward to urgently hearing more detailed plans about care home visitation in the next few days. And, for the designated family carer, this must be everywhere, including in Leicester.”

Care England, which represents most independent care providers, echoed the call to treat relatives of care home residents as key workers.

Martin Green, the chief executive of the organisation, also told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday that details on visiting should have been a priority for the DHSC and that the sector was told guidance was “on its way” a month ago.

Mr Hancock said on Thursday said he wanted to reunite care home residents with relatives "very soon."

“I very much hope that in the next few days we’ll be able to make this change," he said. "We’ve been very careful about it and we’ve got to get it right."