Liz Saville Roberts

Diolch yn fawr, Cadeirydd. I am very glad to see you in your seat, Ms Butler, and I am deeply grateful to the hon. Member for Liverpool Walton (Dan Carden) for bringing this debate forward. He will be aware that this is a hugely important topic for the many of us whose experiences with our families during the covid pandemic have not faded into the past. Visiting restrictions at that time threw a harsh focus on the issue. Between 2 April 2020 and 22 July 2020, UK Government guidance advised against all visits to care homes except in exceptional circumstances, such as “end of life”. End of life? What happens before that matters too. We need to know what the exceptional circumstances in the regulations may have been, because there is obviously room to define them. Fundamentally, though, we need clarification on a legal right. We need to learn from that time. Following the experiences of many families during the pandemic, more and more voices have called out the inconsistency between the treatment of vulnerable or cognitively impaired adults and the treatment of children, who have a right to be supported by their parents in health and care settings. Of course, it is entirely right that children maintain contact with their parents, and we would rightly be appalled were that denied, but somehow the social needs for love and family contact are regarded as a luxury—a “nice to have” but something that is ultimately expendable—for adults in certain circumstances. A clear case emerged at the time for the Government to support giving families and carers of dementia sufferers the same rights that parents of sick children have. The Government should allow for family representatives to stay with such patients at any time of the day, and for their role as carers to be recognised and accommodated. It is recognised that changes in environment for people with dementia, such as going into hospital or moving into care, can cause immense challenges. Just think about it: all familiar things and all familiar routines are left behind, and the routines of the institution take over. What is most convenient for the institution is inevitably the priority. We talk about putting the patient first, but we know how flimsy those words are when health and care institutions feel threatened, liable or under staffing pressures.