Scottish COVID-19 inquiry|Impact hearing|Health and social care|27 October 2023 (afternoon session)

Powerful statements made by members of Care Home Relatives Scotland Group.

Introduction

CHRS was founded on 12 August 2020. On that date, Cathie Russell, following discussion with another daughter she had seen comment on Twitter, set up a Facebook group. This lady was very involved with the work of the CHRS core group up until September 2023 when she retired due to personal commitments. Sheila Hall, whose mother was in a care home, was put in touch with Cathie via social media. Alison Leitch joined the group in August 2020 having been concerned that there were no organisations speaking out on behalf of those in care homes during ‘the pandemic’.

Testimony highlights

Aims and objective of CHRS from August 2020.

1. To enhance quality of life of loved ones in care homes by resuming essential family contact.

2. To encourage a person centred approach to support emotional well-being and to avoid isolation.

3. To develop lines of communication with policy makers and represent the views of relatives with loved ones in care homes.

‘‘We’d all been struggling being cut off from our relatives for so long…we were starting to see pictures of people sitting 3 metres away BEHIND POLICE TAPE.’’

‘‘We wanted common sense back as the measures being taken were so detrimental to our loved ones.’’

‘‘We had husbands and wives who had been together for 40, 50 or more years and they were no longer being allowed to see each other.’’

Contacting MSPs and others for help

Below is a damning list of all the organisations complicit in lockdown harms who refused to heed the warnings. The CHRS group contacted the following midway through 2020.

• Scottish Government and government officials

• Campaign groups

• MSPs from each political party

• Scottish Human Rights Commission

• Mental Welfare Commission

• Human Rights Consortium Scotland

• Scottish Care

• Care home providers

• Public Health Scotland

• Care Inspectorate

• Alzheimer’s Scotland

‘‘There were 14 directors of public health in Scotland and we wrote to them all and very few did we get replies from…we didn’t get anything substantive.’’

Jeanne Freeman

After a protest outside the Scottish parliament on the 16th Sept 2020 a meeting with health secretary Jeanne Freeman was arranged. Ms.Freeman took the points rasied by the group on board and soon after updated guidance on visting was issued however in practise the rules and restrictions became even more harsh.

‘‘By the time the (new) guidance had come out it made no difference as Glasgow had gone into a different tier..so there wasn’t going to be any care home visiting in Greater Glasgow or Lanarkshire.’’

‘‘33% responded that visiting had actually WORSENED in the period since the new guidance had been issued.’’

No meetings with the First Minister

Disturbingly, the former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon never met with the group despite many requests.

‘‘We were all VERY disappointed…care residents were not on her radar.’’

Human rights

In this harrowing segement Ms.Cathie Russell outlines the annihilation of human rights.

‘‘We felt the rights our loved ones and ours had been COMPLETELY TRASHED from day one.’’

• All care standards breached

• Human rights community silent

  ‘‘No one asked my mother..would she rather take a risk with a virus and she her family and i could 100% guarantee what she would have chosen.’’

‘‘People in care homes had ABSOLUTELY BEEN INCARCERATED.’’

‘‘I had a call from a relative of one gentleman in a care home who committed suicide because his daily walks had been stopped for six months.’’

Closing remarks

Residents in care homes in Scotland during lockdown had no access for over 1 year to:

• Opticians

• Podiatry

• Hairdressing

• Fresh air

‘Those paid for by the public purse to protect the interests of vulnerable people FAILED to speak out on behalf of those in care homes such as directors of social work and the office of the public guardian.’’

‘‘IMPRISONING people for a year and isolating people in small rooms for weeks on end should be challenged.’’

‘‘Many people in Greater Glasgow and Lanarkshire areas had no DIRECT contact with their loves ones for A FULL YEAR.’’

NB: The above regions experienced the most ‘COVID deaths in Scotland and disturbingly…..

‘When Public Health Scotland produced a final set of COVID guidance in January this year (2023)…

…care home guidance had been amalgamated with guidance for prisoners.'‘

-Alison Leitch (Care Home Relatives Scotland)

CHRS member statements

From the hundreds of impact statements of CHRS members on the adverse effects of lockdown restrictions they included:

• 165 mentions of stress/anxiety and depression

• 100 mentions of guilt or worry

• 59 mentions of sadness/abandonment or hopelessness

• 49 mentions of heartbreak

‘‘It felt everytime there was progress in terms of access care home residents another obstacle appeared’’

There simply was no meaningful way for families to be with their loved ones during lockdown.

• No visits w/touch

• No xmas decorations

• No seeing dying relatives

• No alternating visitors

• No outside visits

The cruelty being inflicted on our most frail was total……

'We can't let you hold your dying relatives hand.'

‘Annes Law’

Remarkably CHRS has been ‘‘fighting for’’ the implementation of ‘Anne’s Law’ with similar proposals in England called ‘Gloria’s Law.’ This would in effect LEGALISE many of the harms the group have so passionately argued against.

‘Anne’s Law’ - giving nominated relatives or friends the same access rights to care homes as staff while following stringent infection control procedures.

In effect legitimising…

1. Lockdown (which cause only severe harm on populations)

2. Fear based protocols (social distancing etc), semi isolation (only ONE family member will be allowed to visit, time limited)

3. The wearing of face masks (disproven benefits yet proven harmful)

4. PCR testing (discredited as does not detect infectiousness)

5. +Any other public health diktat decided by public health or government in a future outbreak inclusive of yet more fast tracked experimental injections. Therefore if one were to refuse ANY future government/public health diktat you would be denied access.

Full video

Please help share this information.

End

Links:

Full statement- https://www.covid19inquiry.scot/sites/default/files/ev-documents/sci-wt0731-000001.pdf

https://services.nhslothian.scot/carehomes/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2022/09/A-right-to-family-life-%E2%80%93-Alison-Leitch-and-Natasha-Hamilton.pdf

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-60945582

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-66019355

Full video: Scottish COVID-19 inquiry YouTube-Impact hearing | Health and social care | 27 October 2023 (afternoon session)

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-11-lack-friend-family-dying.html