HART has published a number of articles on the scandal of poor prevention against infection in care homes and the serious mental health harms of isolating the elderly to the extent that normal family visits are verboten. Add in worsening staffing levels following heinous vaccine mandates for care workers and you have all the ingredients for a perfect storm.
The article below was sent to us by a whistleblower community nurse — it is a stark reminder of just one practical aspect of care of the elderly which seems to have been ignored, namely harm and death caused by the restrictions rather than by Covid.
Government has published a winter plan for care homes with plans for interventions for this winter in care homes including ipads as a proposal to replace human contact. The entire document is based on the premise that interventions in winter prevented deaths in care homes based on claims made in a review of last year’s winter plan. No data supports this notion.
By Dr Ali Haggett Community mental health practitioner – older people Blanket visiting bans are contrary to the rights of residents and their families under the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 8). Blanket bans on care home visiting: legislation required as a priority The Joint Committee on Human Rights wrote a letter on 3 […]
It is 8 months since the government lifted all remaining restrictions to visiting in care settings. But despite these changes, many families are still restricted from visiting family members in care, and support groups continue to report limits to visiting.
In February 2022, the UK Government announced plans for ‘Living with Covid-19’ and the removal of remaining legal restrictions. Looking back to March 2021, when HART produced its booklet Covid-19: An overview of the evidence, it is clear that the adult social care sector still remains disproportionately affected by draconian restrictions, which prevent many residents from meaningful, regular contact with family and friends.
Boris Johnson’s announcement on 21st February confirmed that the remaining Coronavirus restrictions (in England) will be lifted over the next few weeks. However, families with loved ones in care homes protest that many relatives are still experiencing draconian restrictions preventing contact with residents.
Government has published a winter plan for care homes with plans for interventions for this winter in care homes including ipads as a proposal to replace human contact. The entire document is based on the premise that interventions in winter prevented deaths in care homes based on claims made in a review of last year’s winter plan. No data supports this notion. The Government report is either based on a terrible error or a deliberate lie.
This might come as a surprise to those working in healthcare, but since 27th January 2022, there has been no legal requirement to wear a mask or face covering in any healthcare setting in England. The other devolved nations have also followed suit. So why are NHS trusts and care homes still insisting on this?
Following our recent article highlighting isolation and neglect in care homes, we are appalled to report that the situation is only slowly improving. What is more, many NHS sites are still imposing draconian and vindictive policies. Children are being separated from parents and dying relatives are being abandoned to a lonely end.
In January of 2021, a tragic story unfolded in Ontario in Roberta Place long term care home which had 137 beds and 130 residents. A covid outbreak was declared when an asymptomatic member of staff tested positive on 8th January 2021. After six weeks, at least 129 residents, 106 staff members had fallen ill and 70 residents died.
There can be an overwhelming amount of information crossing you various indie newsfeeds each day. Here we have selected a few articles that we think worthy of your attention.
Two weeks ago, a 19-year-old young woman lay in a hospital bed with a court injunction in place that prevented her from giving her own name in a newspaper article. She described being in “a race against time to escape from this system and the certain death it wishes to impose on me.”
An analysis of the spatial characteristics of deaths during the spring 2020 wave in Northern Italy was carried out by him along with a Panda colleague; this suggested that it looked nothing like a spreading virus, and more like the sudden imposition of a policy response.
There is much confusion about excess deaths currently with different government bodies contradicting each other about the extent of the problem. The ONS use a baseline which includes 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022 as years with which to calculate expected deaths. Despite this clearly elevated “normal” they have reported excess mortality for most weeks of this year.
In spring 2020, certain groups were denied access to care based on their age, frailty, and underlying health conditions. Blanket Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders were issued, without the patient’s consent. Certain hospitals also introduced a policy of not admitting anyone who had a DNR such that active medical care was also denied. How did this come about?
Hannah Arendt is famous for her writings on the banality of evil. Her basic observation is that atrocities such as those seen in World War II were able to happen precisely because ordinary people became — through unconscious obedience and an individual failure to think — wheels in a grotesque machine. “How could that happen?” or “I would never have taken part in this!” are common instincts when reading about such historical events.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine claims that over 20,000 people died in 2022 after waiting for care for at least 12 hours. They say these deaths resulted from long delays in A&E, where emergency departments are frequently overwhelmed and unable to find patients a hospital bed. The claim is based on modelled data which showed that patients who waited longer for a bed had a higher mortality.
