MP pushes for legal visiting rights at care homes and hospitals

News - 18 July 2023

A Labour MP has challenged all parties to give care home residents and hospital patients a legal right to visits from a ‘care supporter’, in the latest stage of campaign that sprung from pandemic restrictions.
Older lady sitting in her chair reading a book

Healthwatch England support for visiting rights - along with backing from major charities such as Age UK and and Mencap - was also referenced by Liverpool MP Dan Carden, when he lobbied for new legislation in a House of Commons debate on 6 June.

He urged all political parties to adopt an election manifesto commitment to introduce a legal duty on hospitals and care homes to permit “unrestricted in-person support from at least one essential care supporter, nominated by the service user” or require providers to take “reasonable steps to facilitate contact by other means” if infection control measures or exceptional circumstances excluded face-to-face visits.

Healthwatch England raised the issue when we met Social Care Minister Helen Whately in January, following ongoing reports from local Healthwatch of carers and relatives being denied visits by some care homes who had not relaxed restrictions since the pandemic.

The Department of Health and Care issued updated guidance in April 2023 that aimed to ‘be explicit that there should not be any restrictions on visits out for individuals who are not symptomatic or who have not tested positive [for Covid] in any circumstance’.

But Dan Carden said in the Commons debate that his proposed legislation would “provide means for appeal and proper enforcement, two measures that are currently almost impossible for those trying to maintain contact with their loved ones in care settings”.

The Healthwatch England policy team will update if the government signals an intention to change the law in this area or other parties make this an election pledge.

Read the debate here.

You might also be interested in

Your experiences of Outpatient Appointment Letters

Your experiences of Hospital Outpatient Appointment letters

In October 2024, Healthwatch in Sussex sought experiences of hospital outpatient appointment letters, which are intended to give you clear information about your appointment and what to expect when you attend.

You can read about what people told us below.
Report
Enter & View Programme Southlands Hospital report

Enter & View Programme Southlands Hospital report

Enter and View visit purpose is to collect evidence of what works well and what could be improved to make people’s experiences better. We use this evidence to make recommendations and inform changes both for individual services as well as health and social care systems wide.
Report