Campaign plea amid heartbreak of families parted by lockdown

A woman whose father has been isolated in a Tameside care home since the start of lockdown has started a campaign for fairer treatment.

Olivia O’Neill has launched the ‘Put a Face To The Pain’ campaign, which she hopes will convince the government to develop a system for families to be able to see their loved ones in care homes.

Olivia has only been able to visit her father, who suffers with Alzheimer’s, twice since the UK went into lockdown back in March, and has been limited to contact through a window in recent times. The restrictions have left her heartbroken and she says it has caused her father’s condition to deteriorate.

“When I saw him those two times, I saw how much lockdown had deteriorated his mental wellbeing. I was absolutely and completely heartbroken,” she said.

“I wrote on a Tameside Facebook group just looking for advice and feeling completely desperate, not knowing which way to turn. The replies I had were completely overwhelming. 

“The number of people that are in exactly the same position and who are in so much pain like me knowing that their loved one in a care home could not withstand another six months of receiving no visits.

“I think a lot of people are aware of what is going on but unless you have someone you really love in a care home it’s hard to really understand the gravity of how bad this situation is.

“To see my father in the state he was when I first did the window visit - he was desperately trying to get out to get to me. He couldn’t understand why he couldn’t as he doesn’t understand what the virus is.

“It’s akin to torture and not just for the person in the home, but for the families as well. The mental health of the people that love and surround those in the homes is really suffering as well.”

Olivia says that the lack of visits has changed her father beyond recognition. 

“Before lockdown I was taking him out for meals,” she said. 

“I would have to order for him but then we’d sit there and chat away. A lot of it may not have made sense but he still 100 per cent knew who I was. 

“He was so happy and excited when I was taking him out and I was the same. Unless you spoke to him you would not have known that he suffered with Alzheimer’s. The deterioration has been massive.”

She wants to see a new system introduced enabling families to see their loved ones safely. 

“I want the government to invest in a safe system that will allow families to see their loved ones in care homes because this is now a long term problem,” said Olivia.

“I think everyone could understand at the start, when we first went into lockdown, that - yes of course - that’s how it had to be. But it’s just inhumane to put vulnerable people through another six months of isolation from their families.

“There’s carers going in and out of the homes every day, and I have absolute respect for the carers, but they could be spending the evenings in restaurants and bars like we all can, living under the same restrictions as us all then going into the homes every day having direct, physical contact. 

“Care homes are admitting coronavirus patients yet we cant see our loved ones two meters away sat outside.”

Her campaign has been backed by Ashton MP Angela Rayner, who sympathised with her plight. 

The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party said: “My heart goes out to Olivia and to anyone that is unable to visit loved ones in care homes. It’s extremely distressing for them and I completely understand their pain and anger.”

Olivia has launched a petition to gather other likeminded signatures. It can be signed online at change.org

Main image:

HAPPIER TIMES: Olivia with her father.