Our letter to Ministers
15 December 2023
We have written to Ministers about their plans to make visiting a new ‘fundamental standard’ for all health and care services. The Government had consulted on ‘Visiting in care homes, hospitals and hospices’ during the summer, and have just published their response to the consultation. Our letter outlined some of our thoughts and concerns about the proposal outlined in the response.
Whilst we welcome the principle of protecting visiting as a new fundamental standard, our joint letter - with John’s Campaign - made ten suggestions about the proposal, including:
the person needing care must be central to the new standard
exceptions should not be written into the new legislation
the new standard should ensure compliance with other laws and not add to confusion about existing rights
the new standard should apply across all health and care services, and not exclude certain settings such as supported living or rehab services
Crucially, we called on the Government to ensure protection for people’s Care Supporters. We have been calling for a new legal right to a Care Supporter - someone the person chooses to support them when using health and care services. Whilst access to visitors is important, access to a Care Supporter is essential for wellbeing, someone the person depends upon as their eyes, ears and voice when needed. Our campaign for a new legal right will continue.
Read our letter in full.
UPDATE: 19 January 2023
The Government have now published secondary legislation to introduce visiting as a new fundamental standard. After three years of lobbying and campaigning (with our friends at John’s Campaign), this is a recognition of the importance of protecting visits for care home residents and patients and is a much-needed step in the right direction. However, the changes will not give individuals a legal right to have a Care Supporter with them during times of exceptional difficulty (such as an infectious outbreak, national lockdown etc). We will continue our campaign for this much needed new right.
Thank you to all our supporters for joining our campaign actions and for your help in getting us this far. This latest campaign success shows your efforts are paying off!
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Read details of the new legislation on the Government website.