Caller told she 'must have second jab' before visiting relative in care home
16 April 2021, 15:33
Caller told she 'must have second jab' before vising aunt in care home
As Covid rules relax on care home visits, this caller has found she has to have her second Covid jab before she can visit her elderly aunt inside for the first time in a year.
Cathy Hayward's aunt, 87, suffers from physical difficulties due to high anxiety levels and is deaf. She has been in a care home since 2016.
"I haven't seen her in her room since the March 7 2020 and I used to visit once or twice a week," Cathy said, "I understood it went into lockdown in March 2020 and I was allowed a couple of visits over the summer which were outside and socially distanced and I had to wear a mask - which with an elderly deaf person was quite difficult.
"Her high anxiety levels got a lot worse, she couldn't come out into the garden. She felt uncomfortable leaving her bedrooms, so we then introduced iPads so I've been FaceTiming her once a week.
"In February they did manage to persuade her to come down in to a pod that they'd created which was separated by glass...for her 87th birthday."
Cathy got in touch with the care home after Covid rules relaxed to permit visitors "and I was told that until two weeks after I have had my second vaccine, they won't let me visit."
"I'm 45 so that's going to be quite a while until I can see her again."
Cathy told LBC that she is the only person who visits her aunt, and when her aunt saw her briefly through glass she said, "I haven't seen anyone's real smile since August."
Cathy said that because the care home is privately run, there is no one else she can appeal to beyond her MP.
