Fears nursing home residents 'isolated and lonely' due to visiting restrictions

Nursing home residents and their families are beginning to feel the impacts of tighter Covid-19 restrictions, with many nursing homes only offering “virtual visits”, a leading charity for older people has said.

Sage advocacy has called for a national code for nursing home visits because “virtual visits” do not work for everyone and some facilities are now refusing to allow window or outdoor visits since public health restrictions tightened.

The charity, which provides support and advocacy services for vulnerable adults and older people, said it received a “significant increase” in calls from families of nursing home residents this week, who fear their loved ones are becoming “isolated and lonely”.

Some nursing homes, the charity said, were disregarding guidelines published by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), which permits outdoor and window visits at every level of Covid-19 restrictions.

“The first and overriding priority must always be to safeguard the health and wellbeing of both residents and the staff who care for them and to prevent any possible future outbreak of Covid-19 in any long-term care setting,” said Sarah Lennon, executive director of Sage Advocacy.

“But we must also not forget that when we talk about nursing homes that we are actually talking about the home environment for 30,000 people in Ireland. People who live in nursing homes have the same right to see their families if they so choose, in a safe manner with strict infection protection and control measures in place, as anyone else living in any other part of the community."

Ms Lennon said a pause on scheduled activities and tighter visiting restrictions and the inability to access community spaces left many nursing home residents “essentially cut off from contact”.

Through a forum run by the charity, residents and their families called for the development of a national nursing home code for visitor access.

“Many nursing homes had introduced virtual visits via Zoom, Facebook, and WhatsApp to replace outdoor and window visits even before the latest Covid-19 restrictions were announced," said Ms Lennon. 

"But families tell us that these do not work for everyone, particularly for those with loved ones who have a cognitive impairment and have dementia or Alzheimer's and that increased levels of staff and more access to technology would also help to improve these virtual visits.

Nursing home residents having access to the care and support given by family members is essential to emotional wellbeing and should never be underestimated.

Nursing Homes Ireland said nursing homes worked with the HPSC to develop the five-level framework for the ‘Living with Covid’ plan but some  homes may be exercising greater caution where high infection rates are evident in the community.

Chief executive Tadgh Daly said visits are an “important part” of nursing home life and suggested that residents and families work with nursing homes to come to some arrangement on visiting.

It was “disappointing” for nursing homes and staff, he said, to see visitor restrictions being reintroduced and any restrictions were put in place “with a very heavy heart”.