End of lockdown loneliness for care home residents? 'Lifeline' glass pods let elderly see their families safely during Covid pandemic
Care homes are using glass visitor pods during the second lockdown so residents can still see their family.
Loved ones sit in one half of a conservatory while their relatives are in the other, with them separated by a window.
The move has been hailed as a 'lifeline' for elderly patients who 'come alive' with joy when they see their relations.
Care homes such as Northfield Care in Sheffield and Annacliffe Residential Home in Blackpool have already installed similar designs.
It comes after the Health Secretary was warned banning care home visits in lockdown would breach 'fundamental human rights'.
Leaders of the National Care Forum urged Matt Hancock not to impose a blanket ban on all visits, which was the case during the first national shutdown.
Meanwhile official figures show the number of people dying from coronavirus in care homes in England doubled in a fortnight in October.
Loved ones will sit in one half of a conservatory while their loved one is in the other, with them separated by a window (pictured, in Sheffield)
The move has been hailed as a 'lifeline' for elderly patients who 'come alive' with joy when they see their relatives (pictured, in Sheffield)
Care homes such as Northfield Care in Sheffield and Annacliffe Residential Home in Blackpool have already installed similar designs
Alexandrina Soutter, who has dementia, was among the first care home residents to try the new £20,000 pods with her family last week.
The 86-year-old from Northfield Care said she was delighted to see them for the first time since March.
Doing a royal-style wave from her 'little glass house', she told the Mirror: 'I feel like the Queen.'
Her daughter Donna Brown, 59, would spend five hours a day doing crosswords and quizzes with her mother before the pandemic struck.
Mrs Brown, who went to see her mother with her husband Stephen, 62, said: 'One of the first things she said to me was; 'Where've you been?'
'I used to always be with her and she didn't understand where I'd gone. She'd been in tears because she missed us so much.'
Alexandrina Soutter , who has dementia, was among the first care home residents to try the new £20,000 pods with her family last week
Her daughter Donna Brown (pictured with husband Stephen), 59, would spend five hours a day doing crosswords and quizzes with her mother before the pandemic struck
Northfield, which has 63 beds, bought the glass pod using local government infection prevention and control funds
Northfield, which has 63 beds, bought the glass pod using local government infection prevention and control funds.
But workers have to clean the pods thoroughly between every half an hour meeting - meaning only two families are allowed to visit each day.
Palms Row Health Care, which runs the site, have witnessed heartbreaking scenes, with the deaths of 25 residents from coronavirus virus.
Another care home using the same idea is Annacliffe Residential Care Home in Blackpool.
Their pod from Cube Modular, dubbed the visitor hub, has been put up in the forecourt of the 60-resident strong site.
Another care home using a similar design is Annacliffe Residential Care Home in Blackpool
Owner and manager Alexandra Burke said: 'We are absolutely delighted for our residents.
'Finally, after months of uncertainty and anxiety for our wonderful, but infection-vulnerable, residents, we are able to offer them a space, a totally separate space, in which they can meet their family and loved ones in person.
'No more waving through windows. No more wordless meetings. I am so delighted for them all, as well as for their families and our staff.
'Cube Modular has given us the perfect solution to continue through these most worrying times.
'I couldn't be more pleased to have been able to make this happen for everyone involved. The pod really has brought a ray of sunshine to our residents.'
Their pod from Cube Modular, dubbed the visitor hub, has been put up in the forecourt of the 60-resident strong site
Brandon Weston, Cube Modular's managing director, added: 'We are thrilled to have made this possible for everyone at Annacliffe.
'When we arrived to install the pod, the excitement was palpable. The look on everyone's faces said it all.
'The response to our Care Home Visitor Pods initiative has been immense. We are delighted that we can offer care homes a unique, portable building solution which not only enables a personal and controlled contact between care home residents and loved ones during the pandemic, but also does so in a most safe, secure, and risk-mitigating way.'
He added: 'We are looking forward to installing many more at care homes across the UK.'
Annacliffe is now able to organise scheduled visitor bookings for guests once every hour.
Each visit is 20 minutes long, followed by a rigorous cleaning procedure for 40 minutes before the next one.
Cube Modular has installed 20 pods across the country, including in Blackpool and Basingstoke.
Under current guidelines, residents are allowed one designated visitor who is tested and provided protective equipment every time they enter the home.
The Government has told providers to 'follow existing guidance' until Thursday, when an announcement about the ins and outs of the new lockdown will be made.
The NCF said banning visits during the first wave was 'intrinsically harmful' and caused families 'extreme anguish', though it admitted it was justified because little was known about the virus.
But, with more knowledge about the disease and how it spreads, as well as increased testing and PPE, 'homes are much better equipped now to manage any risk'.
Boris Johnson last month acknowledged the situation is 'absolutely wretched' for people unable to see loved ones in care homes.
He added he was 'certainly looking at what we can do to... allow people to visit their elderly relatives in extreme circumstances'.
In a letter signed by 60 organisations, leaders of the National Care Forum have urged the Health Secretary, along with Social Care Secretary Helen Whately, to allow limited numbers of relatives to visit care homes (file photot)
Vic Rayner, executive director of the NCF - the membership organisation for not-for-profit organisations in the care and support sector - said their letter is signed by a 60-strong coalition of residents, relatives, care providers and academics who 'must be listened to'.
She said: 'We must balance the risk of harm from Covid-19 with the risk of harm from isolation and physical, mental, and emotional deterioration (for residents).
'The coalition has a clear set of asks around testing of visitors and the designation of one person (as a minimum) per resident as a key visitor, as well as enabling every care home to manage visiting in the way that best works for them, with help to create safe Covid-19 visiting spaces.'
The letter states that banning care home visits in the first lockdown was an 'emergency response' to a new virus, but this time 'more is understood' about transmission and 'measures are in place' to allow safe visiting.
Carers to be banned from working in more than one home
Carers are to be banned from working in more than one home, under legislation being drawn up by the Government which could come into force in weeks.
More than 20,000 care home residents died from Covid-19 during the first wave of the pandemic, in part because asymptomatic workers were allowed to freely move between care homes without being tested for the disease.
Experts say homes employing bank staff, who work at more than one facility, were more at risk from the coronavirus because it provided an opportunity for the disease to jump from an infected home into others.
But under planned laws being drawn up by the Number 10, they will be required to ask staff to sign 'exclusive' contracts barring them from working in more than one home.
Ministers are understood to be bringing in the plans in response to the disaster in the spring, and after asking homes whether they may be able to take back residents which have tested positive for the virus.
The NCF adds that elderly residents have an average stay of two years in care homes and there 'simply isn't enough time to watch and wait'.
Caroline Abrahams, director of charity Age UK, one of the letter's signatories, pointed out that France is allowing care home visits despite going into national lockdown.
Ms Abrahams said: 'We believe the right approach during this second national lockdown is to continue to allow visiting to care homes on a case-by-case basis, provided it can be carried out safely.
'We have been heartened in recent days by some fantastic work going on in a growing number of local areas to organise safe visiting, with councils, care providers and families all working together.
'It would be a tragedy to undo this progress now, by imposing draconian measures that ignore the potential for safe visiting in some, perhaps many, places.'
Under the current tier system, care homes in the 'medium' alert level can 'develop a policy for limited visits' but areas in 'high' alert must limit visits to 'exceptional circumstances only such as end of life'.
The NCF said this has placed half of care homes and their residents under 'a default of blanket visiting restrictions'.
Already, hundreds of large care home operators in England have taken extra steps to protect their residents just a couple of months after they were given the go-ahead to reopen at the end of July, when cases of Covid-19 in the UK were at record lows.
The aim is to avoid families bringing the coronavirus into the home and reaching the most vulnerable people of society. The elderly are far more likely to die of the coronavirus if they catch it.
Care homes residents in England were allowed family visits again in July for the first time since lockdown started in March.
Mr Hancock gave care homes the green light to start arranging visits, as long as social distancing and protective equipment rules were followed.
The move finally brought England in line with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where care home visits were allowed for weeks.
Data published today by the Office for National Statistics show 211 care home residents died with the disease in the most recent week, up to October 23.
This compared to 105 deaths in the week to October 9.
Care homes faced devastation in the first wave of coronavirus when more than 10,000 residents were killed by the virus which spread among the vulnerable and often elderly people living in the homes.
Testing was too scarce to stop the virus and scientists found that residents tended not to show typical symptoms as often.
Campaign groups have urged the Health Secretary not to suspend care home visits during the second lockdown for fear isolation deteriorates residents' health further.
But the fact the virus appears to be resurging in the sector will likely make ministers more hesitant to green-light the move.