Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 09 March 2022
I am grateful to Jackie Baillie for bringing the debate to Parliament. I offer her our unconditional support: we stand full square behind Labour in its quest to see the proposed law being taken through Parliament.
The late American author Professor Leo Buscaglia once reminded us that
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
Perhaps we often underestimate the power of simply being able to hold someone’s hand and give them a hug, and, in some cases, at the end of their lives, to kiss them goodbye. During the pandemic, the absence of that simple and carefree human contact with loved ones was felt acutely by thousands of care home residents in Scotland; sadly, it continues as we speak.
The Government website states:
“Visiting is an integral part of care home life”
and has a vital role to play in maintaining the mental and physical health
“and quality of life of residents.”
It goes on to say that it
“is also crucial for family and friends to maintain contact ... with their loved ones, and to contribute”
in their own way to their care.
An Age UK survey attempted to record the toll that the pandemic has taken on people living in care homes and their families. The responses were heartbreaking. One respondent said:
“I feel as though I have locked my parents away and thrown the key away”.
Another mentioned
“time that can never be retrieved”
and said,
“I don’t want mum to die”
without
“family, a thing she has always dreaded and I promised would not happen.”
I have spoken to many of my constituents whose loved ones have been in care homes during the pandemic. People want to be safe and they want desperately to protect their loved ones, but many have felt, and still feel, that a balance was not struck between protecting loved ones from the virus and maintaining regular and vital contact.