A watchdog has been ordered to ensure a three-year visiting ban for sick and vulnerable patients and care residents ends.
The Care Quality Commission – branded “toothless” by despairing families locked out as relatives died in homes and hospitals – will be charged with making access freely available.
It ends a scandal sparked by the eruption of the pandemic in 2020. The move comes after a grassroots crusade led by actress Ruthie Henshall and backed by the Daily Express.
Despite calls and a succession of Parliamentary debates, the Government has refused to legislate.
But care minister Helen Whately has told the CQC to make patient and care home resident visits a fundamental standard across all regulated settings.
Homes, hospitals, A&E departments and mental health facilities will now be graded on access, with those failing to comply, or in breach, named and shamed plus being barred from receiving top rankings.
It will make visiting part of good care in law and introduce, for the first time, a national standard.
Like millions across Britain, mother-of-three Ms Whately, 47, fell victim to the visiting injustice herself after being denied access to her sick mum.
She told how she feared the former doctor, 76, might die after being admitted to hospital in Surrey.
Both Mrs Whately and her father, a former surgeon, were banned from her bedside. She said: “I know it was very distressing for her.”
Ms Whately’s new law has been dubbed the moral mandate and is the first acknowledgement that hospitals and some care homes have ridden roughshod over the basic rights of residents, patients and families for too long despite some paying more than £1,000 a week.
The legislation will come directly from Ms Whately as delegated, or secondary legislation, as a minister.
It will prevent facilities shutting their doors because of outbreaks.
The CQC already has guidance over standards. Now, for the first time, thousands of facilities it regulates will be graded on their willingness to open fully. Yet Diane Mayhew, of Care Rights UK, said: “The care minister has the best of intentions but relying on the CQC to monitor compliance via inspections is doomed to failure.”
West End star Ruthie, 56, has pushed for Gloria’s Law to make care visiting a legal right. It is named in honour of her mother, who suffered with Parkinson’s and dementia.
Ruthie was initially only able to see her mum in a care home through a window until she was eventually named as part of her care team. Gloria died in May 2021, aged 87. The CQC declined to comment.
