I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to provide for a right for a user of health and care services to be accompanied by a care supporter; and for connected purposes.
The care of a loved one is not an optional extra; it is an absolutely central part of dignified care. Separation and isolation have a deeply harmful impact on individuals, but particularly on those who are vulnerable. For those who are approaching the end of life, the impact cannot be understated. My Bill seeks to recognise those fundamental points, and put them into law.
Throughout the pandemic, guidance proved consistently inadequate. It applied with levels of uncertainty and variability that led to a postcode lottery as separate settings interpreted it differently. There is a clear lack of recourse when guidance is applied incorrectly as well as a wide power imbalance between service users and care providers. Those problems will not be solved through further tweaks to guidance.
Past practice has shown that older and disabled people, those affected by dementia, stroke and other impairments, and those with a mental or physical disability are some of the most powerless people in our society. They often do not have the ability to challenge decisions made at care homes or in hospitals. In the worst circumstances—these are not uncommon—they cannot defend themselves against abuse, neglect or inhumane conditions.
The devastating impact of all of that affects not only those in receipt of care but their loved ones. Further, poor-quality data on visiting means that we cannot appreciate the true scale of the problem. Data does not capture where visits are allowed only for a short period of time, where young people are disallowed from visiting or where people cannot see parents, husbands or wives directly in their rooms. There is also a principle at stake: do we as a society give the right to state or private institutions—namely, hospitals and care homes—to deny us contact with family and loved ones because they are in receipt of their care, or do we believe that we should keep our right to maintain contact with loved ones regardless of health and care needs? I think it is obvious. I firmly believe that we should make a clear choice of the latter and enshrine that right in law in this House.
There is a dangerous hangover of restrictions from covid and a lack of urgency from the Government to change things. The need for the Bill is therefore as pivotal as it was during the pandemic.
Before I turn to the steps that I have taken to put this measure into law, I pay tribute to the determined efforts of campaigning organisations in this area: in particular, the Rights for Residents campaign group and the Relatives and Residents Association, which have merged to become Care Rights UK, and John’s Campaign. The work of Jenny Morrison, Diane Mayhew, Helen Wildbore, Julia Jones, Nicci Gerrard and Kate Meacock has been inspirational. They are all in the Public Gallery watching our proceedings. I also place on record my appreciation to the hon. Members for Chatham and Aylesford (Tracey Crouch) and for St Albans (Daisy Cooper) and the right hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Liz Saville Roberts), who have supported the campaign from its origin. Quite simply, I would not be introducing the Bill if it were not for their collective efforts; I thank them all for that.