In this week's (3 February) edition – the 40th issue to be available online – The Carer magazine ran a story about parliament's human rights committee calling for more access to care homes.
Harriet Harman MP, who chairs the committee, wants Health Secretary Matt Hancock to make sure more relatives and others may visit residential homes unless it is proved unsafe to do so. Read the full story on page 5 here.
We are glad to report that week by week we hear of a few more Anna Chaplains now being permitted once more to visit residential homes to offer spiritual and emotional care. But it is still a small minority who have been allowed back to work in such settings.
As this week's milestone of mass vaccinations in care homes was reached, we hope it will be possible before too much more time has passed for our network – the majority of whom include care home ministry normally in their brief – will be allowed to return and resume helping people who have been more isolated than ever throughout the pandemic.