Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the human rights implications of his recently updated care home visiting guidance on the right to private and family life.
In developing the most recent and previous iterations of care home visiting guidance, Department seeks to right balance the duty to protect and promote care home residents’ rights to family life against the risk of incursion of COVID-19 into care homes. Judgements are informed by clinical advice and data from the UK Health Security Agency, the Department’s ethical framework for adult social care and taking into account the views of care home residents and their loved ones. Equality and health impact assessments are carried out to ensure that the rights of those with protected characteristics are upheld.