By Lucy Thornton
Actress Ruthie Henshall was “bowled over” to hear Labour chief Keir Starmer is backing the campaign to stop care home residents ever dying alone again.
But the West End star, who had to watch her mum die slowly through a window during lockdown, now wants him to add it to his manifesto. Campaigners fear that unless it is made law, relatives could be blocked from seeing loved ones for any reason. In one recent case, a daughter was banned while a care home had a carpet fitted.
Ruthie, an ambassador for Rights For Residents, has been fighting to stop such scandals ever happening again in care homes and hospitals. Ruthie, 57, from Essex, said of Mr Starmer’s comments: “I was completely bowled over. It was a joy to hear that at long last someone who can make a difference is recognising it. If we get this over the line it will be the proudest I’ve ever been.
“It will make such a difference to so many. Tragedies ... will continue if we don’t do something.” Ruthie’s mum Gloria, who had dementia, died in a care home aged 87 in May 2021. She said: “I never want to see this happen to anyone else. I’ve still got a lot of grief over it.
“My mum got a real kick out of life and to wave at her through a window made me cry. I had to watch her get frailer. She couldn’t hear us, you’d have to scream. You could see her devastation. She would ask me to come in and I’d say ‘I’m not allowed, mum.’ It made me and my sisters weep.
Ruthie also lost her 90-year-old dad David early in the pandemic, while the “cowboys” running the UK were “snogging each other”. She said: “I never saw him cry until my mum went in a care home. When I got in she’d moan with joy. All she had left was touch. It’s a basic human right.”
Co-founders of Rights for Residents, Jenny Morrison and Diane Mayhew, both 58 and from Halifax, West Yorks are also desperate for the law to change. Jenny said: “Some are just closing care homes and wards for flu, Covid and skin diseases. It’s a hangover from the pandemic and denying people a right to a family life.”
Diane, who lost dad Alan, 81, to Covid, said: “The key thing is to differentiate bet-ween a visitor and essential care supporter.” Mr Starmer told the Mirror last month he supports calls “for a legal right for care home residents to have visits from loved ones”.
