Workmen entered care homes without protective gear, Covid inquiry hears

A woman who was refused entry to see her dying mother in a County Armagh care home during the Covid-19 pandemic has expressed her shock at seeing delivery drivers and workmen coming and going freely without any protective gear.

Agnes McCusker told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry she offered to wear full personal protective equipment (PPE) to visit her mother Bridget Halligan, even from an outside courtyard, but staff denied her access.

In April 2020, she made several requests to be with her 95-year-old mother after she contracted Covid-19, only to be later told that she had died alone in her bed.

The government has said it is committed to learning lessons from the inquiry.

Mrs McCusker, who gave evidence on behalf of the Northern Ireland Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said she encountered several staff at the home who were not wearing PPE.

She told the inquiry her mother had been relatively active but had to go into the home following several falls.

The home was closed to visits on 18 March 2020 and Mrs McCusker said she was concerned that her mother "would go downhill" if she did not see her family.

She said relatives received scant information from the home and were not allowed to bring Mrs Halligan any food. They had raised concerns that she was a "poor eater" and needed nourishment because she did not eat much of the food served in the home.

Mrs McCusker said her mother was confused over why her daughter was only able to see her through a window on Mother's Day and that there was no staff member with her to explain why she could not enter the care home.

She also criticised the lack of communication from the care home about her mother's welfare.

When Mrs Halligan died, her family were refused permission to see her body or to "say their last goodbyes", Mrs McCusker told the inquiry.

Only 10 people were permitted at the funeral and there was no wake.

"To sum it up, if I was trying to think of what my mother would have made of it, she would have been absolutely shocked to think that in her dying days and moments she never saw a family member," said Mrs McCusker.

"She was totally reliant on the limited number of staff that were there. Try as I might, I can't imagine what went through her mind."

She added: "If they (the care home) were following guidelines, I don't understand any guideline that keeps a family member out from a dying parent in their last hours.

"If they didn't get in during Covid - that was bad enough. But end of life care to me is a human right. It is a right to be able to see your parent, sibling, whoever would be in a nursing home."

The inquiry began examining the care sector on Monday as part of its scrutiny into how the response to the pandemic was handled.

It was launched by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in June 2022, more than a year after he said the government's actions would be put "under the microscope".