Grieving Sheffield daughter calls for better visiting rights for end-of-life patients

Actor and model Julia Goodinson lost her mum at the start of the lockdown, after she contracted Covid-19 in the hospital and then suffered a perforated bowel shortly before she was due to be discharged.

Julia is now calling for care homes and hospitals to allow close relatives to be allowed to see their relatives at end-of-life, saying that no older person should be forced to face death alone.

She said: “My mother was 84, scared and frightened, and was told she was going to pass away with no family around her.

“This pain and anguish has caused great suffering for us as a family, and for all those other families that were in similar situations.”

Julia’s mum recovered from pneumonia at the start of the pandemic, but due to a delay with home care services, she was kept in and moved to a different ward where she contracted delirium and coronavirus.

She then battled Covid-19 for several weeks during which time her family were told to prepare for the worst - but miraculously recovered only to suffer a perforated bowel on the night before she was due to be discharged, tragically passing away alone.

“During this time there were no visiting rights, and even when she was end-of-life there was only allowed to be one member of the family for one hour per day,” added Julia.

“We were forced to watch our mother die via video call in our own homes or in hospital corridors as they made no available room for a relative or relatives to be in a private area.

“We are now faced with the possibility that this pandemic could go on with no available vaccine, causing more families to suffer the heartache we have had to endure.

“This could be your mother, daughter, son, friend or loved one - alone and confused at the very end.”

Julia’s petition already has more than 1,600 signatures and can be found at http://chng.it/BXXkYpcRpP.

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