Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:40 pm on 19 January 2022.
Thank you very much, Llywydd. Seventy per cent of care home residents live with dementia, and social contact, particularly with family or informal carers, is very important to them in terms of keeping hold of their cognitive skills and so on. The safety measures during lockdown were crucial in terms of preventing the spread of COVID, but given the evidence, such as research by the Alzheimer's Society, that suggests that 82 per cent of people with dementia had seen their condition decline during the first lockdown and that the reduction in social contact was a major factor in that, would the Minister agree with the principle of what John's Campaign is calling for, namely that we must find ways of safeguarding those contacts, even in the face of the challenges of COVID? And is the change in legislation to make visiting rights a fundamental human right for patients with dementia, as the Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts called for recently, something the Minister could support?