Labour has been calling for care home visits to resume for months. I wrote to Matt Hancock last June asking for families to be treated as ‘key workers’, with the same testing and PPE as staff. Now, we are almost a year into this pandemic, and blanket bans on care home […]
Today, I spoke at the ‘It’s Our Community’ Conference, organised by the Yorkshire Socialist Health Association. It brought together providers, users, families and voluntary groups across Sheffield to discuss the need to transform social care and support for disabled adults in particular. I spoke about the prospects for the future, […]
I appeared on Peston to discuss the latest announcements from the Government. In particular, the Government have recently announced an additional £3.5bn to remove cladding from high rise buildings over 18m tall, following the disaster at Grenfell in 2017. This has been sold as an ‘exceptional intervention’ by the […]
Yesterday, I met with families with relatives in care homes who had been locked out by the pandemic. Some of them have not seen their loved ones in almost a year. We all know that our loved ones need protecting against this awful virus. But it is hard to see […]
So many parents are currently dealing with the pressure of home schooling. To help with this, Fosse Road Little Library are hosting ‘virtual visits’ for children with different people in Leicester. This week was my turn, so if you wanted to know more about what being an MP is like, […]
I spoke at the Future Social Care Coalition‘s ‘Pay Fair for Care’ Rally on Wednesday. Transforming social care is one of the biggest challenges of our generation. That’s why we need all frontline care staff to get the fair pay, terms, and conditions they desperately need. 1.2 million care staff […]
Today I announced that Labour would push for the legal right for care home visits to take place. The ban on care home visits has been a scandal, and taken a terrible toll on families and residents. Tens of thousands of care home residents have been unable to receive visits […]
Over a quarter of all coronavirus deaths have taken place in care homes, so it is of course good news that all care home residents have now been offered the first dose of the vaccine. However, we need to know exactly how many staff have been vaccinated, and how we plan […]
Today is Holocaust Memorial Day, a day where we commemorate and honour the six million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered under the Nazi regime. We also remember the victims of genocides that have taken place since – Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. This year’s theme is ‘Be […]
I spoke to East Midlands Today yesterday evening about the worrying news that 75% of people who have coronavirus symptoms aren’t self-isolating. Self-isolation is absolutely key to stopping the spread of Covid-19 – but the reality is, many people who are asked simply cannot afford to do so. Nearly 2 […]
I spoke to a number of care homes this week about the vaccine roll-out in Leicester. It’s very worrying to hear that some homes haven’t been able to vaccinate all of their residents and staff. The Government promised that all care homes would be vaccinated by Sunday, and they must […]
There’s been more than 21,600 deaths from Covid-19 in care homes so far, and this week alone we saw a 46% increase in deaths. We are now in a race against time – the Government must leave no stone unturned to deliver on its promise to complete care home vaccinations […]