'Let me see my sick husband before it's too late,' says Inverness woman
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A heartbroken wife is begging an Inverness care home to let her see her dementia-stricken husband before it is too late.
Retired Anne Chambers (78) has been told she is no longer welcome to visit Cradlehall Court Care Home – even to wave to Brian (86) through a closed window – due to coronavirus restrictions.
The couple are due to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary on Boxing Day.
But with Mr Chambers’ health and mental state in serious decline through vascular dementia and a skin cancer diagnosis, his wife fears she may never see him again.
“Brian and I will soon be 50 years married and I’ll be lucky to glimpse him through a window,” she said.
“Has all common sense and compassion disappeared through this wretched virus?”
The former naval chief petty officer, aircraft engineer and Inverness Royal Academy technical teacher was admitted on March 3 after life at Oakwood Court in Crown became too great a strain on his Danish-born spouse.
Before lockdown, visits brought the couple joy and comfort, despite Mr Chambers’ increasing confusion.
Mrs Chambers says she understood the need for tighter restrictions when the pandemic struck.
At first, she felt encouraged by care home staff to make daily garden visits to see her husband through a closed window.
Increasingly, though, she says she was made to feel unwelcome and was later told to limit visits to a few minutes once a week.
On at least two occasions Covid-19 tests for staff members have prompted the home to stop window visits altogether.
In early November, Mrs Chambers contacted the Courier asking for help.
Within a day or so, to her delight, management relented and she was even granted an indoor visit, wearing protective gear, around four weeks ago.
But on Sunday she received a call telling her emphatically she was barred from entering the grounds after another positive Covid-19 test among staff.
“I’ve never been one for bursting into tears, but I do now all the time – any stupid little thing on telly,” she said.
“It has taken a toll on me, but what worries me is the very heavy toll it is taking on Brian.
“Without visits, and without me being able to take him out, he just sits all the time. He seems to be declining fast.
“At first, he would be waiting for me and would run to the window with a wave and beaming smile.
“When I see him now he looks so vacant and sad, but he can recognise me and his eyes light up. I think there is anger there too. He gets occasional lucid moments when he looks at me as if to say ‘what have you done to me?’
“Most of the staff are really nice, it is just one or two senior members.
“It is like ‘here comes this nuisance again’.
“They are busy and stressed, I do understand that, but I only have one husband and I don’t know how long he has left.”
With time of the essence, Mrs Chambers has again asked the Courier to take up her case.
She first came to Scotland from Copenhagen in 1966 to learn English, taking a job in physiotherapy at Raigmore Hospital.
She met Brian at a military dance at Lossiemouth and they married in Denmark in 1970.
After leaving the navy, Mr Chambers retrained in teaching and the couple moved back to Inverness after his spell at university in Yorkshire.
Diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2016, early last year his worsening condition and tendency to disappear on walks prompted his move into care.
The home’s owners HC-One brand themselves The Kind Care Company.
A spokesperson for the home said changes in visitor policy had been forced upon them at various times during the pandemic.
The latest 14-day closure was imposed by NHS Highland’s health protection team after a staff member’s positive Covid-19 test.
All staff have since tested negative.
The spokesperson said: “We know it is exceptionally difficult for families to be apart from loved ones. Throughout the pandemic we have done everything we can to keep them connected, while also doing all we can to prevent coronavirus entering our home.
“Our family visiting policy has always followed both the Scottish Government requirements and directions issued by the local director of public health.”
Routine weekly testing had picked up positive tests among staff on several occasions, bringing “frequent, and at times short-notice, changes to visiting policy”.
They added: “We know that regular contact with loved ones is a vital component of the overall health and wellbeing of the people we care for.
“We will be keeping Mrs Chambers, and all families connected to Cradlehall, fully updated in the lead-up to Christmas.
“We hope that we can facilitate in-person visits as regularly as possible, within the restrictions placed on us by our local health partners.”
