Health secretary Matt Hancock has announced a new “right to say goodbye” as he admitted he wept at the death of a 13-year-old boy whose family were not allowed to be with him in his final moments.
As a father of a young teenager himself he said he wanted, wherever possible, for people to be able to see their loved ones one last time.
Mr Hancock set out out the plans as part of moves to respond to a rising death toll in care homes.
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A new badge for social care workers would also allow the public to express their gratitude to them in the same way they do towards NHS workers, he said.
Ministers have been accused of not acting swiftly enough amid a growing crisis in the UK’s care homes.
Mr Hancock said that “wherever possible” people will be given the “chance to say goodbye” to loved ones dying with coronavirus, following reports of older people in care homes dying without anyone by their side and hospitals banning visitors.
Mr Hancock was emotional as he spoke of 13-year-old Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab, from Brixton, south London, dying without a parent at his bedside.
As the father of a 13-year-old himself, he said he had wept at the news and that “wanting to be with someone you love at the end of their life is one of the deepest human instincts”.
New procedures would be introduced to limit the risk of infection and, wherever possible, give families the chance to say goodbye, he said.
Mr Hancock also said a badge for care workers would help them access similar benefits to NHS staff.
Supermarkets have been asked to give care staff the same priority access as health service staff, he added.
“This badge will be a badge of honour in a very real sense, allowing social care staff proudly and publicly to identify themselves, just like NHS staff do with that famous blue and white logo,” he said.
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“I know that many businesses will want to offer the same recognition and benefits as they do wonderfully to the NHS.”
Unions almost immediately poured cold water on the badge plan, however.
Rehana Azam, national officer of the GMB union, said: “Our care workers need more than a badge and a pat on their head to define their precious role in society.
“They need the protective equipment and testing on the front line now to protect their lives.”
Mr Hancock also said ministers were making “crystal clear” that advanced care plans, including “do not resuscitate” orders, could not be applied to an entire group of people.
The health secretary had previously announced that all care home staff and residents who need one would receive a test.
The government has scrapped a rule that meant only the first five people in a care home to develop symptoms would be tested, to confirm an outbreak.
All those discharged from hospital to a care home will also be tested.
Mr Hancock made the announcement after it emerged a pregnant nurse has died at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital after testing positive for coronavirus.
Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong, who worked as a nurse at the hospital, died on Sunday.
Her baby was successfully delivered and is doing well, the hospital said.
