What is the ‘right to a care supporter’, and what might this mean in practice? These were some of the questions discussed at today’s online seminar run by Caroline Green, Jill Manthorpe and Jo Brown. Thirty people joined the session to hear presentations from two guest speakers and discuss the progress being made to enshrine the right to a care supporter in law. The speakers were:

• Josie Dixon (Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at LSE). Josie shared findings from her ‘Visit-id’ study which explored care home visiting arrangements during COVID-19.
• Helen Wildbore (Director of Care Rights UK). Helen spoke about the importance of maintaining contact with family carers for the health and wellbeing of care home residents. She also shared the progress of the Care Supporters Bill, which is currently going through the Houses of Parliament.
• Dr Caroline Green (HSCWRU, KCL). Caroline presented an overview of her study exploring the practical implications of a potential new right to a care supporter.

Slides from the afternoon are available on the Human Rights and Social Care Forum website.

This seminar was the first in a three-part series about care support in health and social care. The next seminar will take place on Thursday, 13 July at 13:00 with speakers from NHS England and a care home provider. You can register for the seminar via Eventbrite.