I missed my last moment with mum by seconds because of Covid rules

Natasha tells how care home restrictions and test delayed final visit to dying Anne

-  LUCINDA CAMERON

A WOMAN missed being with her mother when she died in a care home by seconds because of Covid restrictions during the pandemic, an inquiry heard. 

Natasha Hamilton had to wait for the results of a Covid test and then “wait her turn” to visit her mother, and she arrived just too late to say a final farewell.

Her mother Anne Duke, who had dementia, died on November 13, 2021, and her cause of death was given as Alzheimer’s and pneumonia.

She had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s aged 56 in 2014 and was admitted into a care home in 2018. Hamilton told the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry that dementia “destroyed” her mother, but she visited the care home regularly before the pandemic and “cherished” the moments she spent with her.

She told the inquiry she did not have a chance to say a final goodbye to her mother as she was “waiting her turn” while her father and sister were in the room.