Ruthie Henshall's mum has passed away.
Ruthie Henshall
The 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!' star has been left heartbroken after her dementia-stricken mum died following months of isolation in her care home during lockdown.
Ruthie wrote: "Gloria 07/05/1933-11/05/2021 My beautiful mummy Gloria passed away very peacefully early this morning. I managed to care for her for a few short weeks. It was my honour and my privilege. (sic)"
The 54-year-old actress explained that her mother had deteriorated rapidly during the coronavirus lockdown, but her siblings were unable to visit their mum due to the government guidelines.
She said: "If the government had made their guidance law my sisters would have seen her more than a couple of times before losing her. Even recently my sister Susan was doing window visits because she wasn’t able to get an indoor visit for 3 weeks. Spring lodge, the care home my mother was in followed the guidance but still there are care home providers and managers that are not. It remains a postcode lottery.
"My sister Susan is angry and devastated that she only got 2 indoor visits before my Mother died. This was completely and totally unnecessary. Utterly inhumane to these beautiful residents who are not really living much of a life. Still socially distanced as much as possible during the day and unable to have anything like meaningful visits with loved ones. This to me is a crime being committed. (sic)"
The West End star was able to see Gloria daily after she fought to be assigned as an "essential caregiver", but Ruthie claims some care home residents are being refused "human rights".
She added: "Without the guidance being law some care home providers are allowing an abuse of residents' human rights to meaningful contact with their loved ones. (sic)"