52 Understanding the impact of visitor restrictions on patient advocacy

<h3></h3> This presentation explores the perspectives of people with lived experience of the impact that COVID-19 visitor restrictions in health services and aged care facilities had on their advocacy and involvement in care planning during the COVID pandemic. Their stories will help delegates to understand the important roles of ‘carer’, essential visitors and the Medical Treatment and Decision Maker hierarchy in supporting patients/residents during major disruptions such as the COVID pandemic. Health service and aged care facilities visitor restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic were implemented to reduce viral spread and to protect vulnerable people and staff, however these restrictions also had negative impacts on patients/residents and carers/families, particularly their role in advocacy. A working party of health service, academic and consumer representatives, was convened to explore the impact of visitor restrictions across a network of 15 regional health and aged care services. The activities of the working party were driven by passionate consumers whose shared experiences and advice led to this co-designed and co-conducted research study. Twenty-eight family/carer stories and ten interviews provided powerful insights into the consumer experience of visitor restrictions during the COVID pandemic. Both positive and negative impacts of visitor restrictions were identified by family/carers, and their stories demonstrate a need for change in the way visitor restrictions are implemented in the future. These stories and interview data reflected a perceived lack of involvement in care and decision making which caused many family members and/or carers to feel that they were not able to advocate on behalf of the patient/resident and that this lack of advocacy had negative impacts on the patient/resident treatment. There is sparse evidence on the impacts of visitor restrictions on family/carer advocacy and involvement in care planning during the COVID pandemic, particularly in rural and regional areas. One of the differentiating features of this work conducted in regional and rural areas of central Victoria is that, unlike most cities in the world, many towns in the region during the first year of the pandemic, did not have a positive case of COVID-19 locally. Therefore there was community backlash about imposing visitor restrictions where it was not perceived by many in the community as a risk. We will share the recommendations that were developed based on lived experience relating to visitor restrictions for health services and aged care facilities in times of escalation in this continuing pandemic, as well as future pandemics or major disruptions.