It was in the early months of the pandemic that David Barton realised, as he sat by his dying wife, that in our singular determination to protect life from the spread of a virus, we were at risk of losing something just as precious.

Anne Barton wasn’t sick with COVID-19, she was sick with cancer. An inoperable, terminal liver cancer which, after enduring for 16 months the ravages of chemotherapy and the progression of the disease, she had decided to stop fighting. Now that she was in palliative care, what mattered was being as comfortable as possible and sharing the time she had left with people she loved.

Instead, COVID restrictions imposed on the small palliative hospital where she was receiving care meant she was allowed only one visitor a day, for one hour. That included visits from her husband of 44 years. If either of their children wanted to see their mum, David couldn’t see his wife. Their grandchildren couldn’t come at all.

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