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Bradley Walsh in tears on 'This Morning' over impact of care home visit rules on families

Watch: Bradley Walsh tears up over mother not being able to visit her son at care home

Bradley Walsh was overcome with emotion on Thursday's This Morning as he discussed "upsetting" care home visitation rules.

The case in particular that reduced The Chase presenter to tears was that of Ruth who revealed in a video on the daytime show that she had not been able to visit her son Sam, who is in the later stages of Huntington's disease, for six months.

Along with MP Liz Kendall, Walsh is backing calls for the government to change their stance on care home visit rules as many still remain closed to visitors. Ruth had reached out to Walsh on Instagram to share her story, prompting him to get on board with campaigning.

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He shared: "In Ruth’s case specifically, six or seven months of having daily contact [with Sam] and all of a sudden none, zero… and he’s in the later stages of Huntington's disease and it’s so sad."

Walsh apologised for becoming choked up as he said: "It’s hard enough to see your...sorry, parents go, but if your child is going to go before you, you know, something needs to be done.

"I apologise, it’s so upsetting and I had no idea this was going on. It needs to be government lead, there needs to be a blanket decision made.

"The expense would be enormous but if you’re going to live out your last days on your own, locked in isolation, without your loved ones… soon enough you’re going to go, but the people you leave behind are, as Liz said, going to be scarred for life. That is just tragic, tragic… it really is.”

Bradley Walsh became emotional on 'This Morning'. (ITV)
Bradley Walsh became emotional on 'This Morning'. (ITV)

Care homes in England were permitted to reopen for family visits in July, however, they can only take place if deemed safe by local authorities and public health teams.

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Kendall called for more testing in spaces such as local hospitals and universities, stating it's "what the government should be focusing on".

Presenter Phillip Schofield explained a government representative had declined to appear on the show but a statement from the Department of Health and Social Care read: “We know limiting visits to care homes has been very difficult for many families and residence, our first priority remains the prevention of infection in care homes to protect staff and residence, which is why more than 120,000 tests are being sent out every day solely for the care sector."