Campaigners fear 1500 of Scotland's elderly may die alone ahead of Christmas while relatives remain banned from visiting care homes, according to reports. 

Scots dying "confused and alone without their closes family" in care homes was blasted as a "human rights disaster", the Sunday Mail reports. 

Political figures are being joined by campaigners in demanding action amid concern for the mental and physical health of care home residents.

Founder of Care Home Relatives Scotland group, Cathie Russell, told the paper: "I’ve spent much of this week in tears. Our loved ones are dying at the rate of more than 300 a week and they haven’t had any decent time or a wee hug from families since last March – not even one family caregiver, which was all we were asking for.

“It’s a human rights disaster – there will be around 1500 deaths before Christmas as a result of Covid and non-Covid related conditions."

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The woman believes it "completely unacceptable" elderly are dying frightened and alone.

Other countries prioritised visiting relatives as part of their response to the pandemic, she claimed. 

She added: “With the average stay in a Scottish nursing home estimated at 13 months, what’s continuing to happen is a disaster.

“Through all the Scottish Government care home announcements, they’ve created an impression that people now see their relatives and can hold hands – but that’s very far from the reality for the overwhelming majority of us.”

Earlier this week the Scottish Government vowed to introduce coronavirus testing of visitors over Christmas. 

An initial rollout will start with 12 care homes across four local authorities from December 7.

But the campaigner does not believe it will be enough. 

Cathie said: “Our understanding is that by Christmas, there will only be 24 care homes out of 1100 with access to pregnancy-style lateral flow tests which give an instant result.

“Although we don’t know how it will actually be done, the majority of us who don’t get these will be offered the more common PCR tests for the three weeks around Christmas.

“To our complete dismay, the Scottish Government continues to make it clear to care homes that they don’t need to take part in testing or follow guidance.

“Scottish Care has also said the roll-out of testing will not be completed till the end of February – that will be almost a full year since we were locked out.

“On top of all this, Greater Glasgow and Lanarkshire haven’t had any indoor visiting since last March."

She plans on holding talks with solicitors this week to discuss legal challenges to the care home lockdown.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: “We cannot have care home residents facing the added trauma of effectively being held prisoner with no access to human contact from the outside world.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We are working urgently with care homes and partners to ensure they can support safe visiting as much as possible.

“To help with that directly, alongside our support from NHS primary care and supplying PPE where needed, we have significantly expanded testing, which will include priority testing for designated care home visitors.”