Manager opens his doors to corona patients
A CARE home is accepting Covid patients from a hospital which is struggling to cope with virus cases.
Saint Cecilia’s has taken in nine coronavirus patients. Managing director Mike Padgham said: ‘The NHS needs help with capacity and we are part of the health and social care community so we wanted to play our part.
‘If we don’t help these people who are on the mend, then people who are ill won’t get treatment in the hospitals because there is no space. It feels like a wartime situation and we all have to help out and pull together.’ The patients, who are still suffering from Covid symptoms, are recovering at the home in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. They are looked after by an independent team of carers on a separate floor.
The unit, which has space for 15 people, is self-contained, staff wear personal protective equipment at all times and deep cleans are carried out several times a day. But there is still a worry that the virus could spread to the rest of the home with potentially fatal consequences.
Mr Padgham said of the Scarborough Hospital patients: ‘You can never say there’s no risk whatsoever, but we are following the stringent procedures that Government tell us to follow so the risk is very small. Lessons have been learnt from the first wave.’
Dr Ed Smith, medical director at Scarborough Hospital, said: ‘It is literally lifesaving to be able to discharge patients rapidly and effectively.’