Heartbreaking
Care home which begged for help is forced to close after coronavirus tragedy MPs and experts warn of collapse in system without a £7bn cash injection
A CARE home that begged the Government for help has closed with the boss fearing others will follow.
This week a shocking report also warned the country’s care market was at risk of “collapse”.
One of the homes devastated by the pandemic, Newfield Nursing Home in Sheffield, is the latest to fall victim to the devastating care crisis.
A heartbreaking 25 people living there and its two sister homes in the city died with the virus after more than 110 residents and staff members tested positive.
Now the 60-bed home is closing for good, with 38 nurses and carers facing redundancy or redeployment.
Nicola Richards, the director of Palms Row Health Care, which ran Newfield Nursing Home, said: “We are heartbroken to have to close a good home.
“I have warned the Government of this for over a decade. If nothing changes more homes will close across the country. Once again, I am telling the Government our elderly deserve better.”
Residents and staff were left in tears when they were told the home was to close. Their last resident Shirley Scott said: “I’m 85 and homeless aren’t I?
CRYING
Mrs Scott’s husband Gordon died in December and she said of the closure: “It’s upsetting. Everyone has been crying… because we’re like family.”
She recovered from Covid-19 in March and has Parkinson’s disease.
She is now settling into her new home. In April, Newfield nurse Laura Hibbard begged Boris Johnson for help on the front page of the Daily Mirror.
She told how staff and residents felt abandoned after coronavirus “ripped” through the home with eight deaths.
This week she told us: “It’s been an incredibly tough year for us all, seeing the home close was especially sad. We have worked together for years.”
She is now caring for residents at Westbourne House care home, many of them familiar faces.
But she added: “I do worry for the future of the sector.”
Anne Clark, who has been a senior carer at Newfield since 2009, said: “When Covid got into the home, I think it destroyed it.
It was absolutely awful. I can’t describe how frightened everybody was.
“You didn’t know if you were going to get it yourself, if you’re going to take it home to your
DEDICATED Newfield Workers this April
family, if we’re going to give it to other residents.” She said of the moment they were told the home was closing: “Nobody could speak. Everybody was shocked. I was just devastated like everybody else.” Former Newfield worker Kayleigh Jupp, 27, of Chesterf i e ld , Derby s ,
Once again I am telling the Government that our elderly deserve better
said she had to make the painful decision to leave five weeks ago for a new job in a dementia home.
She showed the devotion of staff when she was pictured dancing with resident Jack Dodsley, 79, in April.
Kayleigh said: “There were only two left in the end at Newfield, they got sent home or moved on to other places. It’s not fair for someone of 87 to have to move. It broke my heart.
“It was so sad to leave. I thought I was going to be there until I retired.”
Kayleigh added: “The Government needs to work out a plan so care homes are supported a lot better. And they need to pay carers more.”
Jack, of Sheffield, is living back in his own house after recovering from an illness.
He said: “It ’ s shocking. It was a good home. Nurses were very attentive. I could not fault it.
“I had coronavirus when I was in there but didn’t know I had it. The Government need to get their priorities straight.”
A total of 275 UK care homes closed between January and the start of August – more than the number for the whole of last year, healthcare analysts LaingBuisson found.
MPs on the Health and Social Care Committee described the care system as “unfair, confusing, demeaning and frightening”.
They are calling for £7billion additional funding per year by 2023/24. They said the money is needed to stop providers withdrawing services to council- funded clients and focusing exclusively on the selfpay market.
Their report warned: “An immediate funding increase is needed to avoid the risk of market collapse.”
Ms Richards said the closure of Newfield is a “stark reminder of the mess that social care is in”.
The home saw a drop in the number of residents because of the pandemic. Ms Richards said more than 90% of residents received funding from the local authority or through the NHS.
And she said the amount that local authorities pay for nursing care beds also varies from county to county.
Sheffield pays £647 per person per week while 20 miles west in Derbyshire, the council there pays £783.
She said Covid-19 was “the straw
STRUGGLE Masked carer at window of Newfield home that broke the camel’s back”, paying out more for PPE, safety controls and extra staffing while suffering because of the postcode lottery of fees.
The Department of Health and Social Care said: “We are doing everything we can to support the sector during the pandemic including through regular testing of staff and residents, free PPE and over £ 1.1billion through the Infection Control Fund.
“We know there is a need for a longterm solution for social care and are looking at a range of proposals.”
NICOLA RICHARDS DIRECTOR OF PALMS ROW HEALTH CARE