Cautious welcome for plan
HOW PLANS FOR EASING OF LOCKDOWN ARE LIKELY TO PAN OUT
PLANS for visits to care homes allowing handholding have been given a cautious welcome by organisations in the sector.
There have been calls for clarification on the details of the new arrangements, and a warning that staff resources will be key to implementing them.
Care home residents will be allowed to hold hands with a regular indoor visitor from March 8 under the Government’s plan to ease lockdown restrictions in England.
Visitors will be required to take a coronavirus lateral flow test – which gives quick results – before entry and personal protective equipment (PPE) must be worn.
Residents will be asked not to hug or kiss their relatives, and guidance for care homes is expected to be published in the next fortnight.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was “pleased” that it would soon be possible for people to be “carefully and safely reunited with loved ones who live in care homes”.
Outdoor visits – as well as those inside pods or behind screens – will be able to continue, giving residents the chance to see more than just their nominated visitor.
Nadra Ahmed, who chairs the National Care Association, welcomed the news after a “gruelling” year, but said people need to be “careful and cautious” and understand “the implications and the risks that might be attached”.
She said having just one nominated person is about “mitigating risks” and that she understands it could be “up to the resident sometimes to nominate that person”.
The biggest issue could be ensuring there are enough staff to organise testing and cleaning between visits, she added.
She told BBC Breakfast: “Staff resource is our biggest problem.
“We have staff who are exhausted, we’ve got staff who are going down with
Covid and also getting long Covid.
“We have no insurance in our services for Covidrelated risks – that still hasn’t been sorted out by Government in any way,
so there will be all sorts of things about mitigating risks, but the default is we want to enable this visiting.”
Independent Care
Group chairman Mike
Padgham said there must be “a note of caution” because the virus has not gone away, and urged more details around the plans.
He said: “We need some clarification – for example, the announcement says holding hands will be allowed but warns against ‘close contact’. How is that going to be possible? There is going to have to be some very close but compassionate supervision of these visits.
“In truth, we might have preferred a more phased return to visiting with maybe a period of no contact visits followed by some careful contact.”
Age UK said people can now have hope their
“nightmarish, prolonged separation” from loved ones might be nearing an end.
The charity’s director Caroline Abrahams said: “It makes sense for the first step to be to allow ‘essential care giving visitors’ back into care homes because these individuals are so crucial to the health and wellbeing of the residents they support.
“In their absence we know that some older people have stopped eating and drinking, despite the best efforts of staff to take their place. Sometimes, only the person you love most in the world will do and it’s to the Government’s credit that they have recognised this.”
to allow ‘careful contact’ in homes
THE number of people infected with coronavirus has fallen dramatically over the past month.
In the North East, the number fell from 1.22% of the population in January – around one in 81 people – to 0.82% of the population in the first half of February, or around one person in 122.
The figures come from a study commissioned by the NHS and produced by Imperial College London. It found that in England as a whole, the number with the virus is down from 1.57% of the population to 0.51%. In other words, it’s fallen from one in 64 people to one person in 196.
Data like this was presented to Prime Minister Boris Johnson late last week. It’s the type of information that will help him draw up a “roadmap” for ending the lockdown.
While there has been speculation for weeks about how and when the lockdown will end, most of it has been premature. Mr Johnson couldn’t make any firm decisions until he had the information in front of him.
It’s likely that work on the roadmap has continued over the weekend and Mr Johnson will set out the plans in a statement to the House of Commons on Monday.
Questions the Prime Minister is considering include the infection rate, the impact that the vaccination programme is having and concern about new variants of Covid which may may some resistance to current vaccines – although it appears that the current vaccines do drastically reduce the chance of dying or becoming seriously ill.
He will also consider the progress being made in vaccinating the nation. The Government has succeeded in its aim of offering everyone over 70 a vaccination by February 15, and hopes to vaccinate everyone aged 50 and over by April 30.
We already know, however, that there will be no sudden end to the lockdown. Restrictions will be lifted slowly, and the best we can hope for on Monday is that Mr Johnson will set out a timetable, giving some indication as to when shops, pubs and venues such as gyms will be able to re-open.
Mr Johnson will be wary of making detailed promises about the weeks and months ahead, because he can’t be certain what the future holds.
In the early days, he was full of optimism about the prospects of defeating the virus and returning life to normal – and came in for criticism when some of that optimism proved to be unfounded. Now, he is far more cautious in what he says. So he may set vague ambitions for opening up some sections of the economy, rather than naming specific dates he can’t be 100% certain of meeting.
What can we expect? The Government will make re-opening schools a top priority. Initially, the plan was to talk about schools later in the week, on Thursday, but Mr Johnson will find it hard to avoid talking about education as part of Monday’s roadmap.
Ministers have previously talked about March 8 being the day that schools could begin to re-open. This is because the vaccines take three weeks to be effective, and March 8 is three weeks after February 15, the date by which the most vulnerable should have had a vaccination.
Everything that re-opens has a tendency to push up the infection rate – whether that’s schools, shops or pubs. So the Government will stagger re-openings.
That means it could be a good month or so before further changes are introduced.
While we don’t know the dates, the next priority after re-opening schools is believed to be getting students back in lecture theatres, and re-opening nonessential shops.
After that comes bars and restaurants – though they may well face some restrictions once they re-open – followed by some sporting facilities.
Finally comes entertainment venues, such as concert halls and theatres, and other sporting venues.
Businesses affected by the lockdown want the Prime Minister to set out clear dates, so that they can plan ahead. But the Prime Minister will be wary of making any firm promises about future events which he can’t be entirely certain of keeping.
The roadmap statement shouldn’t be seen in isolation. While Mr Johnson will talk about the way out of lockdown (and Education Secretary Gavin Williamson may say more about schools on Thursday), Chancellor Rishi Sunak is due to deliver his own key statement the week after. He will deliver his Budget statement on March 3. And while he will have to deal partly with the impact of Covid, talking about issues such as Universal Credit and the furlough scheme, he will also want to talk about how the country moves on after Covid.
Labour leader Keir Starmer delivered a speech last week in which he stated that the UK should not return to “business as usual” once the crisis is over, but should instead “think again about the country that we want to be”.
But the message from the two main parties is really very similar – that the country needs to rebuild its economy, but shouldn’t aim simply to recreate the circumstances that existed before coronavirus struck. Instead, Conservatives will argue that the rebuilding should also be about creating a fairer society, particularly in the sense of fairness between different parts of the country, with more opportunities created for regions such as the North and the Midlands.
ALL adults in the UK should be offered a coronavirus vaccine by the end of July, Boris Johnson has pledged.
The Prime Minister said the accelerated rollout would help protect the most vulnerable sooner and enable the easing of some restrictions. Adults aged 50 and over – as well as those with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk – will be offered a vaccine by April 15 under the expedited plans.
By July 31, all adults should have been offered a jab – though the order of priority for those under 50 has yet to be outlined by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
Ministers had set a target to offer vaccines to all adults by September, with an aim to reach all those aged 50 and over in the first nine JCVI priority groups by May.
The new targets will be seen as a sign of increasing confidence within Government that the vaccine supply will remain steady over the coming months.
The Government met its ambition to offer jabs to all those in the top four priority groups – adults aged 70 and over, frontline health and social care workers and the most clinically vulnerable – by February 15. More than 16.8 million people have now received their first dose of a vaccine and almost 600,000 have received their second.
The accelerated rollout will fuel calls for coronavirus restrictions to be eased sooner, but Mr Johnson insisted the route out of lockdown would be “cautious and phased”.
The Prime Minister will spend the weekend finalising his road map for relaxing the stringent measures before announcing the plans to MPS on Monday.
He said: “Hitting 15 million vaccinations was a significant milestone – but there will be no let-up, and I want to see the rollout go further and faster in the coming weeks.
“We will now aim to offer a jab to every adult by the end of July, helping us protect the most vulnerable sooner, and take further steps to ease some of the restrictions in place. But there should be no doubt – the route out of lockdown will be cautious and phased, as we all continue to protect ourselves and those around us.”
Downing Street said the JCVI would publish its priority list for the second phase of the vaccine programme in due course, amid calls for teachers and other frontline workers to be prioritised.
More than two thirds of people aged between 65 and 69 have had their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine just a week after invitations went out, NHS England has said.
Around 460,000 people aged 64 will now be called forward to receive their jab, as the health service urged people aged over 65 to respond to their vaccine letter if they have not already done so.
Some parts of England had already begun vaccinating the over65s before the invitations were sent out, after they reached everyone in the top four priority groups who wanted a jab.
NHS England data shows 2,369,660 vaccinations were adminstered in the North East and Yorkshire between December 8 and February 19 – 2,283,536 first and 86,124 second doses.
THE mum of a Newcastle man left unable to talk, read or write after a savage stabbing feels justice still has not been done despite his attacker’s jail term being increased.
Ryan Covell had to have part of his skull removed to save his life after violent thug Dean Stewart subjected him to a ‘sustained’ assault in Newcastle city centre in June last year.
The 22-year-old suffered injuries to his neck and liver, and could have died if he had not received an emergency blood transfusion at the scene.
Stewart was jailed for more than seven years after admitting wounding with intent to commit grievous bodily harm.
However the Court of Appeal has now increased Stewart’s sentence to 10 years and six months following a hearing under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme.
But Ryan’s mum, Diane, says it is still not enough for how he has taken her son’s life away.
She said: “I thought the first sentence was pathetic. This increase is a bit better but it isn’t justice for what he has done. “We’re lucky that Ryan didn’t die. “Dean Stewart shouldn’t be allowed out with the threat that he poses to the public.
“I don’t want anyone else to have to go through what we’re going through. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
“But he could get out and do this again.
“Dean Stewart might not have killed Ryan as such, but he killed him inside.
“He has taken Ryan’s life away. He’s only a 22-year-old lad and he is never going to be the person he used to be.
“It’s heartbreaking as a mum to see my son in the position he is in now.
“The hardest part is still not knowing why he did it in the first place.”
Newcastle Crown Court heard in November how Ryan and Stewart were intoxicated when they got into an altercation inside Ryan’s flat at the Tyneside Foyer on June 15.
Using a knife, Stewart, 25, inflicted life
threatening injuries to the victim, including a 3cm deep cut to his neck which pierced an artery.
Ryan was seen leaving the building with blood pouring from his neck and caught the attention of the concierge before collapsing.
The victim was given a “life-saving” emergency blood transfusion at the scene by paramedics before being taken to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.
He was placed in an induced coma and later had emergency surgery to remove part of his skull after suffering a stroke.
Ryan, who is from the Fenham area of the city, remained in hospital until October when he was finally able to return home to his family.
But Diane, who has three other children aged 20, 19 and four, admits it has been difficult for Ryan to adapt to his new way of life.
She said: “You never expect something like this to happen to your own.
“Ryan can manage to dress and wash himself but he still can’t talk, read or write. He can’t use his upper right side since his stroke.
“He gets very frustrated at being unable to do things he used to do.
“Things like playing football and going for a run.
“Ryan wanted to be a builder and had been to college but now he’s unable to do that.
“It’s just a waiting game before we find out whether he’s going to be able to talk.
“It’s so difficult because this is Ryan’s life now, but Dean will get out of jail and be able to live his life again as he was.”
A DAD who took six months off work to live in the Cambodian jungle after thinking he had ‘stress related’ symptoms later discovered they were caused by a brain tumour.
Alan Purvis believed he was experiencing work-related stress when he first started suffering from lethargy and tinnitus.
The 52-year-old, from Chester-lestreet, County Durham, took a sixmonth break from work and travelled to Cambodia, where he lived in the jungle and worked at an elephant rescue centre.
A hard worker who held senior positions throughout his career, commercial manager Alan thought the break might help him feel better.
But when the symptoms failed to go away, Alan went to see his GP after returning from his travels.
He was sent for tests and ultimately diagnosed with a grade 2 brain tumour.
Now as he marks three years since his diagnosis, Alan’s daughter Emily is raising money for Brain Tumour Research by taking on the 10,000 Steps a Day in February Challenge.
Alan, a part-time commercial manager for a recruitment company in Durham, was diagnosed with a grade 2 oligodendroglioma in February 2018 after returning from Cambodia.
He was referred to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist at University Hospital of North Durham.
After an MRI scan picked up something “sinister” in his brain, Alan was referred to the Regional Neurosciences Centre at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, where another MRI was carried out.
On February 14 2018, he was told he had a grade 2 oligodendroglioma, which would need to be removed.
Emily, 21, said: “It came as a huge shock to us all. My dad has always been
so fit and healthy, hugely into exercise and he has always looked after his body.
“He used to run marathons and cycle more than 100 miles at a time. We couldn’t believe he’d been diagnosed with something so serious.”
Alan underwent a craniotomy on May 4 2018, 11 weeks after his diagnosis. The majority of the tumour was removed and the operation was followed by six weeks of daily radiotherapy, then six cycles of chemotherapy, which he finished at the end of April 2019.
Northumbria University student Emily said: “When Dad was ill and receiving treatment it was a scary time for us all, as he would usually be the one making sure everybody else was OK. “I remember visiting him in hospital after his brain surgery and I got such a shock seeing him so poorly, I actually passed
out and ended up in A&E, as my blood pressure had dropped so low.
“Dad is now three years post-diagnosis and has good and bad days – mostly good at the moment, thankfully. He has regular scans, which have all shown that the remaining part of the tumour is behaving itself.
“His life has changed in so many ways; he had to surrender his driving licence, due to his seizures, and he is unlikely to be able to travel again.
“Despite this, we are so grateful that he is here and he continues to live a
happy and fulfilled life.”
Now Emily, who works parttime at a Newcastle supermarket while studying criminology, is joining thousands of fundraisers around the country to take part in a 10,000 Steps a Day in February Challenge to raise money for Brain Tumour Research.
Steps can be completed however and with whoever participants like, ensuring they follow Covid-19 safety guidelines.
Emily said: “I fundraised for Brain Tumour Research last year, as I was planning to zip line off the Tyne Bridge in April but unfortunately, due to Covid, I was unable to complete this. When I came across a Facebook advert for the 10,000 Steps a Day in February Challenge, I knew I wanted to get involved.”
She added: “Before my dad was diagnosed with a brain tumour, it was something I knew very little about. We still don’t know why the brain cancer developed and I think knowing this would provide us some comfort.
“Much more research is needed to get answers to these questions. It’s a truly awful disease and it saddens me to see so many people and their families affected by it.”
To donate to Brain Tumour Research via Emily’s fundraising page, visit: https:// www.facebook.com/ donate/402277761068885
‘‘
He has regular scans, which have all shown that the remaining part of the tumour is behaving itself.
EMILY PURVIS
A WOMAN repeatedly kicked and stamped on a half-naked drunken man and walked off with his trousers during shocking scenes on a Newcastle street.
Sarah Zibens was caught on camera carrying out a sustained and “degrading” assault on a James Lawson, who was wearing only a T-shirt.
At one point during the attack, she could be seen walking away with what are believed to be his trousers.
Mr Lawson, who was not known to Zibens, suffered serious injuries, but prosecutors accepted these were caused by him falling and the 36-year-old was sentenced on the basis she caused less serious harm.
Newcastle Crown Court heard it was in the early hours of June 23 last year that the attack happened on Westgate Road, Newcastle.
Glenn Gatland, prosecuting, said: “When the police arrived they found the victim in a truly wretched state.
“He was naked except for a T-shirt, very heavily intoxicated and bleeding profusely from his forehead and had scrapes on his arm.
“The prosecution say those injuries were caused by the defendant.
“The defendant came out from behind a car. She was intoxicated and incoherent.
“She told police she had kicked Mr Lawson all over. The CCTV proves this to be unquestionably true.”
The court heard the footage shows the half-naked victim in the rain at around 5.30am when Zibens approaches him.
Mr Gatland said she appears to march back and forwards berating him, then kicks him three times while he was on the ground.
The prosecutor said: “Mr Lawson is seen to carry his trousers. He is so intoxicated he couldn’t stand, let alone put them back on.
“She approached him and appeared to take his clothes then walked away from him, carrying them into the street. Mr Lawson tried to follow her but fell heavily.”
After he unsteadily got to his feet, Zibens pursued him and he fell over again.
Mr Gatland said: “She is seen to repeatedly kick Mr Lawson in the head and stamp on his head, causing his forehead to contact with the ground. He was holding his head in pain, notwithstanding his intoxicated, confused state and he continued staggering, falling and crawling around.
“The defendant approached him again. Mr Lawson got to his feet but she kicked him again and he fell over again. She attacked him while he was on the floor, kicking him and appearing to hit him with something she was holding.”
At that stage a passer-by intervened but Zibens continued berating Mr Lawson as he crawled on the floor.
Mr Lawson was later found to have a shattered spleen but prosecutors accepted this was caused in a fall and not by Zibens.
He also had broken ribs but prosecutors said they cannot say they were caused by Zibens.
She was only held accountable for the injuries to his head in a “sustained repeated assault”.
Zibens, of Westgate Road, who has 63 previous convictions, including for assault, affray, assaulting an emergency worker, dishonesty, disorder and resisting arrest, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. She was jailed for 14 months, but as she has served more
than six months on remand, will be released imminently. She was also given an 18-month restraining order.
Mr Recorder Fanning told Zibens: “The injuries for which you were responsible were relatively minor but the repeated attacking of a man who was clearly vulnerable is a serious aggravating feature. This is a nasty street attack, a sustained attack against somebody who’s unable to defend themselves effectively.”
The court heard Zibens had spent three months in a psychiatric unit and has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder as a result of a difficult childhood.
Fiona Lamb, defending, said she had a drug-induced psychosis at the time but is sorry and is now off heroin and methadone.