Row after deaths at Manor

BOSSES at a coronavirus-hit care home have revealed 11 residents there died last month.

Kenton Manor on Kenton Lane in Newcastle, said the majority tested positive for Covid-19 before they died.

Five residents died over the course of a single weekend, the care home added.

The home is adjacent to Kenton Hall, which the GMB trade union previously claimed had been at the centre of an outbreak in April.

Now, a dispute has broken out between union officials and the firm which runs both homes.

GMB official Michael Hunt claims staff have said they have been told to “flout Government guidelines.”

Operator Solehawk said it “no longer recognises” the GMB and has stopped discussions with them.

Previously, Mr Hunt raised disputed concerns over PPE and staff safety. Among his claims in April was that staff had been given out-of-date hand gel.

However, a spokesperson for Solehawk said it had successfully managed the virus in many of its North East homes.

He said: “We have followed Government guidelines stringently throughout the pandemic.

“For example, Ashton Court on West Road has had no deaths and only one resident who tested positive, while asymptomatic, who was identified through our comprehensive testing programme that we rolled out across all our care homes.”

Of the deaths at Kenton Manor in May, Solehawk said seven had been Covid-positive although only one had the disease listed as the cause of death. The other four were not related to the virus.