The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Six die at care home
The boss of a care home firm has spoken of staff ’s devastation after six residents - a third of the people being cared for at the home - died after contracting coronavirus.
Chris Graham, national operations director of Trust Care Management, who run the Philia Lodge Care Home in Eastfield Road, said staff were not sure how the virus got into the care home, but a number of residents and staff had been affected.
Along with the six who died, regional operations director for the north Sarah Couzens is in hospital having tested positive for COVID-19 after a spell working at the home, and another resident is receiving end of life care having contracted it.
Chris said: “It has been very difficult. We restricted visitors right at the start, and then went into lockdown, so we don’t know how the virus got in, but 85 per cent of our staff have also been sick and in isolation.
“We have been really struggling for PPE - the council gave us a four-day supply, but we are now having to improvise a bit. We are making sure everyone is isolated as much as they can be.
“We are also facing a funding problem - costs have gone up for a lot of things and we are really struggling - we might potentially have to look at closing. We are spending so much more on PPE - the NHS do not have to pay VAT on it, but we do, for example. We spent more than £1,000 on PPE in the last month, which is much, much more than we normally would. Our bed fees have also gone up from the CCG. It is a real struggle at the moment.”
However, despite the struggles staff were facing, Chris said the staff at the home were amazing.
He said; “Our staff are doing so many tasks. They were described as low skilled workers before, but now they are heroes.
“All the staff are stepping up and pulling together in a difficult time.
“We are coming past the peak of this now, but it has been so tough, staff working in the hot weather in full PPE kit, in the circumstances we have. It has been amazing.
“Some of the residents who have died have been big characters at the home, and they will be missed a lot.”
The residents at the home have been able to see family members at a safe distance, using video calling software.”
Chris said Peterborough residents could help the home with a fundraising campaign to buy PPE, and for a memorial for those who have died as a result of the virus.
At another care home in Peterborough, the costs of PPE are also causing issues although they had managed to avoid the worst of the virus itself so far. Neil Russell, chairman of PJ Care said there were ‘not enough superlatives’ to describe staff who are helping residents at the Eagle Wood care centre in Bretton.
The care home looks after people with conditions such as Young or Early Onset dementia, Huntington’s disease and brain injuries, and Mr Russell said two residents had been taken to hospital with coronavirus during the pandemic, but both were now back at the home, in isolation, and were ‘recovering better than expected.’
Mr Russell said: “There are not enough superlatives for our staff - they have all been amazing. Overall, about 20 per cent of our staff are self isolating at the moment.
“But the team we have in is unbelievable - they have been doing overtime, picking up other things and doing a great job, keeping everyone safe.
“We have been looking for temporary staff- we had a piece in the Peterborough Telegraph which was successful in finding more workers, but we have had temporary staff going into isolation too, so we are still looking,”
Mr Russell said the company had a big enough stock of personal protective equipment (PPE) - although they were having to pay ‘over the odds’ for it.
He said: “We acknowledge that it is difficult for the sector because demand is so high.
“We were fortunate in already having strong, well-established relationships with our supply chain and we had good stock levels before the crisis hit. But we have to applaud the efforts of our procurement manager, Daria Drygas, who has been on the phone constantly. She’s been working extremely long hours, sometimes checking emails at midnight, to keep in contact with our suppliers and make the most of opportunities when they arise.
“It’s vital we have the necessary protective equipment for all of our staff in order to keep them, and our residents, safe and well, so we hope we can continue to source enough for our whole team.”
Masks are being worn by all staff, from the maintenance team to senior management, who are on the floor on a daily basis.
“Our operations director would normally visit our centres two or three times a week but he’s on the floor every day at the moment, volunteering his services wherever they are needed,” said Neil. “That could be as another pair of hands or just a listening ear – both are key to supporting our staff who are doing the most amazing job.
“They come to work under unprecedented circumstances, yet they have smiles on their faces and show the same dedication to our residents, and each other, as they do every day.
“They are having to cover colleagues who are self-isolating until our new staff members come on board, and I can’t say enough how proud I am of them all.”
The team have been work