Some Welsh care home staff and residents still waiting for Covid tests
SOME care home staff and residents have still not been tested for Covid-19 despite a change in policy being introduced by the Welsh Government a month ago, it has been revealed.
On Saturday, May 16, Health Minister Vaughan Gething announced that testing would be extended to everyone in these settings “following the latest scientific evidence”.
Mr Gething said he hoped the measure would “bring further reassurance” to those living and working in care homes and their families.
Before this announcement was made, only care homes with a confirmed case of coronavirus were eligible for a test.
During Monday’s press conference, First Minister Mark Drakeford admitted that there were still staff and residents who had not been given a test four weeks on from the announcement being made.
“All care homes who are willing to be tested have had an offer of a test, and in almost all of them those tests have been completed,” he said.
“But we are going beyond what we have already done by offering a test every week for the next four weeks to care home staff in Wales.
“This is a trust-building exercise so care homes can be sure that people who do that vital work are themselves protected from the virus and don’t run the risk of bringing the virus in with them.
“We are doing that even though the rate of the virus is falling.”
Mr Drakeford added that there remained a “small number” of care homes that are not willing for tests to be carried out on staff and residents.
Kevin Edwards, managing director at Meddyg Care Group Holdings which runs two specialist dementia care homes in Porthmadog and Criccieth,
Gwynedd, said all of his staff and residents were tested for Covid19 three weeks ago.
They are now set to start their second round of testing.
“Everybody was tested no problem at all, but the problem we had was that it took five days to get the results back,” he said,
“Two of our staff were asymptomatic and were found to be positive, but they’d carried on working with us for several days before becoming aware they needed to self-isolate.
“Thankfully – and I guess this shows how good our PPE provision has been – none of our residents have tested positive.”
Mr Edwards said delays in getting results back has created “an awful lot of uncertainty” for care home residents and staff who have called in sick with stress.
He said the sooner antibody testing is rolled out, which will prove whether someone has had coronavirus at some point in the past and has built up immunity, the soon the anxieties will subside.
He added that while his care homes have been provided with emergency funding for its councilfunded residents, they have received no support for their NHS-funded residents.
“There has also been no sign of the £500 ‘gift’ for care home workers from the Welsh Government,” he added.
Mario Kreft, chairman of Care Forum Wales, said there has been “significant improvement” in testing – something the organisation had spent weeks campaigning for.
“We are very supportive of the huge effort of the Welsh Government in this regard and it is having a positive impact,” he said.
“As we prepare for a potential second wave, we are now in much better place than we were before.
“We now have a robust system where we are seeing very safe discharges from hospitals into care homes.”
Mr Kreft said some care homes have been able to allow special visits on compassionate grounds when residents have been in the end stages of life, with relatives wearing full PPE.
He added that he welcomed the Welsh Government’s more cautious approach to easing the lockdown restrictions.
“As a sector, we are also going to very careful in the way we balance the need to ensure as much interaction as possible can take place between relatives, close friends and their loved ones in way that is safe for residents and staff,” he said.
“We welcome the innovation where care homes are opening their gardens up and be able to facilitate visits that comply with social distancing protocols.
“It will however be some considerable time before visits to care homes go back to normal. In the meantime are naturally keen to ensure the emotional wellbeing of residents and their families and friends but this has to be done in a very safe and controlled environment.
“Families have been incredibly understanding because they have appreciated the heroic determination of care homes to shield social care and save lives.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We expect to see an improvement in the turnaround of testing times – it’s important results are available swiftly, particularly in care homes.”