Covid carer ‘died of natural causes’
ACORONER has said he is not satisfied there is “sufficient evidence” that a care worker who died from Covid-19 caught the virus at work.
Alexis Anne Adshead, 58, from Gilfach Goch was working as a carer at Ty Eirin Care Home in Porth before her death.
Mrs Adshead, who had mild asthma, developed symptoms of Covid19 on April 2, 2020.
She first developed a cough, and when breathing became difficult and things got “really bad” on April 7, she was admitted to hospital.
After being discharged from hospital, she was later readmitted to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital and died on April 23, after being put into endof-life care.
Speaking in 2021, her husband Simon, said: “[The hospital staff said it was too hard a decision for me to make – we are going to turn off the ventilator. I didn’t disagree with them, because it was the right thing to do. I think she had gone before that. I knew at the time she was not coming back.
“We couldn’t say our proper goodbyes. It’s difficult to close the box and move on. It took me a long time to come to terms with it.
“I met Alexis when I was 20, so we have been together almost all my adult life. All I have ever known is being with Alexis. I was on my own. It takes a lot of getting used to. I still don’t like it.”
The inquest looked to determine whether the death was a matter of “industrial disease”, which effectively means a disease contracted in the course of work, or whether the death was of natural causes.
To do this, senior coroner Graeme Hughes looked at whether the PPE and training available to Mrs Adshead were sufficient, whether she attended directly to residents who had Covid-19 or symptoms of it, and if the risk assessment carried out in relation to her asthma was adequate.
Ultimately, the test was of whether it was “more likely than not” that Mrs Adshead contracted Covid-19 in the course of her employment at Ty Eirin. Over three days, the inquest heard from colleagues, care home managers and medical experts from Public Health Wales.
In relation to training and PPE, Mr Hughes questioned “whether instructions and training afforded to Alexis in relation to PPE provided to her and used by her” could have contributed to her death, but found the two training programmes offered by her employer were not faulty in any way that could have caused her death.
He added there was a “clear understanding” of what PPE should be worn, with “no reason to believe that this was not the case with Alexis”.
Mr Hughes was confident in the PPE itself, adding that the only area of possible concern came in relation to eye protection worn when performing personal care, but it was “more likely than not” that Alexis was aware of the guidance on what should be worn.
The inquest also looked more directly at whether it was possible she came into contact directly with people infected with Covid-19 at work in the weeks before her death.
Mr Hughes noted Mrs Adshead provided incontinence care to a resident who later died of Covid-19, in the weeks before her own death, but this was not contradictory to the guidance at the time.
The care home had carried out a risk assessment in relation to Mrs Adshead as her asthma placed her at a “moderate” risk of harm should she contract Covid-19, but she had not been informed of the outcome of this risk assessment due to time pressures.
As Mrs Adshead would not have been classified as “extremely clinically vulnerable”, Mr Hughes said Harbour Healthcare did not have a statutory duty to perform the assessment at all and had gone “above and beyond” in doing so.
Mr Hughes said: “I am not satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to find that Alexis was likely infected with Covid-19 during the course of her employment.”
He could only have made a finding of industrial disease if there was a causal link, adding: “Covid-19 is a naturally occurring disease. Alexis died from the complications of that infection, likely exacerbated by her mild asthma that likely predisposed her to consequences once infected.”
The inquest recorded a conclusion of death by natural causes.
The medical cause of death was recorded as Covid-19 leading to multiple organ failure, with asthma as a contributing factor.