Care homes took every precaution
I AM the CEO of Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People, a charity that delivers complex care and rehabilitation to people in nursing and care homes across Surrey and Kent. I am writing in response to the Prime Minister’s comments that he believed many care homes did not follow proper procedures on coronavirus. Like many others in my field, in March I assessed the risk of coronavirus and decided to batten down the hatches ten days before the lockdown. This was based on the best advice at the time. The information available for the first few weeks was confused, but that was only to be expected when we were dealing with a disease we all knew so little about. This was uncharted territory for all of us and our outbreak plans have been tested to the full. On our behalf, the Prime Minister had to make decisions based on the best advice he had at the time. I could only go with what I knew, assessed or believed was right for the safety of my clients. So what did we do? We restricted staff going home or working elsewhere; limited visits to the homes, including by families; sent office staff to work at home; and isolated those staff we felt may be at risk. We bought our own PPE because we knew the NHS had to have first call. We got supplies in ready for isolation. Our IT systems were changed to make it easier to communicate with friends, families and the outside world. We held daily meetings to check on progress and review data, advice and expert views. Before testing was available, we ensured that anyone who came from hospital was isolated for 14 days in one room with only the same staff supporting them. We bought — at hugely inflated costs — hand sanitiser, test kits and PPE before the first plans were rolled out and any money kicked in. We did this in line with the understandably ever-changing Government advice. Our risk assessment was based on client and staff safety first. This was at a time when we lost all our fundraising events overnight. We have predicted we will lose £1 million this year. But did we say ‘It’s your fault, Prime Minister’? No, we followed guidance and added our own additional levels of precaution. We are grateful for the small amount of resources we have been given, but we continue to rely on self-help for survival. The NHS has had rightful praise, but social care teams need to be recognised, too. We all faced the same risk, and transmission of coronavirus happened in hospitals as well as in care homes. Our clients are very fragile and we have taken some directly from hospitals throughout the pandemic to ensure NHS bed capacity was managed. Thanks in no small part to the careful precautions we put in place, we have had no Covid cases. Our charity is now taking in long-term, post-ventilated Covid patients for rehabilitation. Their journey back to health will be complex and long. We see ourselves as part of the NHS pathway and are proud to be that. So, Prime Minister, don’t isolate us even more now. We made decisions based on scientific advice — isn’t that what the Government did, too?
KAREN DEACON, Leatherhead, Surrey.