Care homes should have held sufficient PPE for a possible pandemic
sir – More than 85 per cent of Britain’s care homes are privately run for profit – it costs an average of £50,000 a year to live in one – apart from homes run by local authorities. The carers at these homes are paid low wages in order to maximise their owners’ profits.
It is the duty of these homes to hold sufficient PPE to manage a contagious illness should it threaten the lives of their residents. Exercise Cygnus, a simulation carried out by the British government in October 2016 to estimate the impact of a flu pandemic on the country, gave adequate warning to those who were prepared to listen and act. To blame Boris Johnson’s Government for their own inadequacies is hypocritical.
Martin Gomersall-webb
Benigembla, Alicante, Spain
sir – There is a crucial difference between a carer in a residential or nursing home and front-line NHS staff. All are simply amazing, but care-home workers will have looked after their residents for months, often years, and formed a real bond with them and their families. Seeing them become seriously ill and die is a real trauma. Though they get excellent care, Covid-19 patients admitted to hospitals are not known to the medical staff.
Both sectors require the best protection and testing, but I feel that the pressures on care-home staff have been grossly underestimated.
Estelle Townsend-smith
Coxhill, Pembrokeshire
sir – NHS staff rightly have priority for PPE and testing, and it has been recognised that care-home workers need the same support. However, the carers who visit private residences to help the most vulnerable seem to have been overlooked.
My wife has Alzheimer’s and carers visit us four times a day. Other than aprons and gloves, they have been supplied with no special protection.
Philip French
Barnstaple, Devon of PPE, would it not be possible for hospital scrubs to be laundered by the companies who would normally be doing business with hotels and hospitality industry? They must be seeing a sharp downturn in their business and scrubs could fill the gap.
Christine Hallewell
Stanford Dingley, Berkshire
sir – We have been told that NHS staff and care workers need an enormous volume of masks and PPE in order to perform their duties safely.
We have, however, heard nothing about how this equipment is to be disposed of. Surely it is potentially both a health hazard and an environmental risk.
Michael Perkins
Whitstable, Kent
sir – If Lord Deighton has been appointed Britain’s new PPE tsar (report, April 19), what are we paying Public Health England bosses for?
Charles Penfold
Ulverston, Cumbria