31 INFECTED AS TWO DIE IN OUTBREAK AT CARE HOME

Owners believe agency workers could have brought coronavirus in as patients ‘test positive’ - despite receiving a first dose of vaccination

TWO people have died after 31 care home residents were infected in a major Covid-19 outbreak.

All but seven of the 38 residents at Agnes & Arthur dementia care home in Bradeley have now tested positive for coronavirus. All – including those who passed away – had had a first dose of the vaccine.

While testing of swabs is being carried out, public health officials do not believe that a vaccineresistant variant of Covid-19 is involved in the outbreak. Ten care workers at the home, including two agency staff, have also caught the virus.

Before this outbreak, there had been no cases of Covid-19 among residents at the care home since the pandemic started.

Safe Harbor, which runs the Moorland View home, believes that the virus was brought in by agency workers, before spreading to residents and staff.

The company says it was ‘utterly disheartening’ for the home to be hit with the virus after being covidfree for so long.

Stoke-on-trent City Council is now working with Safe Harbor, the NHS and Public Health England to bring the outbreak to an end.

Documents seen by The Sentinel show that the use of agency staff, PPE and the possibility of a vaccine-resistant variant have been among the issues discussed by officials.

But Paul Edmondson-jones, director of social care, health integration and wellbeing at the city council, is confident that vaccine-resistance is not a factor.

He said: “All the residents had the first dose of the vaccine as early as January, so some weeks ago.

“And nearly all the staff have had the vaccine as well. I know there has been stories about vaccine hesitancy among care staff, but this home has actually been an exemplar in terms of getting its workers vaccinated.

“We have no reason to think that there has been vaccine failure here. In fact it could actually show how the residents have been protected by the vaccine.

“But this is still a nasty virus and care home residents are particularly vulnerable. It really is tragic that two people have died in this outbreak.

“However, 20 of the 31 residents who tested positive are now out of their isolation period, and most of those still in isolation are asymptomatic. So the vaccine is working.”

An incident management team (IMT) has been set up to bring the Agnes & Arthur outbreak under control, as is standard practice.

According to notes seen by the Sentinel, officials involved in the IMT have discussed the home’s use of agency staff, and its PPE practices.

The minutes state four agency workers were supplied to the home, and managers were told they ‘were exclusive to them and not working elsewhere’.

Following the positive tests, the home cancelled all agency use and ordered a deep clean.

The minutes also say that the care home ‘would benefit from additional PPE training... looking at the order of taking off PPE... possibly using American guidance as opposed to British’.

Dr Edmondson-jones said that as Covid-19 was still circulating in the community, it was not necessarily agency workers who brought the virus to the care home.

And he explained that practices around PPE were always being improved, and there was no suggestion that the care home was failing to follow guidance.

Dr Edmondson jones added:

“When we’ve had

positive cases at care homes, we’ve usually been quite good at containing outbreaks to three or four cases. I think this care home has been more vulnerable due to residents having dementia, which makes it more difficult to keep people in isolation and socially distanced.”

William Morris, chairman of Safe Harbor, confirmed that all residents and most workers had been vaccinated prior to the first cases being detected.

Mr Morris said: “Agnes and Arthur has been Covid-free for more than a year, operated by our superb team of brave and dedicated staff with great courage and enthusiasm. While almost all other care homes in the Potteries, in the country and internationally, have suffered in

large numbers, our thorough and carefully trained staff and procedures have ensured we stand out as a beacon.

“Late in February, having been able to avoid the use of agency staff throughout the entire year, we briefly engaged two agency workers to relieve our hardworking staff.

“Those agency workers had tested negative before engagement but were found to be positive immediately after and were immediately sent home upon their arrival.

“We believe that the agency workers brought Covid into the home.

“It is utterly disheartening that, our outstanding team having worked with such courageous dedication, Covid crept in once after 12 months even though the agency workers had tested negative before the shift.”

According to the Office for National Statistics, there have been 150 deaths involving Covid-19 in Stoke-ontrent care homes since the

start of the pandemic.