Covid-19 testing update

Dear Relatives & Friends,

Whilst our homes are still closed to visitor’s including family members and friends, we are still ensuring that vital medical interventions are received.
In terms of our team (who continue to be exceptional considering the situation they are faced with) are taking the same precautions and more. Any team members or members of their household displaying symptoms will not be allowed to enter our homes for 14 days.

We continue our mandatory temperature and oxygen saturation level checks for all residents, and we have now extended temperature checks to all team members when they start and finish their shifts. Team members continue to have COVID-19 training updates, and we have ordered an appropriate stock of PPE for both our homes so that team members can care for any resident safely.

COVID-19 testing

Sadly, the care sector has been left behind. As a company we are not willing to accept this, and we have lobbied hard for residents and staff in our homes have access to COVID-19 testing.

On 28th April, the Secretary of State for Health & Social Care announced publicly at the Downing Street press conference that testing of all asymptomatic (not showing symptoms) care home residents and staff would be tested. However, there was no access to such tests and despite Government briefings nothing followed.

We were not willing to stand back and accept silence from the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC), so we contacted Public Health England (PHE), The DHSC and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Frustratingly, no department were able to answer our questions about accessing tests for our residents and staff. Each Department were eager to blame each other, pass the buck, and nothing was being resolved. Communication of this nature continued for days and on 5th May we contacted the MP for each of our homes.

The MP for The Grange did not respond (until today, after the horse had bolted), but the MP for St. John’s Home (Oxford), Anneliese Dodds (Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer) took our concerns seriously and on Friday 8th May we held a call with her and Liz Kendall (Shadow Care Minister) and between us we have been able to lobby the Department of Health & Social Care until finally, today (Tuesday 12th May) care homes in England can now access testing kits for all residents and staff.

We have now requested testing kits for 212 people across our small group of homes and once kits have been received, we will commence a testing program across both homes, which will include all residents and staff.

As of today, we are pleased to confirm that due to the fantastic efforts of our Home Managers and every member of their teams we have been able to keep COVID-19 out of our homes, we have achieved this because of their continued hard work during the most difficult of times and we cannot praise our teams enough – they are all heroes!

Testing results

Once testing is complete and we have returned the test kits to the test centres, we should have results of all tests within 72 hours (based on
current guidance).

The Manager of each home will contact relatives individually to inform them of the test result for their relative.

Even though test kits have been ordered we have not been given a date for receipt, so we are unable to advise you when this is likely to be. However, using our social media platforms we will make an announcement when kits have been delivered. Current Government guidance (if it is to be believed) says that care home testing will be complete by 6th June 2020. We can assure you that we will not rest until tests have been carried out and we will continue to lobby the DHSC until the people we care about are tested.

Matthew Nutt / Managing Director