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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think care home bosses should take some responsibility for Covid infections in homes

240 replies

JustAsking1837 · 07/07/2020 18:56

This is just in response to criticism over Boris Johnson's comments. Sorry if this has already been done but I've not found any threads on this surprisingly. I am no fan of Boris or the Government but day in day out I have listened to the press savagely criticise the Government no matter what it does or doesn't do and is blamed for everything. However everyone is in uproar when Boris has suggested that many care homes may have not done everything they should have to prevent infections. I am not necessarily saying they are to blame, as I don't know, but think it should be fair game for discussion.

OP posts:
Needcoffeecoffeecoffee · 07/07/2020 20:44

Lots of issues
Guidance was slow to come and put both confusing and very focused on the NHS
PPE focused on nhs first
Patients discharged to care homes as quick as possible
Residents in care homes are sadly those most vulnerable to covid and sadly more at risk of dying (same with flu. We see more deaths from flu in care homes)
They should have used te nightingale hospitals as convalescent wards for elderly patients instead of sending them to care homes
Layouts of csre homes makes it hard to isolate residents or to socially distance etc
There are some homes hat have poor infection control practices in place before this and they will be the ones hardest hit

An articles several months ago in the nursing times (I think) said the department for health and social care should drop the last 2 words of their title as theyve only focused on health

Chicchicchicchiclana · 07/07/2020 20:45

Yabu. As others have said, elderly patients were being sent out of hospital to care homes without having been tested for covid.

Doesn't that strike you as outrageous/disgusting/unbelievable? It certainly does me.

All the nauseating congratulating and back-slapping going on about how hospitals never became overwhelmed. Well, there was a colossal price to pay for that and it is not something anyone in Government or the NHS should be proud of!

Dinocan · 07/07/2020 20:48

Government/nhs strategy caused the care home crisis. They not only released people with no testing, they sent people to care homes knowing they likely had CV, knowing they would infect other staff/residents and knowing they had no PPE. Criminal really.

JustAsking1837 · 07/07/2020 20:53

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Original poster
JustAsking1837 · 07/07/2020 20:54

Call me unreasonable if you want, that's fine

OP posts:
Comefromaway · 07/07/2020 20:54

Given that at the start even nhs staff in the community were not given PPE I don’t see how you can blame the care homes. They were made to take residents with Covid and care for them with no resources.

I work for a construction firm. We buy dust masks etc. anyway but the price went up massively. My boss bought boxes for his staff who were working in care homes, prisons and hospitals doing maintenance But he also gave a box to the wife of an employee who was a nurse visiting people in their homes. The box cost £90. She was lucky. Out of her team of 10; she was one of only two not to get Covid.

Original poster
JustAsking1837 · 07/07/2020 20:59

I think it is a reasonable question to ask. Should care home bosses take some responsibility for covid infections. Reading through the posts I think maybe it should say should some care home bosses take some responsibility even if the govt should take most

OP posts:
Clavinova · 07/07/2020 21:00

"Staff in homes which employed bank or agency staff most or every day were 81 per cent more likely to be infected compared with those which did not use them, the ONS found."

brakethree · 07/07/2020 21:02

Surely it was the councils that made care homes take residents by telling them they would withhold funding? The councils could have told the government to do one and refuse to go along with instructions. It's a shame that the care homes didn't group together and tell the councils to go away and go to the press. I just don't it really.

Clavinova · 07/07/2020 21:03

while Boris was holidaying in the Caribbean

He went to the Caribbean over Christmas/New Year.

labyrinthloafer · 07/07/2020 21:12

YABU. The government totally owns this failure of policy and management.

FedUpAtHomeTroels · 07/07/2020 21:13

Victim blaming on a giant scale?
Care homes have gone above and beyond to keep staff and residents safe.
So unless you have other proof you are talking a load of bullshit.

Many were forced to take in people who were untested and not showing symptoms. Thats how it got into a lot of homes.
PPE was redirected from Care sector to NHS So there was none for Care homes to buy.
You go ahead and rewrite history so you can blame someone other that the government even if it's a load of lies.

cologne4711 · 07/07/2020 21:14

It astounds me that people like you and the government are too thick to realise residents in care homes are more vulnerable health wise and therefore more likely to contract it and more likely to die from it

Oh come on. Firstly, hospitals are always full of "bed blockers" so they were not going to hold onto to elderly people with no symptoms who are medically fit for discharge,

And secondly, people pay over £1000 a week for their care, so care home owners can flippin well buy PPE and care for them properly.

I put plenty of blame on care home owners and the OP is right.

FedUpAtHomeTroels · 07/07/2020 21:16

It wasn't just local authorities trying to get people into care homes, the care standards commision put a lot of pressure onto homes making veiled threats about their licensing too from what I was told.

cologne4711 · 07/07/2020 21:16

Care homes have gone above and beyond to keep staff and residents safe

No SOME care homes have gone above and beyond (and some carers doing home care too - the carers looking after my MIL have done an amazing job). Others have been criminally negligent eg not paying sick pay so carers still go to work when they're not well.

cologne4711 · 07/07/2020 21:17

Firstly, hospitals are always full of "bed blockers" so they were not going to hold onto to elderly people with no symptoms who are medically fit for discharge

with a home to go to - forgot to say that bit!

Purplephonecover · 07/07/2020 21:21

Hospitals push for release way too early, my gran had a heart attack, couldn’t stand up unaided yet NHS discharged her after one night stay.

SimonJT · 07/07/2020 21:23

@cologne4711

Firstly, hospitals are always full of "bed blockers" so they were not going to hold onto to elderly people with no symptoms who are medically fit for discharge

with a home to go to - forgot to say that bit!

The people discharged from hospital who ended up taking covid to my friends care facility were definitely not fit for discharge. You cannot send someone to a care facility with water stools, but a new life threatening illness is welcomed in by the government.
NameChange84 · 07/07/2020 21:26

And secondly, people pay over £1000 a week

Maybe in some homes but that is a blanket statement that is just not true of the majority of homes. Average fees round here are £465. Lowest is around £347, the highest in this area is £869...needless to say that home has a lot of vacant beds.

Namechange2020onceagain · 07/07/2020 21:27

This government is responsible for thousands of needless deaths. The fact that they seeded care homes with covid19 positive patients speaks volumes. They should be charged with corporate manslaughter at the very least.

Every single thing that they have done is too late, too soon or just inadequate. What a fucking shitshow. I don't think they could have done worse if they tried.

Icantstopeatinglol · 07/07/2020 21:28

There are so many care homes, private and council ran. They can’t all be lumped into one group. There’ll be good and bad in all areas. That’s life and as long as we learn from it then that’s all we can do.

BakedCam · 07/07/2020 21:31

The government and the CEO ordered that hospital beds were emptied.

I can't for the life in me think why Care Homes would be responsible for this.

vodkaredbullgirl · 07/07/2020 21:32

Everything was all about the NHS when this all started. Care homes and vunerable people in the community came 2nd. We were the last to be tested and now they are saying we need testing every week. The horse has already bolted and now they want us tested. Should have all been tested from the start, when you think about it.

BakedCam · 07/07/2020 21:32

CEO of NHS England

vodkaredbullgirl · 07/07/2020 21:33

sorry too many testing in my post