Care home report finds one home lost nine residents in a week and managers sleeping on premises until staff recovered from Covid

The report found that up until January 2021, 153 of 646 Covid-19 deaths in Rotherham occurred in a care home.

Of the deaths of care home residents registered in 2020, 27 percent in Rotherham were due to Covid-19.

In total, 3,382 deaths were recorded during the period, compared to 2,835 deaths in 2019.

The report adds that nine care homes closed on a temporary basis due to outbreaks, and bed occupancy reduced from 86 per cent to around 72 per cent.

“This, coupled with a further challenge of mandatory vaccines for care home workers, created a perfect storm of workforce costs,” it added.

“A small number of staff did leave the care sector at this time; 10 of 1,800 care workers. The legacy effect of these challenges remains observable in recruitment and retention of care home staff, with high turn-over and challenges.

“Multiple outbreaks demonstrated a ripple effect from the community into care homes through the staffing route.

“Staff could test negative but then be positive due to incubation of the virus and asymptomatic carrying.

“Resulting workforce challenges meant that in some instances, care home managers were sleeping on the premises until staff recovered.

“One care home lost nine residents in one week, which was so unusual as to be traumatic for residents and care workers.”

The report adds that following the pandemic, dedicated beds have been introduced for residents leaving hospital, and RMBC has built up a 200-day stock of PPE.