The Birmingham care home which managed to remain COVID-free throughout crisis

A care home in Birmingham has managed to remain COVID-free throughout this crisis.

The manager of Harborne Lane Specialist Care centre in Harborne puts it down to the fact they went into lockdown a month before everywhere else, and staff worked hard to keep the virus out.

Allison Mulligan was a nurse during the swine flu epidemic several years ago and acted fast when coronavirus emerged.

Allison said: “I decided that if there is a virus and it's coming for us then we need to contain it, so I just closed the home down really early. I think the staff thought I'd gone insane because we closed our home down in the middle of February.”

The home also introduced safety measures to prevent the spread of any spores coming in.

It includes all the staff that come into the home having their temperature taken to see if they're well enough to start work for the day and they take their shoes off and leave them in a bag in reception.

New residents arriving or those coming from the hospital are also quarantined.

Allison added: “Anyone returning from hospital or even any new admissions go into the quarantine area and they're looked after by certain staff members in the quarantine area for 14 days.”

• Watch as care home manger Allison Mulligan speaks about keeping the home Covid-free.