Three people found dead at Swanage care home and seven taken to hospital
ITV News reports on the deaths of three people at a care home in Swanage
Three people have been found dead at a care home in Swanage in Dorset, with seven others taken to hospital.
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) was called to Ulwell Road at 5.20am this morning (Wednesday 23 October).
The deaths are currently being treated as unexplained.
Other residents have been evacuated to a safe location. It's believed residents will be taken to other care homes in the area.
A spokesperson for Gainsborough Care Home said: "An incident involving the care home took place this morning, and we have been closely working with the lead agencies to manage the welfare of all concerned.
"The wellbeing of residents is always our overriding priority, and part of the local business continuity plan was to transfer residents in a managed way to a local village hall and church, where they remain safe and well.
"We appreciate that this is a stressful and worrying time for those involved, and have allocated extra staffing resources to provide support locally.
"We are contacting and updating residents’ families. We will continue to work with the lead local authority services to return residents into their home at the earliest opportunity, and will provide further updates in due course."
A spokesperson for Dorset Police said: "The families of those who have died have been informed and the coroner has been notified.
"There remains a significant multi-agency presence in place at the address and a cordon remains in place as we work with partners to carry out further enquiries.
"At this time there is nothing to indicate any risk to the wider public.
"We understand this incident will have a significant impact on the Swanage community and our thoughts are very much with the families of those who have sadly died at this extremely difficult time."
The home, run by Agincare, has 48 residents, all elderly and some with dementia.
Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service said it had a number of crews on scene from Swanage, Wareham, Westbourne, Poole, a support vehicle from Dorchester and two crews from Winchester (Hampshire and IOW FRS).
Southern Gas Network are also at the scene.
Katie Lobban, a spokesperson for Southern Gas Network, said: “Our engineers are waiting for access to the building to complete safety checks.
“Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by this tragic incident.”
A Dorset Council spokesperson said: “Dorset Council is deeply saddened to hear of the deaths at the Gainsborough care home in Swanage.
"We are working with the home’s owners Agincare, emergency services and other partner agencies to support the residents of the care home who have been evacuated.
"Many of the residents are vulnerable people with significant care needs, and so we are working with them to understand how to meet their needs in the short term and identify their next steps.
"At this time there is nothing to indicate any risk to the wider public.
"We understand this incident will have a significant impact on the Swanage community and our thoughts are very much with the families of those who have sadly died at this extremely difficult time.”
The Mayor of Swanage Town Council has paid her respects.
Cllr Tina Foster said: "On behalf of Swanage Town Council I send my condolences to the families, friends and carers of those who passed away at Gainsborough Care Home earlier today.
"Our thoughts are with all of those affected by this incident at this difficult time.
"I would like to pay particular tribute to our amazing emergency services who have responded so efficiently to today’s events."
The Labour MP for South Dorset, Lloyd Hatton, said he is "deeply saddened by the serious incident".
More follows.