Care home director where seven died 'upset and disappointed' by Covid breach claims

• ITV News' Bob Cruwys had this report from the inquest in Exeter

The director of a care home hit by a Covid outbreak in which seven elderly residents died was "upset and disappointed" by how events unfolded, an inquest has heard.

The residents, who lived at Holmesley Care Home in Sidford, Devon, all died in March or April 2021 having contracted coronavirus.

It has been alleged that during the Covid-19 pandemic some staff did not wear face masks or PPE, that others carried on working after testing positive for the virus, and that test results were ignored.

Alison Longhorn, area coroner for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, is holding inquests into the deaths of William Wilkinson, 102, Doris Lockett, 92, Roy Gilliam, 96, Jean Hartley, 81, Susan Skinner, 70, Ronald Bampfylde, 92, and Stdanislawa Koch, 93.

The inquest has heard evidence from Jemma Turner, the nursing home’s deputy manager, who alleged a night-time nurse had refused to wear a facemask and was claiming “Covid was a conspiracy”.

24 February 2021 - Care assistant tests positive for Covid

On 24 February 2021, a care assistant at the nursing home tested positive for Covid-19 and began isolating at home, the hearing at County Hall, in Exeter, heard.

William Neal, the nursing home's director, told the hearing he was not made aware of the positive test at the time, but that a Covid contingency plan was in place.

The home guidelines said that if a staff member tested positive, they should be sent home, and then any resident they had been in close contact with must isolate for 14 days and all staff and residents must be tested.

Mr Neal said the contingency plan should have swung into action immediately.

The inquest heard that, two days later, the Care Quality Commission inspected the nursing home, but the positive test wasn't raised.

Other staff alleged the manager, Joanne Burchell, had not sent sick staff home due to shortages and had ignored positive lateral flow tests results.

Mr Neal told the inquest of one occasion where Mrs Burchell had informed him she had been left with no choice but to ask a live-in care assistant, who was isolating after testing positive for Covid-19, to work because of staff shortages.

“I felt very uneasy about this, but I was not on the ground and Joanne Burchell had to make the very hard choice between the real dangers, possibly choking or falling, on one hand, and Covid exposure on the other,” he said.

“With two people who were already Covid positive, she felt that seemed like the less risk.

“I was quite shell-shocked by the conversation because it was very, very difficult. She made the decision she made in the best interests and overall safety of the residents.

“I didn’t like it and didn’t really want to do it but it was her decision as the care professional on the ground.”

Mr Neal said Mrs Burchell had told him the care worker would be working on his own and only with patients with Covid-19.

Asked about the evidence of another nurse who alleged this care worker was in fact not wearing PPE and was seen outside the room of a non-Covid-19 positive resident, Mr Neal replied: “That would be very shocking to me.”

2 March 2021 - Potential second outbreak

The inquest has heard that staff realised there was potentially an outbreak on the morning of 2 March, but days before six positive results had been ignored and attributed to a bad batch of tests.

Mr Neal said he did not know any of this until he was told days later by Mrs Turner in a whistleblowing email.

He said: "When I did hear about that I thought that was unthinkable.

“The idea that six people would be coughing, displaying symptoms of Covid-19, and tested positive, and we just ignored it and called the GP.

“I found that hard to process. I cannot get my head around how that happened.”

Mr Neal told the hearing he regretted not dismissing the nurse who was refusing to wear a mask after they had previously been told to use PPE after it was raised as a concern following a Care Quality Commission inspection the previous month.

He said: “I feel really upset and I feel really disappointed. The situation of not wearing a mask, when he should have been wearing a mask appropriately, is really, really disappointing to hear.

“Jemma did the one to one with him after it was identified. Maybe we should have an instant dismissal, and it is easy to say now we should have sacked him, but we had employment rules and stuff like that.

“I wished we had dismissed at that point.

“If it had been highlighted to me that he was not wearing his mask after having had that conversation I would have said he has to be suspended, and I would have been saying get rid of him.

“In terms of the six people who supposedly had a positive LFT test on March 1, if that happened that is really, really bad and I feel very disappointed about that if that has happened.

“If Jo has retained people at work when they should have gone home then that is absolutely unacceptable.

“I did assure Jemma when she whistle-blowed directly to me that I would have dealt with these matters but we were in the eye of the storm.”

The inquest heard that Mrs Burchell and the nurse who refused to wear a mask were both arrested and interviewed by the police, but no further action was taken against them.

Joanne Birchall, the nursing home's manager, has not been summoned to appear at the inquest. The coroner told the inquest she was invited as an interested party but opted not to attend.The inquest heard Ms Birchall was questioned by police on 30 March 2021, during their investigation into the outbreak. During the investigation, she told police, that to her knowledge, no staff who had tested positive came into contact with residents.

In a prepared statement, she said: "I firmly deny neglecting or ill treating residents in any way."

The inquest was told she was asked more questions in a series of interviews during the police investigation into the outbreak, to which she declined to comment.No charges were brought by the police and the investigation was closed.The inquest continues.

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