Report on the Impact of Coronavirus/Covid-19 on Care Homes in Redbridge

Healthwatch Redbridge undertook a telephone survey between 4^th and 13^th May 2020 to find out about the experiences of people who were discharged from hospitals into the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. They wanted to engage with care and nursing home managers to ask whether they have any concerns with accepting possible COVID-19 positive residents into their homes and if they feel confident that they are able to provide a safe environment which will not put undue risk on other residents or indeed their care staff.

They found that more than 2 in 5 residents in the care homes were currently exhibiting, or previously had COVID 19 symptoms; care homes with COVID-19 positive residents and residents who had died due to the virus were coping with difficulty; residents were either self-isolating, maintaining social distancing or were cared by staff wearing PPE; most care homes had access to adequate PPE but some had issues, mostly due to suppliers being out of stock; some acre homes felt that staff wearing PPE was causing anxiety for residents with mental health issues; supply of PPE was mainly through the local council- where care homes were purchasing their own PPE, they felt the price had recently increased; most care homes said that they would not accept a resident being discharged from hospital who had tested positive for Covid-19 however, staff and residents in most were able to access tests when required; the tests were mainly being carried out in local testing centres; some care homes raised concerns about the residents’ emotional well-being.

Since completing the study, Healthwatch Redbridge have been liaising with some of the care homes who have raised issues around access to PPE. Their concerns remain that some care homes are not in the position to effectively isolate some of their residents, particularly given the issues of safety for other residents and the apparent confusion over testing.