Health

Welsh care homes were caught up in nightmare Covid ‘experiment’

Published

5 months ago

March 3, 2024

Grim statistics reveal 1,500 excess care home deaths during pandemic

A SOCIAL CARE champion said care homes in Wales felt they were caught up in a nightmare “experiment” when Covid struck in 2020.

According to Mary Wimbury, the Covid inquiry had flagged up once again that Wales and the rest of the UK was under prepared to deal with a pandemic.

She was speaking after the UK Covid-19 inquiry moved to Cardiff to scrutinise the Welsh government’s handling of the emergency.

In the early stages , said Ms Wimbury, protecting the NHS had been treated as the paramount priority while social care hadn’t been given enough consideration.

One of the catastrophic consequences was that admitting untested hospital patients into care homes had in some cases led to the virus spreading rapidly, leading to the deaths of many vulnerable elderly residents.

In the three-year period from January 2020 there were nearly 1,500 excess deaths in care homes in Wales.

The lack of a rigorous testing regime early on and shortages of personal protective equipment like face masks, gloves and aprons had contributed to the problems.

***Mary Wimbury, Care Forum North Wales***

On the other hand the Welsh Government had adopted a more cautious, considered approach than the UK Government and only announced new infection control measures when the necessary infrastructure had been put in place.

Financial support provided by the Welsh Government for the social care sector was also significantly higher in Wales than in other parts of the UK.

Ms Wimbury said: “During those early weeks, we were talking to our counterparts in care associations across the United Kingdom and I think all of us felt the focus was very much on the NHS and there wasn’t sufficient focus on care homes in particular.

“We felt more planning could have been done in advance in relation to the different types of pandemics and how we would react to them.

“It’s definitely the case we were pressing for testing in particular for people being admitted to care homes from hospitals before that was implemented.

“While testing was announced earlier in England but we were also hearing from counterparts in England was that, although it had been announced, it wasn’t necessarily happening on the ground because the infrastructure wasn’t there.

“One of the differences we saw during the pandemic was that Welsh Government wanted to get the logistics in place before announcing something.

“Testing was absolutely crucial and what we were hearing from members across Wales in the early days was that they were being put under pressure by the NHS to admit people without testing.

“We know that testing would have helped but we also know that in the early stages when people were incubating Covid they wouldn’t have necessarily tested positive. It would have helped in some cases but not in all of them.

“At the time it felt very much like we were living in an experiment and we were finding out about the disease as we went along.

“It was the sector’s worst possible nightmare because the virus was most dangerous to frail elderly people

“We started asking questions in February 2020 about preparations in terms of the care sector and it became clear in the early days of the pandemic in the March that we needed an extension of testing and access to sufficient PPE for staff working in the social care sector, as well as funding to implement the infection control measures that were necessary.

“There were gradual steps as different measures were introduced. Initially, we go the extension of testing for new admissions to care homes and for symptomatic care home residents.

“At the start there was a rule that you could only test five people in a care home and once you had five tests you couldn’t have any more. Clearly, that didn’t make sense going forward.

“Then we moved on to testing all staff and residents when there was an outbreak and finally to all residents and staff being tested regularly.”

“What the inquiry gives us an opportunity to do is to think about what could have been done better in advance so that, heaven forbid, if we were to have another pandemic in future we can be better prepared.”

Health

10-mile trek raises £1,000 for stroke unit

Published

4 days ago

July 23, 2024

Tom Sinclair

A TEAM of 18 from CARA Wales took on a 10-mile trek and raised £1,000 for the Stroke Ward at Withybush Hospital.

The team from CARA Wales, an agricultural and rural consultancy and advice organisation, walked across the Preseli Mountains from Foel Drygan to Foel Eryr on 17th June 2023.

Mererid Sandbrook, who works for CARA Wales, said: “The walk started in Crymych and continued along the Golden Road up to Foel Eryr, the highest point of Preseli Mountain. It was a really enjoyable day.

“We were all really pleased to have raised such a great amount of money. We would like to thank everyone who donated money towards our challenge.”

They also raised £1,000 for Stroke Association.

Nicola Llewelyn, Head of Hywel Dda Health Charities, the official charity of Hywel Dda University Health Board, said: “We’d like to say a big thank you to CARA Wales for taking on the 10-mile trek in aid of the Stroke Ward.

“The support of our local communities enables us to provide services over and above what the NHS can provide in the three counties of Hywel Dda and we are extremely grateful for every donation we receive.”

Your donations are making a positive difference to the health, wellbeing and experience of NHS patients, service users and staff. For more details about the charity and how you can help support local NHS patients and staff, go to www.hywelddahealthcharities.org.uk

Health

Hywel Dda to engage on Tregaron Community Hospital beds

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

Tom Sinclair

HYWEL DDA University Health Board is inviting members of the public to share their views about the potential of decommissioning the nine beds currently at Tregaron Community Hospital.

The proposal for a new model of care, which is part of the broader Cylch Caron project, will see the move of care from the hospital to people’s own homes enabled through a different model of support. This can only be achieved by staff working in different ways, focused on keeping people well at home, and with more available to help people in the community.

Peter Skitt, County Director Ceredigion at Hywel Dda University Health Board explains: “Members of our local community will be familiar with our vision, which includes the development of the Cylch Caron model of care that includes an integrated resource centre.”

Dr Sion James, Deputy Medical Director Primary Care and local GP for Tregaron, adds: “Tregaron Hospital has been a part of our local community for a number of years, and we need to provide our community with a range of services that meets their current and future needs.

“The Centre is an exciting and unique project that aims to offer many opportunities and benefits for people in the area. This will bring together a range of services in a central hub for the Tregaron and surrounding rural areas. The project will create an innovative rural model of community-based care to meet care, health and housing need in the area, which is fit for today and sustainable for tomorrow.”

The Cylch Caron scheme is being developed in partnership between Ceredigion County Council, Hywel Dda University Health Board and the Welsh Government. It will consist of a GP surgery, community pharmacy, outpatient clinics and community nursing and social care facilities, as well as extra care flats and integrated health and social care units.

Ceredigion County Council recently announced that they are inviting companies to tender for the design and build of the new fully-integrated health, social care and housing centre.

Peter adds: “While we develop our Cylch Caron scheme, we also need to consider our current model of care for patients at Tregaron Hospital. Despite efforts to recruit to positions, our current level of staffing is insufficient, and our staffing rotas are fragile. Our staff have voiced how challenging it is to support our patients through our current model of care at Tregaron Hospital. Our proposal is to move our staff from being hospital based and looking after the nine beds, to being community based. This will enable us to support more patients in their homes.

The Cylch Caron model of care is focused on providing more community nursing and enhanced care in people’s own homes. This would be achieved through outreach nursing and increased provision of same day urgent care. Outpatient appointments will continue to be provided from Tregaron Hospital and the building will serve as a hub for our staff until the new Cylch Caron Integrated Resource Centre is built.

Peter continues: “We know that being close to home, or in their home, is important for our patients. We want to increase the opportunity for people in Ceredigion to be able to stay well for longer, with the support of enhanced staffing in their own homes.

“At the moment, the patients in our care at Tregaron hospital live more than ten miles away from the hospital, and most are medically fit. And this has been common for a long time. Our proposal to move our staff to focus on advanced care in people’s homes provides a different way of supporting our patients. It will enable us to deliver our community care model quicker and support more people in our communities.

“Patients have consistently shared that they would prefer to be at home, or closer to home, and this tends to enable their recovery. We will work with our patients and their families, and our broader community, to understand their views during the planned period of engagement.”

The proposal to decommission the nine beds and the engagement period will be discussed at the Board meeting held on 25 July. The four-week period of engagement will launch on 1 August and run until 29 August 2024. Individuals will be able to attend online and in-person events and be able to share their views through the Health Board’s Have Your Say portal. Feedback from the engagement will be presented to the September meeting of the Health Board.

Further information on the events and how individuals can share their views will be shared at the end of July.

Health

Equipment and games for Glangwili children’s ward thanks to donations

Published

5 days ago

July 22, 2024

Tom Sinclair

THANKS to donations, Hywel Dda Health Charities, the official charity of Hywel Dda University Health Board, has been able to provide equipment and games worth over £300 to Cilgerran Ward at Glangwili Hospital.

The NHS charity funded TV brackets, universal remotes, Nintendo Switch cases and Nintendo games including FIFA, Chocobo and Minecraft Dungeons.

Karen Thomas, Head of Therapeutic Play, said: “We are so grateful that charitable funds have allowed us to purchase more items for Cilgerran Ward.

“The new items will help the therapeutic play team work more effectively and focus their time on the children and young people in our care.

“Being able to play while in hospital means the children and young people can continue an aspect of their normal life. Arts and crafts help as they go through treatments and procedures in hospital, minimising the effects of isolation, stress and anxiety.

“The items will help make the ward and all the areas the children attend more friendly and promote wellbeing for all.”

Nicola Llewelyn, Head of Hywel Dda Health Charities, the official charity of Hywel Dda University Health Board, said: “The support of our local communities enables us to provide services over and above what the NHS can provide in the three counties of Hywel Dda and we are extremely grateful for every donation we receive.”

For more details about the charity and how you can help support local NHS patients and staff, go to www.hywelddahealthcharities.org.uk