I think you coped amazingly with it all, being stuck in, you know ...
You were. Yeah, in one room.
For three weeks, was it?
Yeah.
I think it's really hard for the residents with the masks and the aprons
and the glass ceilings.
It was a bit restrictive, really.
Good morning, Suzanne!
The day we tested positive I was surprised I wasn't on the front page of some evening news or
something because I was sitting on the beach crying.
I think at our worst we had 20 people who we felt was symptomatic by the time they tested us,
and seven of them were positive.
They refused testing, they kept saying that there was no need and that it wouldn't change
what we were doing or the outcome.
You ready?
Yeah.
Do you want it out the bottle or in the glass?
In the glass ...
Here you go, my darling, cheers. I'd join you but they didn't bring me one.
This is the residence garden ...
We are out here because of the coronavirus and the essential visitors have been stopped
from visiting inside and there's lounges, bedrooms ... it's their own home.
Hello! What are we doing?
Pat's pampering.
Your toenails look lovely, Pat.
Pretty in pink.
I'm just here with Dennis. Dennis is 120 years old.
I'm just pulling your leg, Dennis.
The saddest thing about wearing all this PPE is the fact that your residents don't understand you,
they struggle with speech anyhow so everything's in your eyes
but like Peter's just said to me that he
struggles to understand me because I'm wearing a mask.
I find that so sad.
Big smiley eyes!
That's all we can do.
At the time it was awful, very stressful and very angry I was.
The quality improvement team, the care home teams, they'd all been seconded over to the NHS
and gone there so when we had our outbreak, there was no one to actually help.
But it felt like at the time and everything was a bit of a battle.
We had two deaths from confirmed cases and two deaths that I can attribute to it.
All of them were allowed visits for end-of-life care to chose not to come in because
they were coronavirus positive so we did video calls.
That's really hard.
This is my team!
Hello!
Some of them, I should have said.
Yeah.
Always busy.
There's always something to do.
I was like, I'm ready.
I think that's what kept me going.
Probably not being able to see our family members.
We had to be careful we had to be basically in lockdown, not being able to see your sick
parents or daughters.
We give all our support but then we can't get support from our family.
I've been locked up because of the government's restriction,
so I've been in the building here without any real problem.
Yes, yes, it seems to be on the wane now.
No worries, lovely to see you. You come see me any time.
We are thinking we are Covid free at the moment, are we?
Hopefully, according to public health England, everybody's done their isolation so ...
Yes.
I think for me the hardest thing was, I felt like I couldn't do anything.
That's right. — Did you feel that too?
What's the one thing you're looking forward to being able to do now?
Freedom! — Freedom?
Freedom!
Too long this sector has been underfunded in our poor residents and
our elderly, the way they're treated is wrong.
They have the same rights to healthcare as everybody else does and they should be able to have
their retirement years and their last years in luxury and with staff that are well paid.
There's sadness, of course there is at times, but mostly it's fun and love.
Lots of laugh, lots of hugs and cuddles normally and lots of touch.
Now it's not quite the same with a pair of gloves on but this is like the new normal now,
isn't it? For a while.