yes John the Scottish government deeply
embarrassed by the revelation its own
chief medical officer breached her own
guidance visiting her second home twice
on two consecutive weekends Nicola
Sturgeon was pressed today on why she
initially backed Katherine called the
woods before she was forced to resign
late last night the First Minister said
it wasn't a situation she wanted and she
was deeply sorry Nicola Sturgeon also
confirmed the very sad news that a care
worker in Scotland has died of
coronavirus Katherine Sweeney from
Dumbarton her family said she dedicated
over 20 years of her life serving the
most vulnerable in society now care
workers tell us they're worried about
PPE they're worried about testing we
asked the governments in Scotland
England Wales and Northern Ireland
how many care workers they had tested
only Northern Ireland could produce a
figure for us and that is only a hundred
and sixty two care workers last week we
showed you how one care home in Renfrew
sure was coping this is their sobering
update 7 days on the Russian II care her
we showed you a week ago was filled with
energy laughter and life
today the corridors are empty residents
confined to their rooms it's all they
can do here to try and keep them safe
[Music]
the workers at rationally have filmed
themselves for Channel 4 News
over seven tough days here in each case
in which the reality of coronavirus any
idea what we're gonna do
how many suspected cases are people
isolated in the rooms have we got now we
know half and love him who isolated in
the rooms and we have four staff members
off Israel so we've just received a
delivery of 100 fluid resistant surgical
masks on Thursday a shipment arrives so
these six 2021 but they're actually 2016
that's later that day a more promising
delivery day but it's coming from a
member of the public they seem to have
her back even though no one else has so
these cane items will come in in really
good eat for the staff and for distance
keep them all safe it's been a scramble
since the government reversed its
guidance on wearing masks routinely in
care homes this week here they can't get
what they need we shouldn't be having to
rely on donations that's it doesn't a
bit charity just know this is a very
poor these residents and staff and care
sake to deserve how does it make you
feel
I just wish it would go we hear the
lockdown within a lockdown at rationally
is hard on 95 year old Jesse so happy
last speech staff members are also so
low to limit her exposure to the virus
deputy manager Jen is moving in my
family just ago to let them know that I
would soon be moving in for will be the
next two weeks anyway for sure how do
you feel about leaving your family
behind yeah makes me quite emotional
there's worrying news locally 16
residents dead at a Glasgow care home a
care worker confirmed dead from the
virus nearby for days at rush Ely
they've tried to get their care as
tested so they can return to work have
you requested any staff members be
tested to get them back in helping you
how many care workers have been tested
and I don't have that figure right now
as I've said before we are gathering
more data on testing and we intend to
make more data available over the course
of this week not long after some good
news at rationally they have expertise
in one member of staff will be tested
no more group activities the world
they're used to is changing and in that
world the hospital was there for them if
any of the residents need to go to
hospital are you confident that they
will get to go there I'm not confident
we take into hospital makes me really
really angry because the people in our
care home are citizens of this country
they deserve the same treatment as
anybody else would have access to
and so tonight this is the message from
the carers of reishi Lee we need to be
tasted we need to be given PPE it's
important our residents deserve less
thirst after they give this it's been an
absolute shock to to feel like this we
were just we're we're just very very sad
about the whole thing but y'all you're
gonna stay there and try and keep the
show on the road so well done you thank
you for doing that for now earlier I
spoke to three workers from a care home
in Surrey which looks out 238 residents
about the challenges facing the care
sector and I began by asking what was
their most pressing concern in their
care home I think making sure that we
are able to keep everybody safe this is
also quite difficult so we've been a bit
worked hard this last week or so and
we've managed to get some more kids but
we still don't have as much as we would
want to make sure that we can keep
everyone safe it is difficult in a care
home to be able to give a balance
because if they are all kept entirely in
their rooms so there's no other
activities going on they can't see their
families and friends and things like
that it gets depressing
a depression is a quick way to get
yourself into a less good state and
therefore you are more susceptible to
illness so it is important for us to
manage those areas effectively and we
also feel a little bit as a care sector
neglected really everyone has been
focusing entirely rightly on the NHS and
how important it is but we do need to
make sure that bearing in mind that
there's something like 400,000 people
are being cared for in the sector at any
one time that is a huge proportion of
the population probably larger than the
actual population of people actually in
the hospital
Silvia when we come to your looking
after these older people in the home
have you got absolutely
all the PPE equipment you need to keep
you safe from the virus at the moment we
are set with the number of people in
which we have dogs but of course because
virus is normal we can't predict what
tomorrow brings
mirela what difference does it make to
the life of one of the people that
you're looking after that their family
can no longer come to see them how does
it change things in their lives
management obviously they are asking how
long it will take until we managed to
receive visitors and when the virus will
go but at the moment we can just offer
them as much support as possible and to
involve them in one-one activities to
keep them busy and to prevent depression
is it very difficult in some cases to
explain to one of your residents or
several or more why their families are
suddenly not coming to see them anymore
to understand why nobody's eating them
and sometimes they get quite anxious and
the phone calls as much as possible
sometimes they are reassured just to
hear their family voice and it is quite
reassuring for them but some of them
understand why we have to take these
ways of doing things to protect them and
ask but some of them fortunate don't
understand the lack of assurance
well thank you very very much and
congratulations on the job you do it's a
difficult conversation about worst-case
scenarios that none of us ever really
want to have but circumstances are now
forcing many of us to have if we're
elderly or vulnerable and get a bad case
of kovat 19 how would we want to be
treated how far would we want doctors to
go in their attempt to keep us alive
just a few short weeks we've watched
hospitals being built from scratch at
astonishing speeds but there are still
worries that there won't be enough
life-saving equipment through this
pandemic and that it won't be considered
appropriate for some patients it's the
elderly and the vulnerable among us who
fear that the most indeed age you case
is that some older people are being
pressurized to sign DNR's the
instruction do not resuscitate prompting
wires are there being abandoned in the
fight against this virus the charity
says the blanket decisions about care
are shameful arguing choices must be
made on a case-by-case basis but some
individuals may make their own choice
against the stint in the ICU if there's
little to no hope of them working then
ventilators can be unnecessarily
traumatic and even if a ventilator or
CPR keep someone alive their quality of
life could be severely diminished that's
why we're being encouraged to talk
through hard decisions ahead of time for
ourselves and for those we love well
joining me now from Oxford is dr. Rachel
Clark who has a palliative care
specialist as an NHS hospice in Oxford
thanks for coming on the program Rachel
Clark we don't really like talking about
end-of-life but we really have to talk
about it these days don't we I think we
really do and and that's not to suggest
that in any sense this is an easy
conversation many of us are very daunted
about confronting all talking about our
own mortality it's it's difficult to
accept that we are mortal creatures and
one
day every single thing that we love
every single person that we love in the
world we are going to be separated from
them that's not easy and that's even in
very calm and Placid times very unlike
the tumultuous types we're living
through now but the the cost the risk of
not having these difficult conversations
with our loved ones is that suddenly you
may find yourself or a family member in
a chaotic panicked situation because
someone is suddenly seriously unwell
with coronavirus and you realize that
actually you have no idea what their
wishes are and maybe a doctor or nurse
speaks to you from the hospital and says
do you have any idea what your mom or
dad would have wanted did they want
tensive care a ventilator inand you have
to say I have no idea because you didn't
have this chat and I'd suggest that
trying to have these conversations now
in advance in the calm of our living
rooms preferably over Skype or some kind
of video connection is infinitely better
than suddenly them having to happen in
the in the in the cold heat of an any
any admission you must be witnessing
these kind of conversations all the time
you also wrote a book about it called
dear life is there any advice that you
can give us as we kind of approach this
very difficult situation absolutely I'd
suggest a couple of practical things
that the setting is really important so
if you're trying to have this
conversation for instance with a parent
think about what time of day is best for
them is it best to try and do this in
the morning when they have the most
energy try and make sure the setting is
is calm and composed in an ideal world
you do this face to face you can't of
course because of social distancing so
try and make sure you can use a video
connection if you can and use words that
are simple don't try to sort of
sugarcoat or cover up what you're
talking about
you may be very pleasantly surprised you
may find that your parent has already
thought about this
probably reading the same newspapers
that you are so the conversation won't
come as a shock and in my experience and
I've had hundreds of these conversations
so often it's actually not a shock to
people and they don't find it anything
like as distressing as you might fear
you might think but that by raising this
subject you're going to cause distress
but sometimes it actually comes as a
relief to your loved one because they
finally you open as well do you find
that more and more elderly patients as
they become ill and and the face of
possibility you know going to hospital
and go on a ventilator are saying
actually we don't want to do this one
because it's it's painful it might not
work and I'd rather give my hospital bed
up to someone else who's younger I think
there's been quite a lot of very febrile
sensationalist discussion in the media
and especially social media about that
issue some very understandable fears
that somehow coronavirus is forcing
doctors into a position whereby we are
rationing treatment on the grounds of
age and and that was implied in some of
the comments I think from AG UK there
and I think it's really important to
stress that that has never been the case
in the NHS it's it's not legal to do
that it's not it's not legal to do that
now when we are making decisions about
whether or not somebody would be
appropriate for intensive care a
ventilator or resuscitation CPR it's
always made on an individual basis
according to whether or not this medical
intervention is likely to be successful
it's likely to be in someone's best
interest and it's it's actually the
clinicians decision it's not the
patient's decision and it's one we take
incredibly seriously lots of people now
hate the thought that if they did go to
hospital and were seriously unwell they
would be cut off from their loved ones
because of course all hospitals at the
moment are having to have a really
stringent visitor policy
actually some people are thinking you
know what I I'm 85 I know the chances of
CPR or going try to you are very very
unlikely to save me if the worse
happened and I'd rather stay home I'd
rather my family all right very
difficult subject dr. Rachel Clark thank
you very much indeed