Single care home where 11 out of Isle of Man’s 15 coronavirus deaths has its licence suspended after director blasted government over lack of PPE gear
- Abbotswood Nursing Home in Ballasalla had its license suspended on April 13
- 11 people have died at the home from virus and another resident died in hospital
- Director and chief nurse Zandra Lewis had earlier warned about a lack of PPE
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
A single care home where 11 out of the Isle of Man’s 15 coronavirus deaths have occurred has had its license suspended – after its director blasted the government over a lack of PPE.
Abbotswood Nursing Home in Ballasalla had its license suspended on April 13 after nearly 40 residents tested positive for coronavirus.
Eleven people are now reported to have died at the home – with six confirmed in the last 24 hours alone – while another resident died while being treated at Noble’s Hospital.
Health Minister David Ashford revealed the news in a media briefing yesterday in which he also said his ‘heart goes out to the families and friends’ of the victims and announced there were now 307 confirmed cases on the virus on the island.
Director and chief nurse Zandra Lewis had earlier warned about a lack of PPE at the care home.
Abbotswood Nursing Home in Ballasalla (pictured) had its license suspended on April 13 after nearly 40 residents tested positive for coronavirus
She told Manx Radio: ‘We’ve asked for help from the relevant public health authorities to give us the appropriate PPE to look after the rest of my staff, let alone the residents.
‘And we’ve been given what I would call basic PPE. I’m really upset because any of my staff actually died from this, let alone residents, then I will feel the government has let us down.
She added: ‘Are we as a private nursing home, which has NHS residents in it, not as worthy as a hospital [for PPE]?’
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) took over the running of the care home last week. DHSC chief executive Kathryn Magson said the reasons behind the decision were ‘confidential’ but it was for the ‘safety of the residents’, according to the BBC.
Some residents of the care home have been moved to a building on the Noble’s Hospital site while the facility is given a ‘deep clean’ but they be moved back once that is completed.
It comes amid growing concern over the impact of coronavirus on care homes.
Director and chief nurse Zandra Lewis had earlier warned about a lack of PPE at the care home (pictured, medical staff put on their personal protective equipment (PPE) at an MOT testing centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland)
The National Care Forum (NCF), which represents not-for-profit care providers, has estimated that more than 4,000 people may have died after contracting Covid-19 across all residential and nursing homes before April 13.
This is significantly higher than the official weekly figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which recorded 217 care home deaths connected to the virus up until April 3.
The NCF collected data from 47 care homes which support more than 30,000 people across the UK, accounting for 7.4% of the care sector population.
It found 299 confirmed or suspected Covid-19 deaths across those specific homes in one week between April 7 to April 13, which is almost three times the number of deaths in the preceding month, when they found 102 deaths between March 6 and April 7.
When scaled up to reflect the UK’s care home population, the NCF estimated that 4,040 people may have died of a coronavirus-related illness before April 13.