Nursing home leaders have accused the National Health Service of violating safety protocols by asking it to admit patients with contagious diseases like Covid in an attempt to ease the bed lockdown crisis.
The director of the rural nursing home I that the NHS is “taking a huge risk” in trying to send Covid-positive patients to nursing homes and “should nip this practice in the bud.”
The nursing home boss said his staff were pressured to ignore safety assessments when asked to remove patients from hospital beds, including from Covid units closed to the public.
Simon Spiller, co-founder of The Croft Residential Home in Newton Abbot, Devon, said: “We were pressured to take patients out of hospitals without seeing them in person.
“Similarly, we were asked to accept patients from Covid units that are closed to the public, but we held our ground. We refuse to accept a patient without examining them ourselves, otherwise we risk introducing Covid into a nursing home.”
Nadra Ahmed, president of the National Health Association, added that the NHS is “at risk of repeating the mistakes of the past” as Covid patients are forced into nursing homes, leading to infections and death among existing residents.
“We have been very clear with our members on the protocol they should follow,” Ms Ahmed said. “Before hospitalization, they must make sure that the patient does not have an infectious disease because of the danger to other people in their home. Someone who has Covid or Norovirus will be a real problem for the nursing home.
“The NHS should follow protocols and not force patients into nursing homes unless it is safe that they be discharged and placed with other vulnerable people. This should now be prevented in the tender, as the risks are huge.
“It’s a very short-sighted NHS because it’s actually pushing the issue into the social service, which can be devastating for residents.”
Lucy Bull, who works with the National Health Association Nursing Home Alliance in the UK, said the hospital discharge system is chaotic.
“It’s a mess, it’s scary and it’s taking lives,” said Ms Bull, director of the Devon Care Homes Collaborative. “The whole system is in crisis, not only in the southwest, but throughout the country.
“Honestly, my biggest concern is that norovirus is being put in a nursing home because no one has been vaccinated against it.
“When a patient brings norovirus from a hospital to a nursing home, the consequences can be dire. Corners are taken and lives are at risk.”
NHS spokeswoman Devon said: “Our care teams are working hard to ensure people are safely discharged from the hospital when they are deemed fit to be discharged for health reasons, whether they are traveling to their own home or to a nursing home.
“We know we don’t always get it right, and we work closely with our peers in the healthcare industry to address their concerns, investigate issues, and make improvements where possible.”
NHS guidance says nursing homes can accept patients with infectious diseases if they are well enough to be released from the hospital, but many are reluctant to do so because of the risk to their residents and staff.
Mr Spiller added: “Last year, the government relaxed the rules to insist that every social worker be vaccinated, and some of our staff chose not to be vaccinated. We do not want to bring Covid or any other virus into our nursing home and potentially infect our residents or staff. If we have an outbreak among our employees, it will become difficult for us to care for our residents with dementia.”
A spokesperson for NHS England said: “The NHS will not ask hospitals or nursing homes to do anything they think is not safe for patients.
“NHS and social services colleagues are working closely, in line with DHSC guidelines, to safely move patients who do not have serious illnesses to their own homes or nursing homes when they are medically fit to be discharged.
“In mid-December, NHS vaccination teams visited all nursing homes in England, giving more than 250,000 autumn booster shots to nursing home residents to give those most at risk maximum protection against respiratory disease this winter.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said: “If a person tests positive for Covid prior to being discharged, they may be admitted to the hospital if the nursing home is satisfied that they can be safely cared for.
“The individual must remain isolated in the nursing home for up to 10 days, with testing available from day 5 of isolation until early end of isolation after 2 consecutive negative lateral flow test results 24 hours apart.”
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.