Mum 'would still be here' with better Covid rules

A man whose mother died at a care home during the Covid-19 pandemic has said she would still be here if better measures had been in place.

Cathleen Sexton died in Melbury Court care home in Durham at the age of 85 after contracting the disease in 2020. Some patients went from the nearby University Hospital of North Durham to the home without being tested for Covid or after a positive test.

Son Paul Sexton, from Chester-le-Street, said Cathleen was strong and would still be here if guidance to isolate arrivals had been in place earlier.

It comes as a highly critical sixth report of the Covid inquiry said there was no "protective ring" around care homes and action to protect them came too late.

The report is also critical of the way hospital patients who might have been infected with Covid were moved to care homes to make space for others.

Official guidance in March 2020 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland did not request keeping those people separate. The report says that was a significant oversight.

Sexton said he was not surprised by the findings, but was "extremely disappointed" and hoped there would be "lessons learned" and "some accountability for the people who made these decisions".

"I often wonder would mum still be here?" Sexton said. "I think she would."

"It's only six years ago since she died and although she was in a care home with dementia, she she was strong but unfortunately not strong enough."

Sexton, who is an independent councillor at Durham County Council, said his mother raised four children and was a "giggler".

"She always used to find the funny things... and even when she went into the care home - she made friends very quickly and she laughed a lot," he said.

The inquiry said the impact on care home staff was huge and seeing so many residents die placed an enormous strain on workers.

Lucy Craig, managing director of Craig Healthcare, which operates three specialist care facilities in Cramlington, Longbenton and Whitley Bay, said the Covid pandemic was the "biggest" and "most traumatic" thing to happen to care homes in her lifetime.

"We lost lives. We faced immense fear. We faced confusion. We faced a complete lack of any understanding or knowing what was going on," she said.

"And we were left to our own devices to work it out for ourselves as the days progressed and as the pandemic progressed."

Craig said it had been like living thorough a "medical war zone" amid difficulties to get PPE and patients being discharged from hospital without being tested.

She said her biggest fear was it would happen again.

"We did it ourselves the first time, but the impact on us emotionally and from a health point of view still exists today," she said.

"I don't think I could manage, I couldn't live through another pandemic of this nature."

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