Covid-19
The impact on care residents during Covid
Claire Bailey, a registered nurse and clinical operations manager at care software provider AutumnCare, explores how Covid-19 has affected people living in care and the initiatives to maintain a sense of community and prevent social isolation
Since the end of March 2020, and the first national lockdown due to Covid-19, the physical and mental health of 411,000 care home residents has deteriorated. The balance between protecting people from the risk of catching Covid-19 and maintaining a good quality of life has been a real challenge to health and social care workers throughout the UK. Many people have not been able to see
their loved ones at all, or certainly not in the meaningful way in which they would choose. Instead, some have had to resort to viewing a family member through a window or behind a screen. Campaigners have warned of deaths
caused by isolation and loneliness and ultimately a lack of love. It has been difficult enough for people who have capacity and a full understanding into
‘why’ these restrictions were needed, but for people with dementia it has been even harder to bear. Kate Lee, the chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, has described the stopping of care home visits as removing the one thing that many people live for. People die from loneliness, a lack of love and the loss of things that matter the most to them. Fortunately, as the vaccine programme has rolled out, visitors are making a return to their loved ones.
What has it been like living and working in a care home during the pandemic? In between lockdowns, I was able to resume my nursing position in a busy care home and was able to see first-hand how the lack of visitors has affected
our residents and the atmosphere in the home. The home felt quiet and the difference from the usual hustle and bustle was obvious. I observed some people to be quieter,
and more withdrawn. Unfortunately, some people appear to have given up, they lost their appetite and motivation to get going in the morning. As well as the care homes being empty
of visitors, we also must remember that lots of care home residents are used to going out, with their families, on organised trips or even independently. During periods of staff illness or
isolation, care homes found themselves short on numbers and that also meant less interaction for residents. Furthermore, dedicated activities teams were required to help with more physical caring duties. For homes managing outbreaks, many
residents have been encouraged to stay in their rooms as much as possible during this time and that means even more isolation and time alone. Having meaningful communication with staff when they visit residents in their rooms is harder due to the wearing of PPE. Imagine being hard of hearing or living
with dementia and trying to understand staff wearing masks and visors. For many it has been terribly confusing and stressful. Furthermore, many people have
had to spend two weeks isolating due to having the virus or having been in close contact with someone else who does. Anyone coming to the end of their two- week quarantine will usually say it has been mentally tough, boring, lonely, and depressing. Our care home residents have been living in that situation for over a year and the impact of this cannot be underestimated.
August 2021 •
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