Coronavirus


Nasser: Because we are a specialist home, we do a lot of neurological rehab. For example, for those with a post-road traffic accident or a brain or spinal cord injury, the pathway is some rehabilitation in a specialist hospital and then come to somewhere like Askham before hopefully going home to live with their families. However, because of the pressure on hospitals that initial rehab phase is either being reduced or curtailed. I must say we are getting an enormous amount of pressure to help the hospital to free up bed space.


Where we can we are but, from our perspective, if we are in this for the long haul, we have to be sustainable and safe. If you make one mistake you could take out a whole provider out of the equation, so we have to be risk averse.


For everybody admitted to Askham, we are isolating and barrier nursing for the first 14 days just to make sure if they


are a carrier it’s not being spread. We want to take patients and we know we can help meet patients’ care needs, but we need to think about the other 100 people on site that might be put at risk. Every time we take an admission from hospital, that’s the risk we bring with it. Hospitals are not testing as much as they would like to be.


If people are tested before they are transferred and we know they are negative, the risk is managed.


They are trying to test people but it’s a question of demand and supply. It’s on the government radar and all are in agreement it’s the right thing to do, it’s just the physical kit just isn’t keeping pace.


TCHE: Does Askham have enough personal protective equipment (PPE)?


Nasser: The supply of PPE has been a huge challenge. The government is trying to do the right thing and I commend them for that, but the reality is very difficult, and the supply is not keeping pace with demand.


We have clubbed together with a few other care homes and have managed to privately procure some PPE from abroad outside of the NHS supply chain. That puts us in a fortunate position but not all care homes are able to do that. I just hope the government can keep up with demand.


TCHE: What are the long-term lessons to be learned from this crisis?


Nasser: One thing I keep saying to staff is that a crisis can be a real opportunity to make changes that you wouldn’t make in normal times.


I have been so impressed with the way April 2020 • www.thecarehomeenvironment.com 7 Aliyyah-Begum Nasser


Aliyyah-Begum Nasser is operations director at Askham Village Community, a specialist


rehabilitation and care community situated on the edge of Doddington, between Peterborough and Cambridge. A family-run business of over 30 years, it provides specialist care and rehab for the very young to the elderly, offering day visits, respite or long-term care, goal-focussed rehabilitation, and continuing reablement support.


health care and social care have started to work together. We all know that has been a long-term problem. I’m not saying it’s perfect but the number of calls I’ve been on in the past 10 days where both sectors are singing from the same hymn sheet is really good. If we can do it well in a crisis then that bodes well for when it passes.


TCHE


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