Peterborough care home staff hailed as ‘incredible’ as two residents are recovering from coronavirus

Neil Russell, chairman of PJ Care said there were ‘not enough superlatives’ to describe staff who are helping residents at the Eagle Wood care centre in Bretton.

The care home looks after people with conditions such as Young or Early Onset dementia, Huntington’s disease and brain injuries, and Mr Russell said two residents had been taken to hospital with coronavirus during the pandemic - but both were now back at the home, in isolation, and were ‘recovering better than expected.’

Mr Russell said: “There are not enough superlatives for our staff - they have all been amazing.

“Overall, about 20 per cent of our staff are self isolating at the moment. But the team we have in is unbelievable - they have been doing overtime, picking up other things and doing a great job, keeping everyone safe.

“We have been looking for temporary staff- we had a piece in the Peterborough Telegraph which was successful in finding more workers, but we have had temporary staff going into isolation too, so we are still looking,”

Mr Russell said the company had a big enough stock of personal protective equipment (PPE) - although they were having to pay ‘over the odds’ for it.

He said; “We acknowledge that it is difficult for the sector because demand is so high. We were fortunate in already having strong, well-established relationships with our supply chain and we had good stock levels before the crisis hit.

“But we have to applaud the efforts of our procurement manager, Daria Drygas, who has been on the phone constantly. She’s been working extremely long hours, sometimes checking emails at midnight, to keep in contact with our suppliers and make the most of opportunities when they arise.

“It’s vital we have the necessary protective equipment for all of our staff in order to keep them, and our residents, safe and well, so we hope we can continue to source enough for our whole team.”

Masks are being worn by all staff, from the maintenance team to senior management, who are on the floor on a daily basis.

“Our operations director would normally visit our centres two or three times a week but he’s on the floor every day at the moment, volunteering his services wherever they are needed,” said Neil. “That could be as another pair of hands or just a listening ear – both are key to supporting our staff who are doing the most amazing job.

“They come to work under unprecedented circumstances, yet they have smiles on their faces and show the same dedication to our residents, and each other, as they do every day.

“They are having to cover colleagues who are self-isolating until our new staff members come on board, and I can’t say enough how proud I am of them all.”

The team have been working to make life as normal as possible for the residents. Mr Russell said: “While visits have had to stop, we have tablets on each unit. They are normally used for training, but have been used to allow video calls to be made to families.

“Residents are as isolated as possible - normally they go out to the Bretton Centre, but obviously they can’t do that any more, so we have put on more activities.

“We’ve been very lucky with the weather as well, which has allowed residents and staff to go into the garden. We had a donation from Notcutts of flowers, and of chocolate eggs and goodies as well, which has really put a smile on faces.

“We have made sure our staff have been able to get a break from it all as well, which is important, and they’ve been able to go home and sit in their garden.

“We have seen so much of the best if human kindness throughout all of this, even when the world is at its worst.”