Families learned of Covid outbreak at Skye care home 'from carer's mum on Facebook'

Families of residents at a care home where ten people have died from Covid-19 first learned that the virus had taken hold when a staff member’s mother posted the news on Facebook, it has emerged.

John Gordon, whose 83-year-old father was among those killed by the outbreak at Home Farm care home on the Isle of Skye, hit out at “huge failings in communication” from the operators of the facility, who are at risk of being removed as the care provider after legal proceedings were launched by regulators.

He said that he had found out that there had been a confirmed case of coronavirus at the home, run by HC-One, one of  the UK’s largest care home operators, when the mother of an employee posted on social media that her son was self-isolating after testing positive.

He said families and residents were continuing to be kept in the dark about the situation, even as a series of other damning allegations were published by The New York Times.

These include that some managers at Home Farm ignored instructions to wear face masks because they were itchy, that cases of Covid-19 were initially dismissed as “just the flu”, and that offers from staff members to move into the home to lessen the risk of infection were rejected as beds were needed for “paying customers”.

The investigation  claimed that staff members also found out that their colleague had been infected through the Facebook post.

HC-One insisted recent improvements had been made at the home, a claim backed up by regulators, and that staff, residents and their families had been informed of the outbreak as soon as had been possible.

Mr Gordon’s father, also called John, died on May 5.

“There was a carer who had tested positive and was self-isolating, and his mum had put it on Facebook,” Mr Gordon, an independent councillor in Skye, said. “My sister phoned me straight away. We phoned the home and the staff could not tell us any more.

“There has been huge failings with communication, not only from HC-One but from the NHS. My dad clearly isn’t there any more, but I’m a local councillor and I still don’t get updated information as to what’s happening there. I have families phoning nearly daily, and they haven’t been updated. So there’s a huge lack of information.”

The Care Inspectorate, the regulator of the sector in Scotland, has taken legal action against HC-One. NHS Highland has been brought in to effectively run the home, after inspections uncovered major concerns.

The Care Inspectorate brought the action after all but four of the home's 34 residents and 29 staff contracted Covid-19.

However, at a court hearing last week to hear an application from the regulator to cancel HC-One’s registration, both parties agreed to defer the case until next month after “substantial improvements” were made to the running of the home.

The decision caused “huge distress and alarm” to families of residents, Mr Gordon said. He added: “We were reassured that NHS and HC-One staff were going to work together, but that’s been happening since the beginning [of the outbreak].

“Now, when I look back and hear other people’s stories, as much as the carers and nurses were doing their jobs to the best of their abilities, I think they were hugely let down by their managers and directors of the HC-One group.

“The last thing anyone wants is a fudge or a smokescreen in terms of what really happened. The fact is that our elderly population were not protected the way they should have been.”

Mandie Harris also said she first learned of the outbreak through the Facebook post, which led to rumours quickly circulating on the island. Her 66-year-old husband, Colin, died on May 6 after testing positive for Covid-19. He had lived at the home for four years.

“The only reason I knew my husband wasn’t feeling well was because my daughter had been to see him at his bedroom window,” she said. “The first we knew of the virus being in the home was when someone posted on Facebook that her son had tested positive and was a care worker. She didn’t state where he worked but Skye is a small place so it didn’t take long before everyone knew it was Home Farm.”

Ms Harris wrote to the home on April 8 to raise concern about infection control measures, including that at the time staff were only wearing protective equipment if treating someone with suspected Covid-19. This was "like closing the gate after the horse has bolted," she warned.

“The care staff that were there were trying their hardest,” she said. “But we were painfully aware that there just wasn't enough staff in the home to manage.”

Ian Blackford, the MP for Skye and the SNP’s Westminster leader, said the outbreak had been “heartbreaking” for people on the island and called for “complete transparency”.

"The Covid-19 outbreak has shocked people throughout the island,” he said. “So many of us have connections with the residents, their families and staff. While the first priority must be ensuring support is given to the residents and staff, it is right that we have complete transparency on what has taken place at Home Farm."

A spokeswoman for the home said: "Working with the support of NHS Highland we have already made significant progress and improvements across the home so we can deliver the very best for residents and colleagues at Home Farm. Residents and colleagues are also starting to feel better and are on the way to recovering from coronavirus.

“We continue to progress with our robust action plan and remain wholly focused on delivering the best possible care, both now and for the long term.”

On the issue of residents and workers finding out about the initial outbreak on Facebook, she said: "We rely on colleagues to provide the details of these [test] results to the homes."

She added: "Immediately after we were made aware the first staff member tested positive, we made contact with relatives and colleagues.

"Calls to all relatives where we hold telephone numbers were made on the 28th of April. On this call, we informed them we had one colleague who was confirmed as having coronavirus and that several residents at Home Farm were suspected as having coronavirus. We also followed up these calls with a letter sent on the same day."