carehome.co.uk highlights selflessness of care workers on ITV's Good Morning Britain

ITV’s Good Morning Britain has shone a spotlight on care homes looking at how they are being affected and how they are coping in the current pandemic.

The news and talk show hosted by Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid featured carehome.co.uk’s editor Sue Learner, MP Nadia Whittome and 93-year-old Bob Skinner who lives at a Sunrise care home in Cardiff.

Interviewed by presenters Ranvir Singh and Ben Shephard, Sue Learner, editor of carehome.co.uk gave an insight into the pressures care home staff are facing at the moment.

She said: “We are hearing stories all the time about care homes running out of PPE, they are scared, because they can’t practise social distancing”. She revealed a lot of staff have gone into lockdown with the residents and have left their families.

She added: "They are making incredible sacrifices and aren’t getting the proper protective clothing."

When asked how the public can help care home staff, she suggested financial help, as some care workers that have been forced to self-isolate due to having underlying health problems, are not getting statutory sick pay as they are not sick.

On carehome.co.uk there is a donate button where people can give money to the Care Workers Charity, which is giving grants to struggling care workers.

Other ways to help is through volunteering at a care home and letter writing. Some care homes already have partnerships set up with schools and nurseries and children are being encouraged to write letters and draw pictures for care home residents. For those that do not have those networks set up, there is a scheme called Postcards of Kindness which links with care homes.

Donating old tech such as tablets and ipads is also beneficial as residents can no longer receive visitors in the current climate and so video calling is helping keep them in touch with their families, said Sue Learner.

The Good Morning Britain presenters also quizzed Bob Skinner on his life in the care home in Cardiff. He referred to the staff as “friends” and said: “We couldn’t be luckier. I can’t imagine if I had been by myself at home, how I would have managed.”

MP Nadia Whittome, who has gone back to being a care worker during the coronavirus outbreak, voiced her fears that the added pressures of the pandemic will be disastrous for an already struggling care sector, saying : “I really worry that the social care system is in danger of falling apart.”

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