Care home group reveals how it has stayed COVID-19 free

A care home group in Surrey has prevented the transmission of COVID-19 by not using agency staff and paying for private testing for all of its 180 residents and 250 staff.

Woodlands and Hill Brow Ltd, which runs Hill House Nursing and Dementia Home, Farnham Mill Nursing Home, Hill Brow care home and Woodlands care home, has managed to protect all of its 180 elderly residents from the contagious disease. All of its staff are also safe and have not contracted coronavirus.

The homes are run by a husband and wife team, Gabriel and Alison Lee and director of care, Jo Grinyer.

Alison Lee said: “We put our residents' safety and happiness above all else. The homes have never employed agency staff or staff working in other care settings. All staff who cross the threshold of our homes, solely work for Woodlands and Hill Brow Ltd on a permanent basis, helping prevent the transmission of COVID-19.

“In addition to this, when COVID-19 broke out in March, Gabriel organised and paid for private testing. So, during April every member of our 250 staff and all four homes, 180 residents had all been tested.”

They also carried out daily wellbeing checks on staff from that day onwards and have repeated COVID-19 testing fortnightly to ensure their residents’ safety.

“By the second week of March we had acquired six months’ supply of PPE and even went to the length of creating an international shipping account to make sure our 250 staff felt safe and our 180 residents were kept safe,” reveals Ms Lee.

Director of care, Jo Grinyer is an ex-theatre nurse and an infection control specialist. She is also a respiratory nurse specialist, and so was able to train all the staff in isolation and PPE equipment required to ensure visiting, discharges and admissions were managed safely.

Alison Lee, along with her HR manager, made sure staff were kept off work, isolated, tested and supported with every cough and sneeze, to ensure they did not infect the residents or their colleagues.

“Our homes are not alone in the country to have amazing staff, that really care about their residents and want to make sure they are safe. In addition to this we have made sure that the residents keep in touch with their families through Facebook, skype, telephone and other virtual visiting,” says Ms Lee.

"They are kept busy throughout the day, with numerous activities including virtual tours of museums, reminiscence sessions including wedding day memories, summer fetes, sociable afternoon teas and such like, to ensure the residents’ happiness is upheld above all else."

We do “everything within our limited power, to ensure the residents happiness. The relatives have often found not visiting their loved ones more difficult because of the distance felt between them,” she adds.

The care home teams have tried to reduce this distance with weekly communication from the activities team, monthly updates from a named nurse and key worker, weekly whole home communication of events and weekly directors’ communication, highlighting protocols and procedures to ensure residents’ safety.

One of the relatives said “I sleep well at night because I know whatever happens, you are all there for the people that depend on you, including my Mum”.

The care home group now plans to turn its attention to introducing safe visits to care homes for relatives and friends. They are looking at a number of options including drive thru visits where relatives decorate their cars and talk to residents from the car windows and garden visits.

Like what you read? For more news click here

click here for more details or to contact Woodlands & Hillbrow Ltd