Care home manager who helped Hillsborough victims says Covid-19 is 'the toughest thing I've ever had to deal with'

A Surbiton care home manager who helped casualties during the Hillsborough disaster in April 1989 speaks in a frank first-hand account about the pandemic in 2020 and says: “I don’t think I’ve ever been as stressed as I was last spring.”

Speaking as part of Royal Star & Garter’s ‘Time to reflect’ series marking the first year of the pandemic, Helen Maher said there were times when she struggled after residents and staff tested positive for coronavirus in April and May 2020.

Ms Maher who works at the Royal Star & Garter - Surbiton said: “The first confirmed case was a resident who returned from hospital with Covid-19. I was frustrated. We’d kept the virus away from residents. Now I was anxious about how we would prevent it spreading around the home. Staff were worried, and I understood why they were scared, I was too.

“In April and May, the virus was moving through the home. I’m an experienced nurse, and I really struggled to work out what I could do to prevent it.”

The home ramped up training on PPE and handwashing and they instigated regular deep cleans.

“During that time, I was finding it really hard personally. I had a lot of sleepless nights worrying. It felt like months when we couldn’t get on top of it.

“There were times when I felt I couldn’t cope. I spent quite a lot of those evenings in floods of tears.”

'It felt like they’d been robbed of that final respect'

Seven residents died at the home between April and May last year. Some of these residents had Covid-19 listed on their death certificate. Remarkably, nine residents who tested positive went on to make full recoveries.

Seeing residents die without family members with them was one of the hardest things she had to deal with.

“There were always staff by their side, they didn’t die alone, but I just felt for their son or daughter. I’d hate not to be with my mum. Then when we were able to let people come in at the end-of-life, because they were in full PPE, the residents possibly didn’t even know who was sitting with them. That was horrible.

"We weren’t able to give them their leaving ceremony (where staff and residents clap as the resident leaves the home for the final time in a coffin) and it felt like they’d been robbed of that final respect.”

Praising staff, Ms Maher said: “The team have worked so hard, they’ve all pulled together and been incredible.”

Residents at Surbiton have had both doses of the vaccine, and Helena says the home is in a far better position than it was 12 months ago.

During her career, Ms Maher has worked in A&E, ITU and paediatrics. She was a student nurse at an A&E in Sheffield when the Hillsborough disaster happened.

“Everybody trooped into the hospital, none of us knew what we were going to face. It was really hard. I’ve many had stressful times, but I don’t think I’ve ever been as stressed as I was last spring. In a hospital, you walk away and go back to a new day.

But looking back on those days in April and May, Ms Maher said: “Professionally, it’s absolutely the toughest thing I’ve had to deal with.”

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