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A everything that separates Pinewood Nursing Home in Chidham from a similar facility in a nearby village. But their experiences with the most vulnerable vaccination campaign could not have been more different. The two houses illustrate what has become a postcode lottery in parts of England in which winners are immune to Covid and losers are left unprotected from the deadly disease.
Lawrence Marsh, the owner of Pinewood, which is in the far west of West Sussex, expected its residents to receive their shots before Christmas after government vaccination experts made residents and house staff of care the top priority. But the doses did not arrive and on January 6 came the news he feared: a positive Covid test at home. The virus has spread rapidly and 14 of 24 residents have now tested positive and seven have died. Others remain gravely ill, and Marsh fears the worst may not be over.
In contrast, just across the border in Hampshire, the other house, which asked not to be named, behaved very differently. Its 32 residents and some of the staff were vaccinated on January 1 and the house has remained Covid-free.
Marsh and the manager of his neighboring house believe the same thing: the reason behind their different treatments is simply that they are in different counties and the general practitioners who have the medical responsibility for their residents are therefore in zones of setting. clinical service different from the NHS.
“The reason we received our vaccine was because our GP practice is in Hampshire,” said the manager of the other house. Asked about the nearby facility, he said: “I can’t begin to imagine how they are feeling. My heart is with them. “
To make matters worse, until last year some of the Marsh residents were enrolled in the same Hampshire GP training used by the house next door. But they were moved to another in West Sussex to simplify treatment and medical support during the pandemic. Marsh describes it as “a postcode lottery” with some health authorities administering the vaccine faster than others. Marsh said four of its residents were finally vaccinated on Sunday.
“It was heartbreaking,” he told The Guardian. “I’m not jealous, but it’s really sad that a house two miles away has it and we don’t because their county fell into place faster. If we had been vaccinated things would have been 100% different and it would have given everyone a much better chance.
HC One, the UK’s largest operator of private retirement homes, said on Wednesday less than 40% of its staff had been vaccinated along with 63% of residents – the same proportion as Health Secretary Matt Hancock , had declared to have been delivered throughout England.
Marsh also believes the outbreak may have been exacerbated by the house’s use of lateral flow testing for staff who, while commissioned by the Department of Health, fear they have created a false sense of security. . After the first positive test, they decided to move staff home to reduce the risk of transmission. Before entering, they tested negative on lateral flow tests, but 36 hours later four of the staff who had tested negative tested positive in a PCR test.
Research based on the use of Innova lateral flow tests has shown that they fail to detect one-third of high viral load cases.
One of those people who caught Covid was John Nettleton, 86, a father of two with four grandsons who had studied ancient languages and Russian in Cambridge, served in the Navy, worked for the National Coal Board, and was volunteer for retired Samaritans. He died of Covid on January 10.
“I feel devastated and deceived by the last months of my father’s precious life,” said daughter Sally Nettleton. She said that after “heartbreaking” months of separation, unable to hold his hand and only able to communicate with him from a distance or through screens, the vaccine had been “a glimmer of optimism to be able to be reunited with him. this year”.
“It has been a year of relentless worry,” she said. “The vaccine was a ray of hope in early December and we were optimistic that we could finally spend time with dad ‘properly’ in 2021. But five weeks of waiting, then a Covid epidemic at his home ended with the death of my father. . “
Now her mother, Margaret, also has the virus. She was infected, the suspect in the family, during his end-of-life visit to her husband the day before his death. She entered her downstairs bedroom while her daughters stayed outside and looked out the window.
“Covid does not recognize counties or borders and if nursing homes were supposed to be the number one priority for protection, deployment planning should have been organized by sectors and not zip codes,” Nettleton said. “If there is a vaccine available nearby, it should have been shared in all care homes not restricted by bureaucratic authorities. It would save lives.
Sussex NHS commissioners have been asked for comment.
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