‘COVID-19 Half of three Palms Row homes including Newfield Nursing Home in Heely, Sheffield, have coronavirus, 6 dead, dozens infected residents and staff, isolated’.

‘COVID-19 Half of three Palms Row Healthcare homes residents including Newfield Nursing Home in Sheffield, have coronavirus’.
The disease has ripped through the wards with frightening speed in the past two weeks. COVID-19 has attacked the old and frail who are now locked in the fight of their lives.
Staffing levels are running dangerously low because nurses are either self-isolating or have been infected themselves.
They can’t go on like this, one nurse says.
Palms Row Healthcare runs three nursing homes in Sheffield and they have been hit hard by the virus.
There are nearly 40 confirmed cases and eight people have died in under two weeks alone.
One of the homes is Newfield Nursing Home, where a whole floor has been devoted to caring for patients suffering from COVID-19.
Those infected are confined to rooms, and nurses only enter once they have put on plastic aprons, masks and gloves.
Overnight, a 94-year-old woman, who had tested positive for the virus a few days earlier, died.
Laura Hibberd is one of the nurses on the ward.
She said: “We had daily reviews with the doctor but unfortunately she lost her fight with COVID.
“It’s heartbreaking when the families can’t be here.
“We made sure that we had a staff member in with this lady so she wouldn’t die alone.”
In room 36, an elderly man called John calls for help by pressing his buzzer.
Two nurses put on their protective equipment and enter the room. It’s hot and the curtains are closed. John has been unwell for a few months but COVID-19 could kill him.
His breathing is laboured and he can hardly move, a now familiar symptom of the virus.
He groans as the nurses tend to his pressure sores.
It has been a full day since he ate or drank anything, nurse Anne Clarke says.
“We are worried about John. He’s getting weaker by the day. He’s frail. We will keep trying to get him to eat and drink if we can.”
Just a few weeks ago, the care home was a hive of activity with craft clubs, music and games. It is a different world now.
Residents are not allowed to socialise and that is having an effect, according to healthcare worker Joy Green.
“Sometimes it’s the isolation that gets to them more than COVID. They are missing their families. Day after day, all they see is a mask.”
Supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) are low but they are vital to ensure more staff do not come down with the virus, says Ms Hibberd.
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“PPE is limited. We do have it on site but it’s a daily battle.
“I think we should have PPE readily available. COVID isn’t a surprise. It’s not happened overnight and we knew it was coming. It’s appalling that we’re having to struggle like this.”
In the afternoon, a GP comes to the home for a meeting with nursing staff.
They assess each individual resident, deciding who should be referred for treatment in hospital and who should stay in the home.
That course of action is then discussed with the patient and their families. It is a grim discussion.
“It’s not an easy conversation to have,” said Ms Hibberd.
“They have to decide, if there’s a deterioration, to go to hospital and have treatment or perhaps end their life in hospital or stay here and potentially end their life here as comfortably as possible.”
I ask her if this is a conversation that hangs heavy on her.
“It’s tough. It’s tough,” she says.
By the evening, John’s condition has deteriorated further. His family decide that he should stay in the home.
Later, his wife is allowed into his room to stay by his bedside.
There are thought to be more than 1,000 coronavirus deaths in care homes in England alone but they are not counted in the official figures.
It feels like the nurses here are fighting on a forgotten frontline.
This is, for now, a hidden death toll, with lives being lost in the shadows of this crisis. yahoo

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