Simon Walls is perched on the edge of a set of cupboards by a large window, gently holding the hand of 90-year-old Lily Pettener. His tenderness belies his imposing six-foot frame and the care and compassion for the people he calls “family” is plain for all to see.
Walls is clinical lead at Saint Cecilia’s Nursing Home in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. He is sitting in Lily’s room, wearing PPE, after she was nursed back to health after contracting Covid-19. She is one of 11 people who have taken up residency on the isolated “Covid floor” of Saint Cecilia’s.
When I arrived I was met at a front door adorned with images of angels, unicorns and rainbows, seemingly drawn by the young relatives of residents. “Do you mind going around the back?” asks Anne Brand, the executive administrator from Saint Cecilia’s Care Group. No visitor has ventured through the front door for some time. As the pandemic lockdown came, all visits were suspended to protect the vulnerable.
I’m met at the rear door by Walls (15 years of military service) with his imposing figure fully blocking the doorway. “I need to check your temperature first,” he says. “Thirty-six point eight, come in,” and I’m led into what would seem to be the service quarters of the Victorian building.
The home, which specialises in the nursing care of people at high risk of “deterioration”, was originally the Dorchester Hotel. It’s close to Scarborough spa, which was the UK’s first seaside resort, and once an upmarket destination for wealthy London visitors. But it went into decline in the 1970s when package holidays drew the holidaymakers away to guaranteed sunnier climes.
Mike Padgham, owner and manager director of Saint Cecilia’s Care Services, agreed to give me access to the home. He has been a prominent advocate for reform of the care sector for a number of years, calling for better pay and career recognition of the work done by staff within the sector. It has taken a number of weeks to gain access to the home as permission was needed from residents, their family and staff. My visit was registered with the Care Quality Commission and I was required to wear full PPE.
I was quizzed on my health, my partner’s keyworkers’ role and asked to sign a declaration of health. The white PPE overalls covered me head to toe, I wore a face mask, face shield and protective gloves. It was as hot, uncomfortable, ungainly and impersonal as it gets.
Angela Morgan
It’s just before lunch and the television is on. I’m spotted by cheery resident Angela Morgan, with team leader Corina Grigoruta, and she’s smiling for my camera. She has been a resident for the past six years. I may have been the first person outside of the care environment that she has seen for three months. The scene is heart-warming and it is hard to believe the devastation this pandemic has had on the care sector. The dedicated staff, until recently described and labelled as unskilled, are now seen as keyworkers.
“It’s frustrating,” say Walls. “The staff have been amazing here. I have massive respect for the NHS but social care has been left out. The work has gone unrecognised for a long time.”
The first two weeks of lockdown were particularly bad, he laments. We had one lady come in with no symptoms but then later died of Covid. Then, in the space of two weeks, 10 people died. “It was heart-breaking,” he says, recalling the time he came in to manage the last hours of a dying resident only for the resident in the next room to die shortly afterwards.
“I would rather have been in Iraq,” he says. “It’s a situation you expected there, we had the training. We didn’t expect that in a care home. We couldn’t get a GP to come in. It was horrific. It was really hard for the staff to take.”
Allan Booth
Allan Booth is lying in his bed, eating his lunchtime dessert. Nearby there is a picture of him as the town crier and on his wall another of him with his contemporaries. He was known locally as Mr Scarborough for his services to the town. “I did it because I loved it,” he says. Thirty one years as town crier but also 19 years as the town’s Santa. Each Christmas, Scarborough’s Santa Claus would arrive by fishing boat into the harbour that Booth can see from the window of his room at St Cecilia’s. He didn’t like the water so much, so each year organised a stunt double to ride in the boat and, through the magic of Christmas, managed to switch positions, on dry land, before the young onlookers noticed. Booth liked to talk. Vera Lynn had died that day and as we departed, the 88-year-old serenaded us with a rendition of We’ll meet again.
Sybil Thompson
Sybil Thompson lay in her bed. Her beauty and poise undimmed by her fading years. Nursing assistant Kasia Kapuscinka was helping her with her medication and a drink of coconut milk. A photograph of the 97-year-old’s large, extended family peered down from the wall besides her bed, easy for her to see. Despite her frailty, her energy had no limits; her laughter and joie de vivre filled the room.
The light from the afternoon sun was shining down on her face. She had celebrated her 70th wedding anniversary with her husband, Robert, at the home. Until recently, he too was a resident in the room next door. A couple in love; “till death do us part”.
The word “family” crops up time and again. “Many families have been fantastic”, says Walls. “They’ve understood everything. Even donated money just to say thank you.”
“They are like family” is a much-used phrase but it’s hard not to feel the pain, pressure and fatigue many of the care staff have undergone. Many residents have been in the home for a number of years. Their needs cared for on a daily basis, and bonds forged. Their history learnt and family relationships understood. Physically and emotionally, the lockdown has taken its toll on the country as a whole, but the work in care homes has long gone undervalued and underrepresented.
Members of the team
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Clockwise from top left: Donna Henderson, Sarah Earp, Corina Grigoruta, Jojo Wilson, Anne Brand and Graham Pryce.
Donna Henderson, registered manager: “We’ve been through a difficult time and it’s been tough for us all, but I have a great team and we’re getting through by supporting each other. Staff have done an amazing job at keeping morale high! We are all proud of how we’ve managed these unpredictable events.”
Sarah Earp, head housekeeper: “I came to work here straight from school, aged 15. I’ve been here 22 years and now I’m the head of housekeeping. I make sure that we are fully stocked with PPE, make sure all the cleaning is done on schedule and up to date. We have a 24-hour cleaning schedule now, in line with Public Health England guidance. You do get bugs in the home, we have always managed to keep it to a minimum. To keep things at bay, sometimes we have to isolate residents. Regarding PPE, some people don’t understand the problem. We haven’t run out. It’s the price some people are expecting us to pay. I think it’s extortionate. We pay £1.30 a box for vinyl gloves, which is great. But recently, some suppliers have been trying to charge £16 a box. That’s where we need the help from government. We need them to stop putting the prices up.”
Corina Grigoruta, team leader: “I came to the UK for a better future. This company gave me a chance that I didn’t have in Greece. They gave me the chance to develop my skills. I like to work with people. It is so nice to help people and make people happy every day. I think all of us were stressed at the beginning of lockdown. We need to take care of our mental health, too. We are a very good team. We helped the residents to be without stress and explained Covid-19. We protected them and ourselves, which is very important. I have two children and they are very proud of me. In the beginning, we understood that we should stay apart. I was worried for my family, too. I was isolated in my bedroom. It was alright. We could manage.”
Jojo Wilson, healthcare assistant: “I started work on 4 March then, seven days later, the lockdown came. It is my first role in care and I love it. I’m kinda glad that I started when I did because you just had to get on with it. Everyone pulled together as a team; the staff, management were amazing. It was scary because we didn’t know what was coming, whether we would lose people. Sadly, we did lose some people. But we needed to just get on with it, these people needed our help. I love the job. I want to be able to go on and get my NVQs and work my way up. There have been loads of highlights. There is a resident called Susan and on my birthday she gave me a card and wrote in it: ‘Thank you for everything that you do for me.’ I was like, ‘oh my God’. That’s so rewarding.”
Anne Brand, executive administrator: “For me, the past few months have been a whirlwind, adapting to home working, Covid-19 taking over work and homelife, supporting frontline carers in our homes and the pressures of being a good parent and there for my family and to home school. All of this has been a challenge and there have been good days and bad days. I am immensely proud to work in social care. My daughter leaving me notes saying, ‘good job Mummy’; saying she is proud of me got me through when things were tough.”
Graham Pryce, housekeeper: “I started in May 1989, I’ve been here 31 years. I work in house keeping and do the all the cleaning, polishing, dusting and washing up that needs to be done in the home. I’ve been tested twice and I’m all ok.”
“We have had too many reviews with nothing done,” says Walls. “We don’t want to be another statistical promise.”
“We are a forgotten bunch of guys that do an incredible job. It’s not an unskilled job. It’s a very skilled job. The staff here have been heroes.”
