'Absolutely fantastic': Daventry care home staff praised for not having a single positive coronavirus case

Staff at a care home in Daventry have been praised for their 'amazing' work during the pandemic having never had a coronavirus case.

Ashdown House Care Home went into lockdown before the government told them to and luckily did not accept any hospital patients as they were full.

The Ashworth Street nursing home relied on donations of food, supplies and PPE from the public and businesses to get through the first few weeks while worrying about keeping their residents safe.

But manager Sarah Clarke said the team kept each other's and the residents' spirits up throughout and are enjoying being allowed to have relatives visit in the garden now with regular tests.

"With a small care home like ours, the staff have been totally amazing," she said.

"Whenever anyone had a wobble or got anxious, they supported each other and they've been really good with the residents as they couldn't have outside entertainment or visitors.

"People were buying things out of their own pocket to entertain the residents and we've allowed them to have their phones on them so residents can video call their families."

Back in March, Sarah and her team decided to stop all visitors and reduce their contacts so they could minimise the risk of getting and spreading coronavirus which was said to be so threatening for older people in particular.

"It was hard on residents. We've got some with dementia and they didn't understand what's going on in the world and why their loved ones couldn't see them."

The government's recommendation for hospitals to send general patients to care homes without being tested for Covid-19 first to make space for those with the virus has been widely criticised.

Ashdown House's manager said they were fortunate the care home had no empty beds at the time or else they could have had staff mixing with potentially Covid-positive patients and residents.

The lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) was also a struggle but donations from knitters organised on social media were a godsend until clinical supplies caught up.

Concerns about how they would feed residents because of limits on orders were solved by free deliveries from DHL in Daventry while Tesco gave them 50 bunches of flowers for free on Mother's Day.

Sarah also praised the care home owners who are based in London but have been regularly delivering whatever they need throughout the lockdown.

"I have lived in Daventry all my life but having this situation has shown how amazing this community is," she said.

"We had people turning up with visors and masks for free, it's just been amazing and I can't thank people enough."

As the national coronavirus restrictions have eased, Ashdown House has allowed to gradually relax their own rules with tests for staff every week and residents every month.

Relatives can also visit residents in the garden with PPE now too - Elsie Martin celebrated her 98th birthday in the care home on Sunday with her sons, Pete and Ian, able to share a glass of Champagne with her.

Pete's wife Lin said they have been kept updated throughout the lockdown about how Elsie was getting on and could not praise staff enough.

"Elsie has been there for four years and it's always been absolutely fantastic," she said.

"The level of care is absolutely fantastic and the staff and managers are absolutely fantastic."