Care home nurse 'thought Covid was a conspiracy'

A deputy manager described situation at the home as "awful"

A nurse at a Devon care home where seven people died refused to wear a face mask because he believed Covid-19 was a conspiracy, an inquest has heard.

William Wilkinson, 102, Doris Lockett, 92, Roy Gilliam, 96, Jean Hartley, 81, Susan Skinner, 70, Ronald Bampfylde, 92, and Stanislawa Koch, 93 died between March or April 2021 at Holmesley Care Home in Sidford.

Alison Longhorn, area coroner for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, heard all seven died after contracting the virus.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) also carried out two visits that February and told the home it was not following personal protective equipment (PPE) guidelines, the hearing in Exeter was told. The inquest continues.

No medical exemption

The nurse has not been named.

At the hearing in County Hall, Jemma Turner, the nursing home’s deputy manager and also a registered nurse, said: "The first time I spoke to him he expressed his view of Covid was just a conspiracy."

Recalling a phone call from a care worker in the early hours of 2 March 2021, she added: "She was crying, saying: 'Jemma, the residents are poorly, I don’t know what to do'

“I said: 'Where’s the nurse?' and she said: 'He’s refusing to wear a mask and he’s walking around the home and he’s saying that Covid is a conspiracy'."

Ms Turner added: "I explained that he could have his personal view but he had to keep that to himself and while working with elderly people that are frail and at risk he had to follow the guidelines.

"He told me he would. The next time when I spoke to him, I told him he was not wearing his mask, and he needed to and that's when he said he had medical issues and he was finding it hard to breathe.

"I said he knew the rules and needed to wear the mask, and we had not had any medical exemption."

Asked for her overall impression of that time, Ms Turner said: “Awful. It’s sad for the residents."