Coronavirus: Lockdown criticism as 13 die in home in a week

Paul Gill

Paul Gill said losing so many residents was "horrendous"

The manager of a care home in Salford that has seen 13 deaths in a week from coronavirus has said the lockdown should have happened sooner.

Paul Gill, from Thornton Lodge Care Home, said losing so many residents was "horrendous" for staff and said testing should have been available earlier.

He said families had seen their loved ones die from windows outside the home.

Ministers have previously said the UK entered lockdown when the measures were deemed necessary.

Mr Gill said: "The virus has to be contained to stop the spread, we should have been locked down a lot sooner than we have."

He added: "I'm seeing more traffic on the roads, more people out walking around.

"New Zealand are nearly out of the pandemic, if we carry on doing what we are doing, we'll not be out of this pandemic for a long time."

The home cares for adults over the age of 65

Mr Gill said "words cannot describe" the effect of the deaths had had on staff.

"We've had residents from the last six or seven years with us, and we treat them as part of an extended family and to see them pass away in front of our eyes is horrendous," he said.

"We couldn't allow families into the home, and some of the families watched their loved ones pass away from windows.

"I don't care how stone-hearted you are, if that doesn't break you, nothing will."

Government figures for people who have died with coronavirus in the UK has passed 26,000, as official figures included almost 4,000 deaths in care homes for the first time.

On Tuesday Health Secretary Matt Hancock said coronavirus testing will be expanded to all care home residents and staff in England, including those who do not have symptoms.

Mr Gill said: "It's good to do [testing] now, but it should have been done a long, long time ago.

"We've got carers who have no signs of a temperature or flu or a cough, but they have tested positive."

Speaking previously in a daily Downing Street briefing, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the government had entered lockdown when it was deemed necessary.

He also said it was impossible to compare the UK's lockdown strategy against other countries.

He said: "I don't think those comparisons are like-for-like, because of where we are on the curve, but also the individual circumstances in those countries."

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