Coronavirus: Family 'feel lied to' over care home virus death

Mr Waskiw, 91, came to Britain as a Ukrainian war refugee in the 1940s

A bereaved family say they "feel like they have been lied to" by health bosses after a grandfather died from Covid-19 at a care home.

Mikhail Waskiw, 91, was sent to Temple Court in Kettering from Northampton General Hospital to rehabilitate from a broken hip on 28 February as it looked to free up beds amid the pandemic.

But Mr Waskiw, a World War Two refugee, died from the virus on 5 April.

Temple Court claims patients were not tested before being moved to the home.

Northamptonshire County Council - which runs local adult social services in the county - said it could not comment on its coronavirus testing policy because of an "ongoing inquiry".

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According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Temple Court had taken in 15 patients from the county's two hospitals on 19 March after a mass discharge effort to free up hospital beds in preparation for an influx of Covid-19 cases.

Mr Waskiw's son Garry, 58, who last saw his father alive when the home closed to visitors on 13 March said his father would still be alive if he had not been sent to Temple Court and that he was generally in good health.

"Obviously I am a bit angry. What has been going on?" he said. "It feels like we have been lied to. I don't blame the carers in the care home, but we do want to know what has happened."

Mr Waskiw, who came to Britain as a Ukrainian war refugee in the 1940s, was one of four people to die at the home with confirmed coronavirus, with a further seven deaths linked to the contagion.

Figures released on Tuesday suggest that more than 11,600 people have died from coronavirus in care homes across the UK since the start of the pandemic.

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