Coronavirus: Care home 'a dumping ground' for patients

Lynda Goodman and her husband Alex spent Valentine's Day together at Cheaney Court earlier this year

A woman whose husband tested positive for coronavirus at a care home which admitted two hospital patients who turned out to be infected said it was used as a "dumping ground".

Lynda Goodman's husband Alex is one of 36 people who have the virus at Cheaney Court care home in Northamptonshire.

She said Kettering Hospital "should put their hands up and say they shouldn't have" moved patients into the home.

The hospital said patient discharge had been "in line with national guidance".

A spokesman for the Northamptonshire Covid-19 Strategic Co-ordination Centre, speaking for the hospital, said it could not comment on individual patients.

Cheaney Court, based in Desborough, had been Covid-19 free before the hospital patients, who had been described as Covid-negative, were transferred there between 25 May and 4 June.

They later all tested positive for the virus, resulting in 36 new cases, including 23 residents and 13 staff members.

Alex Goodman has been at Cheaney Court since January and has dementia and terminal cancer

Mrs Goodman, from Desborough, has not been able to see her 78-year-old husband, who has dementia and terminal cancer, since the infection hit the home.

"I would like to see the hospital put their hands up and say they shouldn't have done it," she said.

"They are using care homes as dumping grounds."

Her husband is recovering from the virus at the home.

"People can't visit at all. It must be absolutely dreadful for them," she said.

"At least I can see him when I Skype."

Kettering Hospital is investigating whether patients with coronavirus were sent to Cheaney Court

A Cheaney Court spokesman said it required "written confirmation of a negative Covid-19 test before any resident is admitted" and that incoming residents were placed in isolation before being tested again.

The home says it was at that stage it was found three patients had coronavirus.

It is unclear how the virus spread through the home, but the spokesman said "everyone looks likely to recover".

A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: "We have been working tirelessly with the care sector to reduce transmission and save lives. As a result, nearly 60% of care homes have had no outbreak at all."

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