Covid: Redcar and Cleveland care staff faced 'untold trauma'

Care workers Jasmine Grey, left, and Linda Teasdale said the job was "so worthwhile"

Care home staff "experienced untold trauma" watching residents die with coronavirus, a report has said.

The Redcar and Cleveland Council found care workers had "borne the brunt" of the pandemic, alongside NHS colleagues.

"They have slept in care homes and care home gardens, away from their own families, to protect vulnerable residents from Covid-19," it said.

More than 39,000 care home residents in England died with the virus in the first year of pandemic.

The government has been criticised for a policy of moving patients back into homes, even if they had the virus, to free up NHS beds.

Victoria Wilson said delivering adult social care was a "significant challenge"

The report by the council's assistant director of adult care, Victoria Wilson, said staff had worked weekends and bank holidays and sacrificed Christmas Day with their loved ones" to care for vulnerable people.

"They have experienced untold trauma witnessing many residents die from this terrible disease and had to cope with continuously changing government guidance on visiting, infection control, testing, isolation and more," she said.

A lack of staff has affected providers since the start of the pandemic with high levels of sickness and isolation continuing to be a problem, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Workers had "left the profession in droves" in recent months with more than 300 current vacancies, the report said.

Some providers have had to hand back council contracts and the waiting list for care was longer than ever before, the council said.

It intends to levy the maximum 2% increase on the adult social care council tax precept again this year.