Coronavirus: Tests for staff should be top priority, says care home manager

Health Minister Robin Swann has announced universal testing in all care homes by next month.

Kathie Walker, manager at Beechvale Nursing Home in Killinchy, Co Down, said testing for staff would help keep the coronavirus out of care homes by letting staff know if they were inadvertently bringing it into a home.

“We locked our doors on the 12th of March and we are content that our residents don’t have Covid-19,” she told the News Letter.

“We know that the only way it (the virus) is going to get into the home is if staff carry it in by accident.

“Obviously the staff still have to go out into the community to do their shopping and different things. And as we all know by now you can be asymptomatic and still carry it.”

She continued: “So we would be great advocates for staff getting tested regularly, more so than residents. Of course the residents are only going to get it if the staff are positive.”

The trade union Unison said it would push for clarity on the way tests will be carried out.

The union’s regional secretary, Patricia McKeown, welcomed the announcement by Robin Swann today.

She added: “From the early stages of this crisis our message to the minister and the wider Executive was clear and that was that we needed to test, test, test. We have been putting this issue on the agenda and have for several weeks now been publicly calling for a universal programme of testing across our care homes.

“We will now engage with the Department of Health in order to clarify precisely how testing will be conducted and when this programme will commence. We will be urging that universal testing be implemented as soon as possible.’’