Devon care home nurse refused to wear mask as they believed 'Covid was a conspiracy'

Seven elderly residents all died in March or April 2021 having contracted coronavirus at Holmesley Care Home in Sidford, Devon

A nurse at a care home struck by Covid-19 refused to wear a facemask during the pandemic because they believed the outbreak was a conspiracy, an inquest had heard. Seven elderly residents died at Holmesley Care Home in Sidford in March and April 2021, having contracted coronavirus during the outbreak.

Area coroner for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, Alison Longhorn, has continued with the inquests into the deaths of William Wilkinson, 102, Doris Lockett, 92, Roy Gilliam, 96, Jean Hartley, 81, Susan Skinner, 70, Ronald Bampfylde, 92, and Stanislawa Koch, 93.

Jemma Turner, deputy manager and registered nurse at the nursing home, recounted to the hearing how she received a distressing call in the early hours of March 2, 2021, from a care worker who suspected an outbreak. "She was crying, saying, 'Jemma, the residents are poorly, I don't know what to do,'" Mrs Turner recalled.

"I said, 'Where's the nurse? ' and she said, 'He's refusing to wear a mask and he's walking around the home and he's saying that Covid is a conspiracy'. She said she thought he was positive too and she'd had an argument with him about doing testing."

"I told her I was on my way. I called another staff member and asked if they would come with me because I felt we possibly had an outbreak of Covid in the home."

Upon arrival, Mrs Turner began testing residents on one floor and found all were positive. "I thought, 'What am I going to do? '" she expressed.

She explained that another staff member then questioned why she was testing all the residents.

"She said, 'Don't worry, we did it on Friday, the tests were a bad batch they were all positive'," Mrs Turner said. "I asked her what did she mean, and she said they were a bad batch. I didn't think the manager would disregard a positive test."

Three days later, Mrs Turner contacted the Care Quality Commission (CQC), Devon safeguarding and the police with her concerns about the outbreak. "No-one wanted to help me and I felt the longer we leave it, residents could potentially die," she said. "I think I was on the phone a good five or six hours."

The home guidelines stated that if a staff member tested positive, they should be sent home, and any resident they had been in close contact with must be isolated for 14 days. Additionally, all staff and residents must be tested. The CQC had carried out two visits in February and informed the home that it was not following guidelines for the use of PPE, as revealed during the hearing at County Hall in Exeter.

Mrs Turner also alleged that managers at the home would tell staff that lateral flow tests (LFTs) were negative when they were, in fact, positive. They would not show them the tests and would still allow them to work.

"A staff member messaged me, and I told her do not go to work because you are positive, go and do a PCR test," she said. "I asked another staff member about whether he had a positive LFT and I asked him when that was done.

"I think he said either that day or the day before and I asked him if he had been to work, and he said yes and said the manager said he could work," Mrs Turner recalled.

She also mentioned how she had to remind a nurse who believed coronavirus was a conspiracy about the importance of wearing PPE. "The first time I spoke to him he expressed his view of Covid was just a conspiracy and I explained that he could have his personal view but he had to keep that to himself and while working with elderly people that are frail and at risk he had to follow the guidelines," she stated.

"He told me he would. All of this was written out on a supervision form about mask wearing and daily testing and making sure he had his weekly test because there were occasions where we had to chase him up to come and do his test. The next time when I spoke to him, I told him he was not wearing his mask, and he needed to and that's when he said he had medical issues and he was finding it hard to breathe. I said he knew the rules and needed to wear the mask, and we had not had any medical exemption."

She explained that two days before the suspected outbreak, the nurse had been complaining of feeling unwell but attributed it to tiredness and night working. Mrs Turner also highlighted the high turnover of staff at the nursing home, which she attributed to the heavy workloads and low staffing levels. When asked for her overall impression of that time, Mrs Turner replied: "Awful. It's sad for the residents.

"They should have passed away being cared for and I felt this could have been prevented. I also think that if I didn't go to the police no-one would know this had potentially happened."

The hearing continues.