How this Northamptonshire care home has managed to remain Covid-free throughout pandemic

A care home in Northamptonshire has been praised for remaining Covid-free throughout the pandemic.

Clare House Residential Home in Whittlebury Road, Silverstone, currently has 21 residents and 15 members of staff, of which only one person has shown any symptoms of Covid-19.

Despite the symptoms, a test came back negative and the resident self isolated for 14 days as a precaution in order to keep everyone else safe.

The home credits its success of keeping residents virus free to effective infection control, twice daily temperature checks and the early decision to close to visitors.

Visitors have not been allowed in the home since March 11, which was nearly two weeks before the country-wide lockdown was imposed.

Manager, Sarah Manktelow, said: “We closed down early and a lot before everyone else.

“When it all first started we just took the tough decision to close down.

“It was hard on families, but they’ve been brilliant and I’ve had some people ringing me now to say they’re glad I shut it down early.

“We’ve also been on top of infection control and we’ve made sure the home is getting a good old clean regularly.

“We check the temperature of residents and staff twice a day and we’ve managed to keep on top of everything and keep everyone safe.”

Staff and residents at the home have all recently had a test, all of which came back negative, despite many care homes across the county being badly affected by positive tests and deaths.

Even though the Silverstone home’s success has been put down to the early decision to close, staff members have managed to keep spirits high throughout the extended period of lockdown.

Sarah added: “We have family members come to the conservatory windows now and they have a conversation through a window that is slightly open.

“We are also encouraging families to use FaceTime and speak on the phone and even write letters.

“Morale has been really good. Everyone is just keeping everyone going.

“We’re just trying to carry on with as much normality as possible; we’ve been doing things like hairdressing with them.”

Although it has been nearly four months since visitors have been allowed in Clare House, Sarah is not yet ready to reopen as she does not want to undo all the hard work.

“I don’t want to open yet. I don’t want to do it too early because we have come this far now and we don’t want to put anyone at risk,” she continued.

“I have spoken to families and they agree, so we will do it when we are ready.

“The staff are so grateful for how it has been managed and families as well are pleased with how well we are doing.

“We’ll be looking out for when the Government says visiting is allowed again, but until then we will continue to take the precautions we need to.”

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