Rising Deaths
The current Covid-19 crisis is posing a very real threat to care homes and their residents. As recent news and statistics have shown, the figures of those dying within this sector are on the rise. We know from the many conversations we’ve been having with our Care Home customers that behind these figures there’s real heartache and very personal stories to tell. More than one of our customers has told us about the tragedy of a number of their residents dying and staff working 12 hour shifts in an attempt to cope.
For those homes who are not experiencing a Covid-19 outbreak, there are other numerous challenges. Residents are isolated from families, causing distress, staff are in isolation putting a strain on staffing levels and duties, PPE is either in short supply or very expensive…the list goes on. A recent initiative to supply PPE to Care Homes at-cost has recently launched which may hopefully help the situation. Some homes now have staff living in, showing amazing dedication to their residents, whilst others have told us heart-warming stories of local people making and supplying them with vital PPE equipment.
How we can help
As specialists within our sector our role is to provide expert, honest and caring advice to people across the UK who require pressure care equipment. We have listened daily to your stories on how Covid-19 is affecting you as a care manager, your patients and your staff. Whilst we can’t help with all these challenges we can help in some small ways.
Free Educational Posters
At a time when Covid is placing a huge strain on individual care, requests for our posters on Pressure Ulcer Prevention, from varying care establishments, show that they are a valuable resource.
Our simple visuals serve as emotional reminders, driving a motivation for delivering the very best care possible, at a time when staff are under pressure. Busy staffing schedules over long days put a huge strain on repositioning regimes; it’s therefore extremely important to ensure those you care for are on the right surface, at the right time and your staff understand what to look for.
Unfortunately, the risk of acquiring these very painful wounds is likely to rise during this current crisis – we aim to help minimise this risk for you and your patients.
You can order posters online or give us a call on 01254 668899 and we will send these out to you free of charge.
Help with Cleaning & Decontamination
We have also been asked about the process of cleaning and decontamination of infected mattresses. This is vitally important to stop the spread of infection. We have found two useful documents that give advice on how to clean within a healthcare setting that can be downloaded below.
Infection control and prevention in a healthcare setting
Disinfection of a healthcare and non-healthcare setting potentially contaminated
Planning Ahead
Another trend we have noticed is that many care homes have been planning-ahead to ensure they have enough beds and mattresses for all eventualities. For some, this means having just one spare mattress, whilst other homes have been coming to us for substantial numbers of surfaces. We know from our own supply chain that there is currently a shortage of profiling beds within the marketplace. However, our contingency planning for maintaining our stock levels has ensured we still have availability of mattresses, cushions and profiling beds at this time. If you do require any assistance then please, give us a call – we’re here to help.
Thank you
Most of all we would like to say a big thank you to all those working in the care sector at this very difficult time. We salute the work you are doing and we will support you in any way we can.
