Collaborative research captures harrowing testimonies from care staff during COVID-19

Released: 16.02.24

As the public inquiry into the UK’s response to COVID-19 continues, new research led by academics at Northumbria and Plymouth Marjon Universities, shines a light on the impact of moving patients from hospitals to care homes in England during the pandemic.

Traumatised and distressed staff felt powerless to stop the spread of COVID-19 as it tore through care homes, leaving dehumanised residents feeling ‘imprisoned’ and some facing death in isolation, according to the research.

During the first peak of the coronavirus pandemic between March and June 2020, more than 66,000 people died in care homes, with a third of those deaths attributed to COVID-19.

Emotive personal testimonies about the early impact of the pandemic on the care home sector and its residents are at the centre of research between four key research-active universities: Northumbria, Plymouth Marjon, Birmingham, and Newcastle.

The research, published in the journal ‘Age and Ageing’, investigates how the pandemic influenced the transition of care between hospitals and care homes. The study highlights a “deluge of governmental failings” and “unmanageable situations” for care home staff as it considers the impact of transitions on the quality and safety of care provided during that time.

The study highlights the new challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic brought and how the care home sector adapted, despite increased pressure from NHS discharges and a lack of government assistance, compounding the divide between health and social care.

However, with the benefit of insights from 70 people working in health and social care services, it also finds that good practices and better working methods were developed and adopted, from remote access to healthcare to improvements in joined-up working between sectors.

The study suggests the Government’s decision to sanction rapid discharges exposed infection control issues and contributed to inhumane conditions for residents, with hospitals and local authorities involved in the process said to have prioritised those discharges “to the detriment of patient safety”.

Some transitions took place without any social contact for infection prevention, but with “uncaring and callous dimensions”, according to the research findings. One paramedic told researchers: “They’re not prisoners, but we were treating them like they were because we effectively put them in a cell.”

Residents struggled to endure the new processes, with consecutive periods of isolation contributing to an overall “dehumanising” experience of care and transitions during the first few months of the pandemic.

Participants in the research illustrated a stark picture of stressed and anxious staff working in fear as care homes quickly became overwhelmed by urgent COVID-19 cases and were ‘vilified’ in the media over strict lockdown policies that left residents cut off from their loved ones.

Lead author of the Age and Ageing paper, Dr Craig Newman, is a Research Fellow based within Northumbria’s Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing. He said:

“This research identifies the enormity of the challenges; however, it also highlights that relationships were built between the NHS and care homes with examples of integration and sharing best practice infection control protocols.

“It was apparent that care home staff were committed, professional and resilient during this time to maintain their service for their residents and by supporting families to mitigate the pressures caused by the pandemic.”

Professor Pam Dawson, Professor of Health & Wellbeing at Plymouth Marjon University, added:

“Our research shows how care home residents, families and staff suffered trauma as a result of transitions of care between hospitals and care homes during the Covid-19 pandemic. Making improvements to systems and processes that protect residents’ safety in care homes must be a key priority for future research, to learn lessons from the pandemic and ensure that the same mistakes aren’t made in the future.”

Relentless press coverage which focused negatively on care homes as seeding sites for the spread of COVID-19, while portraying hard-working care workers as heroes, also added to the psychological suffering of staff and residents. These were the findings of a separate research study which was the focus of a paper published in the Journal of Integrated Care by Northumbria Master’s student Dr Eniola Michael Abe, supervised by Dr Jason Scott, the study’s Chief Investigator at Northumbria and Professor Pam Dawson.

A whole module of the UK’s COVID-19 Inquiry, which opened on 12 December 2023, is dedicated to investigating the impact of the pandemic on the publicly and privately funded adult social care sector in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.