As I said my involvement was 20 years ago but I don't suppose it is so different today.

Agency workers dictate their own terms on which shifts they will accept, or refuse. They don't have anyone allocating shifts. They pick and choose. The rate they get paid might only be a little more than what they might earn per hour if directly employed but the agency always charges a hefty premium. The rates vary on how unpopular the shift time is. Even 20 years ago we were paying £50 per hour for a night shift over Christmas, when the regular staff would have been £7 or £8 max for standard shifts. Of course we offered bonuses for unsocial hours but those can be slippery slopes. It is always a balancing act.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

The death rate for those receiving domiciliary care is an issue not yet even being discussed.

My wife was working with the Community Nurses in Jan and Feb and whilst they always used PPE by way of aprons and gloves, masks were not regularly worn.

The daily visits that many people received from their carers often involved no PPE at all. These carers will serve many people in a shift.

I suffered a strange bout of an unusual illness in late Jan, which put me in bed for 2 days. Dry cough, a little fever, lethargy. Soon passed, but it made me wonder.

It would though be unsurprising to learn that those receiving their care at home, and their careers, aren't also suffering a, so far unreported, surge in deaths.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

Ah yes, Nurses don't need to sleep between March and October. We don't have Nurses any more.

We are trying to avoid any agency staff or sharing staff between sites.

But at least there is a cleaning station when they come in, they change their cloths and when not exercising social distancing they wear PPE

If that’s the total of staff and they do 8 hour shifts then wouldn’t it be 3 residents to 1 staff member? If there’s very few staff overnight then in between.

COYP

Live in help must be expensive. I’ve that company on tv advertising live in help. I think the carer talks to the old chap about his guitar playing. Elder might be the company name.

The government were probably thinking about the outside world and hospitals. Care homes closed off to public visiting probably satisfied their concern on care homes. Workers working in different homes maybe escaped their attention. I don’t recall anyone raising it publicly before the outbreak either.

COYP