Should I report Covid-19 violations in care home?

Why are staff told to keep results confidential?

The names of any staff or residents who might test positive remain confidential. But care home management are obliged to let relatives know if there is a positive case within the home.

It's hearsay, Buffy so, unless you had absolute proof there is nothing substantial to report.
The individual has been sent home from work and presumably told to self-isolate so the care home has acted appropriately.
Perhaps the person needed to shop for food before isolating and took necessary precautions.

Whether they needed groceries or not, they should have asked someone to buy them and drop them off.

A covid diagnosis should be like in Monopoly "do not pass go, do not collect £200" It should mean GO HOME NOW. Stay away from everyone. There are charities that shop for people who have a covid diagnosis and have to isolate. There is online shopping too. No excuses!

I agree, but I was wondering what had actually happened as this is all hearsay.

This is all a bit “my sister’s next door neighbour’s brother in law knows someone who.....”

Let it go.

It might not be true either. Neither does your acquaintance know the truth unless they have seen the test result. All hearsay and gossip.

Lets hope so. Otherwise infections in Devon are going to soar.

Hear say is not reliable my brother in law works with two people who have tested positive. He automatically worked from home isolated from my sister at home and got text messages from nhs basically checking on his movements. This is how it is supposed to be working track and trace to confine the spread. It is the responsibility of management to report cases.

Not sure that you can do anything about it but assuming it’s true then it’s obviously because of selfish people like her that we’re all in the situation that we are now. People who are walking amongst us passing it on without any concerns for others.

My understanding is that people have to be informed of a case in their setting, although the person's identity is confidential.
Of all the rules we have been asked to follow, many ridiculous, I would think that the one everyone should abide by is to self isolate if you test positive.

The person who tested positive probably feels so well they believe the test to be wrong. That could be why they're out and about.

You could just do nothing as it’s really just gossip passed on by an acquaintance.

It's a legal obligation to self isolate - I am doing Covid calls for my local council, we have to read the patients the rules on self isolation, even if they are aware of them.
If you are aware of someone breaching the rules, you can report them to your local council, public health team - if they can't get a response from the isolating person, the police are sent round.
Unless people stick to the rules it will keep spreading.

My son and grandson tested positive for coronavirus after I had visited them. They are part of the ONS study and are swabbed every month. I saw them on Friday and the following Wednesday the family had the swabs done. My son was told one week after the test that he was positive. Two weeks later he received a text from the council advising him that his son had tested positive. At no time did track and trace come into action. Fortunately they didn’t pass the virus on to me but to anyone else? We just don’t know! Between being tested and receiving the positive result, his wife went to work - she’s a nurse - and the two children went to school. He initially thought he had the flu and was spending a lot of time in bed feeling absolutely awful. Once he’d received the positive result the whole family isolated but to be fair it was a case of closing the gate after the horse had bolted. After I had visited them I went on to visit 4 of my sisters. If I had caught the virus and passed it on to the rest of my family I would have been devastated. Had we known my son had the virus I would never have visited him.

Unless you are tested you just don’t know that you have the virus. That woman knows and she is being very reckless and selfish and quite frankly not the kind of person who should be working in a care home.

You cannot do anything as you have no direct knowledge of this event. What has happened is hearsay. This is not acceptable evidence.

She is so irresponsible in my eyes. Not working so not spreading it around the care home, but to hell with the shop workers and the public she coming in contact with. What is wrong with people!!

Absolutely appalling, and surely the care home manager is the one to report this selfish woman.

If it’s a legal requirement they could be reported to the police - anon if you wish. None of us is above the law

The care manager was right not to react over the phone to reporting at third hand but may well have spoken to the person who was meant to be isolating. And who knows what strains and stresses that person was under. We are all worried and right to be, but there is something a bit ugly in reporting on other people unless at first hand and deliberately blatant.

I'm afraid that kind of complete disregard for the welfare of others is not uncommon in SOME staff working in care homes, who frankly shouldn't be in charge of a hamster, let alone a vulnerable person.

I guess it's just possible that this person had no food in and coukdn't get a delivery, and perhaps wasn't able to find a volunteer to shop for him or her? However, I'm sympathetic with the OP as the occupants of the flat above us tested positive but still went out to the communal bins and visiting relatives (who were recovering from CV and likely the source of the infection in the first place). It's a great shame there is so little support for people at home, nobody official calls to see if they are OK and ask if they need help.

The care worker who tested is both selfish and irresponsible. She must know the rules, she’s just flagrantly ignoring them.

I may have misunderstood but it does not seem as if the violation has taken place in the care home but in the care worker’s private life after being sent home .
What she is doing is certainly wrong but her employer is not the person to report her to, if indeed you feel moved to do this.

You basically reacted to gossip. It doesn't really surprise me that the care home was a bit off-hand when you phoned.

If you feel you must report this, do so. Presumably the local health authority will receive your complaint.

Sadly, this is gossip and hearsay and a reminder that not everyone who works in the care industry is a saint.