Should I report Covid-19 violations in care home?

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.

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.

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

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

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!!

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Let it go.

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

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!

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.

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.

Why are staff told to keep results confidential?

Because they have to, under data protection law.

What the person herself tells, or doesn't tell, other people is up to her.

I feel sorry for all the innocent shop workers and shoppers who will be unwittingly working with that selfish person.

There is no reason to be out shopping as there are charities to help people who are isolating. Also, I know it's limited but you can shop online for food (Iceland is free delivery and although the food is limited, it's better than infecting all and sundry!!)

Buffy I don’t think you are overreacting. If this person is flouting the guidelines and being so careless in how she is going about things then perhaps that’s how she picked up the virus. I have a loved one in residential care who is clinically extremely vulnerable and quite frankly I would be horrified if I thought someone with such low standards was caring for him.

The school has kept me informed at every stage throughout, including the fact that there had been a positive case a few weeks back, which they would not be closing the school for.

I have presumed it is an obligation on their part, so would assume a home has a similar policy in place?

Yes you are all correct, I am being a bit of a busy body, BUT the home still state on the Internet that they are Covid free. They can’t control the individual once he’s sent home but don’t families of the residents need to be warned about a positive case in their midst? I know that if my mother were still in a care home and this happened I would want to be informed. Why are staff told to keep results confidential? Maybe to stop panic. My daughter was at a dinner with someone who later tested positive in a random test but was asymptomatic and DD and family had to isolate for two weeks. Maybe I just don‘t understand the guidelines and am taking it all too seriously.