Internal investigation into why hospital discharged Covid patients to Desborough care home

The hospital's Patients Advisory Liaison Service says it is taking a complaint 'very seriously'
Cheaney Court took in three patients which they thought were Covid negative. However immediate tests showed they had the virus.Cheaney Court took in three patients which they thought were Covid negative. However immediate tests showed they had the virus.
Cheaney Court took in three patients which they thought were Covid negative. However immediate tests showed they had the virus.

An investigation by Kettering General Hospital has begun after two residents with Covid-19 were sent into a Desborough care home.

Cheaney Court Care home says it saw paperwork from the NHS saying that three patients sent to them from Kettering General Hospital and Cransley Hospice were Covid-free when it admitted them between May 25 and June 4.

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However after being placed in isolation and tested very soon after their arrival, the three residents sadly had the potentially deadly virus.

Lynda Goodman, pictured here with her husband Alex, made the complaint.Lynda Goodman, pictured here with her husband Alex, made the complaint.
Lynda Goodman, pictured here with her husband Alex, made the complaint.

Now the hopsital's Patients Advisory Liaison Service says it is taking a complaint from Lynda Goodman – whose husband Alex is a resident at Cheaney Court – very seriously.

In an email sent today, Nicola McErlane from the Patients Advice Liaison Service told Mrs Goodman: “Please be assured we take this claim very seriously, and we are investigating this concern thoroughly with the matron of the wards involved. We have also discussed this with our own safeguarding team, so they are aware of the situation that has evolved, we are updating them on our findings.

“It is hospital policy that we do not discharge any patient to a care home or nursing home if they have tested positive for Covid-19, until they recover and test negative.

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“It is disheartening to hear that when Cheaney Court carried out their own test that these patients then tested positive. However, we are unable to comment on how or when they came in contact with this virus due to the time lapse between the test that was carried out in Kettering General Hospital and the test at Cheaney Court.”

Mrs Goodman, who now is unable to see her husband after the Covid-19 outbreak, said: “I still find it very hard to to believe that the people sent to Cheaney Court all were negative with tests done. But when Cheaney Court did their own tests all three tested positive. Call me cynical but I’m not sure what the odds are on that happening ?”

Outbreaks of coronavirus within care homes has been one of the biggest issues of the lockdown. More than 12,000 care home residents in England have died with coronavirus since the pandemic began.

In Northamptonshire 235 elderly people were discharged from the county’s two hospitals and into care homes in March, following Government orders to make room in NHS hospitals for an expected surge in Covid patients.

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It has not been made public whether all of these patients were tested. Temple Court in Kettering had a huge outbreak with at least 16 residents dying from the virus within an eight-week period. The care home is now the centre of a police investigation.

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