30-07-2025
Covid Inquiry: Care home manager who lost three residents in one day details 'hardest day of career'
A care home manager in the Vale of Glamorgan has described the day she lost three residents to Covid-19 as the "hardest day" of her career.
Springbank Care Home manager Navjit Kaur, who was then working as the home's Clinical Lead, said staff were given "no support" and "no guidance" at the start of the pandemic.
It comes as the Covid-19 Inquiry has been hearing from experts in the care sector and bereaved families from Wales.
Professor Stephen Barclay, an expert in end-of-life and palliative care, told the Inquiry that care home managers "struggled with the almost daily changes in guidance and advice and regulations".
The Inquiry is coming to the end of its current module, which has focussed on the pandemic's impact on the adult care sector.
Reflecting on the start of the pandemic, Ms Kaur said it was a "scary" and "traumatic" experience for colleagues and residents said: "We didn't know what to do. There was no guidance, there was no advice. We didn't have enough PPE. We had only gloves and aprons, but we didn't have provision of masks.
"Every day was a challenge," Ms Kaur added.
Prof. Stephen Barclay also told the Inquiry that his research found that a failure to prioritise end-of-life care may have contributed to shortages of equipment, medicines, and staff.
He said the result was that many dying people did not receive the care that they needed, and "died with avoidable symptoms and distress".
Ms Kaur went on to discuss the "mental trauma" she experienced upon learning a friend, who was also a care home worker and the same age as her, had passed away from Covid.
She added: "The emotional impact that we all have had, I don't think I can get over all my life."
Ms Kaur said that guidance did improve after a couple of months when local government and Public Health Wales started getting more involved and issuing further advice to care homes.
Wednesday's (30 July) Inquiry discussions come after the former First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, previously admitted Wales was 'not as prepared as it could have been' for a pandemic.
Mr Drakeford gave evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry in 2023, during which he said that the UK-wide strategy for dealing with a civil emergency – which the Welsh Government relied on – was 'inadequate' and 'did not stand up to its major test'.
He had also echoed the evidence of other Welsh Government officials, saying resources seemed to have been diverted away from pandemic planning because of the need to prepare for the threat of a no-deal Brexit.
However, he went on to defend the devolved administration's position when asked if there were 'significant failings' to address gaps in pandemic preparedness, claiming such an assessment was 'unduly bleak'.
