‘I’ve decided to go against government guidance’: a care home owner’s diary – The Guardian

When David Romero McGuire, who owns a 48-bed care home in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, heard the prime minister criticise the care sector last week for failing to follow coronavirus procedures, it made his blood boil.
In response, McGuire has released extracts from a diary he kept as the Covid-19 pandemic spread through the UK, killing 20,000 care home residents.
McGuire, who is chief executive of the Diagrama Foundation, a charity for vulnerable children and adults, said Boris Johnson had used care homes as scapegoats for his own governments failings.
The diary extracts reveal the often agonising sense of responsibility and frustration felt by owners of care homes, and the lengths they went to and are still going to often in the absence of clear guidance, to protect residents. McGuires home has had no cases of coronavirus so far.
Thursday 12 March 2020
I am responsible for the care of more than 90 vulnerable people in the UK. With all the pain in my heart and with no way of knowing whether it was right or wrong, I took the tough decision today to close our elderly care home to non-essential visits (including families) and to any community activities.
Sunday 15 March
My brain has been burning all the time with the thought that any resident might have the virus. I know I need to do everything and beyond to keep everyone healthy but I dont know where to start. Reactions have been coming back from more families now. Everything from praise and support to not understanding and pressing to come to the home to visit their relatives anyway.
Monday 16 March
The news in Spain reflects a country in an alarming state. Yet in the UK there is still barely a reaction, except instructions to wash our hands. I am closing our head office and everybody will work from home from tomorrow.* The responsibility to make sure all our staff and their families are safe is like a heavy stone.
*It was time well spent. It was another two weeks before we eventually received any official protocols from our own government and local authorities.
Tuesday 17 March
The shopping we need to prepare in advance for the likely shortages is colossal. Supermarkets wont let staff buy more than small quantities of some goods. They are feeling desperate about this, as am I. Because the Care Quality Commission

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