Thread by @James_Townsend9

🧵WHY AREN’T WE TALKING ABOUT CARE HOMES?🦠

Today four brave care professionals, including a husband and wife, lift the lid on the appalling conditions facing residents and staff in England’s care homes, exacerbated by the looming mandatory vaccination deadline.

Read more👇🏻

Through their courageous & very personal testimonies, I can reveal an alleged litany of failings inc:

• care homes at breaking point & residents left to wet themselves in isolation

• staff sobbing in corridors & regularly working illegal shift patterns due to under resourcing

• “endless pressure” and “bullying” from central HR teams to coerce employees into having the vaccine

• mental health insinuations against those choosing not to be vaccinated

• minimum wage carers pressurised into work when previously sick, who now face losing their jobs.

First, the background: In July I reported how the UK government had dedicated just 90 minutes to one of the most important debates in decades — regarding mandatory vaccinations — and how the mainstream media deliberately tried covering it up.

My previous thread is here:

https://twitter.com/james_townsend9/status/1415282474259820553

Now, in an amendment to the Health & Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities), care workers and other staff face losing their jobs if not double vaccinated by 11 November 2021.

The government has so far refused to publish a full impact assessment on the measures. However…

…a preliminary impact assessment has been released which estimates that between 17,000 and 68,000 (3-12%) could lose their jobs based on lower and upper estimates of workers failing to “fulfil the condition of deployment” within the 16-week grace period.
gov.uk/government/con…

Amelia and Harry, a husband & wife from the Nottingham area, are the first to speak to me. Amelia has worked in an MHA-run care home for the past 4 years, while Harry volunteered at the same one until recently. MHA describe themselves as the UK’s largest charity care provider.

Harry says: “The service is so stretched — some staff are on long-term sick leave due to stress & bank carer staff are just impossible to get hold of.

“Some staff (inc the care manager) have done 12 hour shifts, gone home for 3 hours, then returned for 12 hours due to shortages”

“My wife has found carers sobbing in the corridor because they’re so tired & overworked. Even the gardener has come in on his days off to work in the kitchen and as a male carer, because there was nobody else available,” he explains.

I ask him what the impact on residents is.

“Even now, outside of lockdown, the residents are vegetating. That lack of mobility and human contact has quite literally killed people. My wife recalls on more than one occasion residents wetting themselves after waiting more than 40 minutes to be taken to the toilet,” he says.

Out of 50 employed staff at the home, there are 7 who have chosen not to receive the vaccine including Amelia, Harry, and another volunteer who has now left. Two others refused to comply and left recently to go and work at Boots, leaving the home even more under pressure.

He claims the coercion to receive the Covid-19 vaccine has been relentless, through CEO circular emails and managerial meetings.

Harry went on: “Her manager called a meeting recently for all staff who were refusing the vaccine. A lot of pressure was applied during this meeting.”

“There was even an implication from the regional manager that those refusing it had mental health issues and should speak to their GP. Staff in attendance were put under pressure during the group meeting to disclose personal and medical reasons (there and then)…”

“My wife cares deeply about her work and has gone above & beyond to help improve the lives of residents. But the way she and residents have been treated has broken her. I've encouraged her to stand her ground and force them to make a decision but she isn't one for confrontation.”

“Staff morale is at an all-time low & she feels bullied. The constant notices, circulars, one-to-one chats... just endless pressure to have the jab. She loved this job - she was so happy when she got it & it's such a good fit for her skillset, but now she can't wait to get out.”

Harry claims, somewhat depressingly, that many of the staff who have had the vaccine did so only because they felt pressured into it, not through choice.

“One member of staff had to go home ill during the night shift because her face swelled so badly after vaccination,” he adds.

Here you can see the values driving MHA’s business decisions.

MHA say they “respect every person, treating them with dignity” & that they “put people at the heart of everything we do, treating people as individuals.”

I asked @yourMHA for comment on Amelia & Harry’s allegations.

They told me claims of this nature are “seriously & thoroughly” investigated & added that staff were encouraged to report concerns through a whistleblowing policy.

They confirmed that any of their 7,000 workforce who remained unvaccinated would face the sack.

Full statement👇🏻

Meanwhile part-time bank worker, Leon Coutain, has worked in care for the past two years in between studying film and media at university.

He says he has also faced intense pressure to get vaccinated, and is all too aware of the divides it could create as a black Briton.

“Last week I was contacted by HR to ask which jab I had received. I responded ‘none’ and said these tactics went against many of my general ethics. When I asked to speak to the manager, I was told she was on annual leave. I’ve made it clear I won’t be coerced,” he said.

“A lot of my mothers side of the family, who are devoutly Christian, are not taking it and my partner who is a midwife working in the NHS hasn’t taken it. As she says to people, ‘I haven’t taken it yet but the choice is very much yours’ — or at least it should be.”

Asked where this will end, Leon is certain health isn’t the driving factor.

“How far it will go, I don’t know. But they are taking a huge gamble and think the working classes will simply fall into line. But if it back fires, and I think it could, what are they going to do then?”

“Mandatory vaccinations haven’t been brought in to bring people together, divide & conquer is a tried and tested government strategy and we are now living through it. Unfortunately, I’ve watched enough science fiction in my time to see how this ends & where it leads us,” he adds.

Last but not least is Eeva Haughton, a care worker of eight years from Somerset. She worked in care homes in Wolverhampton and Bedford before going self-employed 12 months ago to do live-in care. She offers a damming indictment of the conditions residents and staff are enduring.

“I’ve been through a lot in my life and wanted to do a job that gave something back. Initially I wanted to be a support worker but ended up in care,” she explains. “Unfortunately they quickly break you down so you are too scared to leave. Care workers feel worthless and trapped.”

“We’re some of the most caring people & I genuinely care for the people I work with, but quite honestly I’ve lost my love for life & I suffered a severe mental breakdown as a result.”

Eeva says it is common for 2 members of staff to be looking after 60 residents on a night shift

“This is so dangerous,” she explains. “Because you have one carer going to bedrooms giving out medications & another putting someone to bed and while this is happening, you are unaware that another vulnerable adult has fallen or been involved in something dangerous.”

She goes on: “If you had more than 3 days off work with absence, you’d be hauled into the office. I’ve had flu/influenza before and felt bullied about going into work, & now suddenly we are told we will lose our jobs if we don’t receive the Covid-19 vaccine? It’s unbelievable.”

“When I hear people say ‘if they don’t want the jab, just replace them’ I challenge them to walk a day in my shoes, and do my job now. We are constantly short-staffed and, frankly, controlled by management. They have destroyed so many lives, both residents and staff,” she claims.

“I’ve spoken to many colleagues who are scared and don’t want to take the vaccine. I definitely feel like there is some kind of control coming from somewhere, I don’t know where, but it’s certainly nothing to do with people’s health. How they are going about it is so sinister.”

Eeva says she has been emailing companies to ask about further work once her current job finishes, and always asks about their policy regarding mandatory vaccinations.

“None of them respond,” she says. “I have no family, no-one to go to, just a small amount of savings.”

“If I have no job, I’ll have nothing.”

But there’s a steeliness to Eeva which suggests she won’t give up without a fight.

“Care workers need to realise how much power we have. Without us, you have no home. We need to become brave and we need others to stand with us,” she adds.

The overriding emotion speaking to Amelia, Harry, Leon, and Eeva is one of anger and disbelief. Anger that after years of working in substandard conditions on low pay, the compassion and skill they have shown caring for residents apparently counts for nothing.

And disbelief the government is pressing ahead with this despite its own predictions that as many as 68,000 carers could be sacked for exercising their right to bodily autonomy.

You shudder to think what that may do to the already depleted resources inside England’s care homes.

Given this context, it poses the question:

• why is the UK government doing this?
• and how does it expect to implement it without crashing the entire industry, with all the devastation to people’s lives that would entail?

We need to start taking about care homes. Now.

ENDS

NOTE: These are the forgotten voices the mainstream media won’t report on. Please give @CoutainLeon and @Eeva4Eeva a follow for their bravery in speaking out (Amelia/Harry aren’t on Twitter). As ever, shares are always appreciated & I thank you for reading and for your support🙏🏻

#carehomes #MandatoryVaccination #vaccination #antivaxxers #censorship #CoronaVaccine #coronavirus #Covid #COVID19 #Covid19UK #Discrimination #EnoughIsEnough #imdone #medicalapartheid #Freedom #NoVaccinePassports #NoVaccinePassportsAnywhere #WeWillNotComply #IStandWithCarers