I worked in a Covid care home. Locals tried to ban us from the supermarket

IT IS FIVE YEARS FROM LOCKDOWN, BUT NURSING HOME BOSS BELIEVES LESSONS HAVE STILL NOT BEEN LEARNT

- JOEL MOORE

THE boss of a Nottinghamshire care home where 24 residents died during the Covid pandemic fears the country has not learned from the “traumatic” period.

Five years since the first lockdown, the Post is revisiting the dark days of a pandemic which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the UK and changed many others forever.

Anita Astle was at the coalface during that time, leading Wren Hall Nursing Home in Selston through what she describes as the worst experience of her working life. A total of 24 residents, some new and some long-standing “family members’ lost their lives due to the pandemic.

This included nine people in the space of a week over Easter 2020. “We had a significant number of people who died and that was very traumatic” said the 61-year-old managing director.

“That was difficult. Very difficult. It was a time of total disbelief. I've worked in social care for 35 years and it was probably the worst experience that I've ever, ever had in my working life.