Coronavirus: ‘What am I risking my life for?’ Some carers refusing to work over COVID-19 fears

A company that provides care to vulnerable people in their own homes has said some staff are refusing to come to work because they are afraid of catching and spreading coronavirus.

Ten per cent of staff at Sisters Care Services in Birmingham are no longer prepared to go into the homes of the patients they care for because they do not feel adequately protected.

The firm’s stock of personal protective equipment (PPE) is dwindling and it is struggling to buy in more since the coronavirus outbreak.

Its chief executive Tsitsi Mudokwani told Sky News: “Some of them will tell you: ‘I cannot come,’ and I can’t force them if they’re telling me: ‘What am I risking my life for?'”

“We are finding now a challenge of care packages failing because the carers don’t want to go anymore.”

One staff member has already tested positive for COVID-19. Others are not able to book tests because they do not own cars so cannot access drive-through testing facilities.

“They are feeling so demoralised,” said Ms Mudokwani. “The money is so little and nobody is recognising them at all.

“The government is not recognising them. The community is not even recognising them.”

The company is contracted by the NHS to provide care in people’s homes. It usually involves making four calls a day to help with essential medication, hygiene, dressing and cooking.

Many of their patients would be unable to live at home without the visits and would have to move into residential care.

Although the company’s contracts to provide care are with the local clinical commissioning group, it is an independent service and has been unable to place orders with some suppliers of PPE that do not provide kit to “agencies”.

The company’s director Vicki Mangwendeza nee Mudokwani said: “I don’t think we are a priority because we asked for gowns and we didn’t get any gowns.

“We’ve got a COVID-19 positive client so how are we supposed to look after them? It’s a risk to our carers, their families and the other clients.”

Carers who are at work say they feel terrified they will inadvertently pass the virus to their patients.

Siana Swallow told Sky News: “I think it is very worrying because you might feel fine but you might go to a supermarket and you might pick something up that someone’s already touched.

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“We’re going in to people with respiratory problems and loads of underlying conditions and it’s very scary for them.”

Her colleague Ayaan Khalif describes how she sends her children upstairs when she gets home from work so she can change her clothes and shower before coming into contact with them.

“I worry, I’m the mother of two kids,” she said. “But our patients need us, it’s our job so we do it.”

(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: ‘What am I risking my life for?’ Some carers refusing to work over COVID-19 fears