Brookhaven Healthcare through Covid-19
At Brookhaven Healthcare, we are proud to say that we were one of the few care home groups in Ireland that were successful in avoiding an outbreak of the infection up until December 2020, thanks to our proactive management team our exceptionally dedicated staff.
On the third of February 2020, Brookhaven management team appointed a dedicated Covid-19 review and response team to monitor and advise on the best possible actions to protect our residents & employees.
Timeline of initiatives to protect residents & staff from Covid-19
1. Employee Life Insurance
In early February, Brookhaven Healthcare put in place life insurance cover through Aviva for all employees. This also provides free access to Aviva’s “Best Doctors Service” for staff and their extended families.
2. Advanced purchase of PPE
Brookhaven Healthcare purchased PPE stockpiles for all its care homes at the beginning of February.
3. Staff self-isolating
14th February 2020 – All staff who traveled abroad, including Northern Ireland, were required to self-isolate at home for 14 days before returning to work.
4. Visitor Restrictions
26th February 2020 – Visitors were banned from visiting if they had been to any destination outside of Ireland, in the prior 4 weeks, to countries not yet impacted by Covid-19.
5. Internal Reporting
2nd March 2020 – Each home reported on their Covid-19 & PPE status daily to the Brookhaven Covid-19 response team.
6. Complete Visitor Ban
6th March 2020 – Brookhaven Healthcare enforced a strict ban against all visitors to their care homes in the first week of March.
7. Group Policy on COVID-19
19th March 2020 – An internal 10 page guidance document on COVID-19 was created and circulated to each care home.
8. Chemical Disinfection
20th March 2020 – All care homes were chemically disinfected in the period 25th of March to 8th of April. A rolling programme of chemical disinfecting continues on a fortnightly basis in all group homes.
9. COVID-19 Contingency Plan
24th March 2020 – Brookhaven Healthcare issued an 18 page Covid-19 contingency plan. This covered in detail how to manage each individual care home in the event of an outbreak.
10. COVID-19 Contingency Plan updated
8th April 2020 – The contingency plan was updated to reflect new policy admissions.
11. Test Results
18th May 2020 – 379 out of the total 380 residents were tested for Covid-19 and returned negative test results. One resident tested asymptomatic. All 353 employee Covid-19 tests returned negative.
One resident who was admitted to Hospital while in Palliative care tested positive after passing away in early April.
