[ad_1]
TO EVALUATE: It is the Villa Skaar Valstad nursing home, where a total of nine residents have already died. The nursing home has been informed to the Norwegian Board of Health after a call-in surrogate reacted to the lack of infection control. Photo: Terje Bringedal, VG
After a shift at Villa Skaar in Eidsvoll, a call-in surrogate sent a notification to the Norwegian Board of Health if what the notifier believed was an infection control violation in the nursing home.
– The infected people walked as they wanted and the doors were completely open, the complainant tells VG.
At the Villa Skaar Valstad nursing home, nine residents have lost their lives in less than two weeks as a result of the coronavirus. VG has previously mentioned how 22 out of 23 residents and 24 employees were infected. The infection was discovered on November 4.
Nearly 100 cases of infection are related to the outbreak in the nursing home.
The Norwegian Board of Health Supervision confirms to VG that they have received a notification from the surrogate and that they will make an evaluation of the case after receiving more information.
Villa Skaar CEO Richard Skaar Thorsrud has the following to say about the content of the notice:
– We take this very seriously and will now follow up on all incidents during the established watch period, says Thorsrud.
Read the full answer at the bottom of the case.
The complainant contacted Villa Skaar Valstad after the guard to report the incidents, but later experienced that no one took responsibility. The experience made the person in question not wanting to continue working in the nursing home.
– After those findings, it was not relevant, I will not work there. They did not take my safety or that of anyone else seriously, the whistleblower tells VG.
– Out of control
The whistleblower says that the warning refers to several different violations of infection control rules that were observed during a shift at Villa Skaar Valstad.
The complainant is a healthcare professional, has previously worked at Corona Post, and has a good understanding of infection control routines.
– When a patient is infected and must be isolated, there are very strict rules about how it should be done. In isolation rooms, the door should be closed, it should never be open unless you are going to enter or leave, explains the alternate, adding:
– However, they didn’t do this. The infected people walked as they wanted and the doors were wide open. They use the same toilets as the uninfected and the staff had no control over where it was infected and where it was not infected.
The health professional also reacted to the fact that the residence has a cat living in the room.
– To make matters worse, they have a cat that walks as it pleases, both in uninfected and infected rooms. When I asked the head of the department about this, he replied that cats cannot get corona and therefore does nothing.
Lack of routines
The whistleblower believes that the nursing home is not complying with infection control rules in several areas. The person in question points out, among other things, the unjustified reuse of equipment and the lack of cleanliness.
– Infection control equipment should be washed in a chemical bath or with radiation therapy. They do not. They told me to put some alcohol on the equipment and wipe it with paper before putting it back in the basket, explains the health professional.
What the whistleblower says about the handling of the infection control team complies with the FHI recommendations. See more in the data box below.
The whistleblower also reacted to the fact that infection control coats were hung inside a changing room one on top of the other.
– Preferably there should be a lock outside the current room so you can get dressed and undressed in the lock which is airtight and secure for everyone else in the room, explains the person.
The municipal chief ignores the warning
Eidsvoll’s chief physician, Carl Magnus Jensen, is unaware that others have sent a notification to the Norwegian Board of Health, and therefore cannot specifically comment on the allegations.
However, he says that when someone is infected, they must isolate themselves in solitary confinement. Jensen further says that Villa Skaar Valstad does not have bathrooms in their rooms and has some practical limitations for an optimal solution.
– It is best to have a negative pressure air lock and the ability to change the lock, so change the infection control equipment before entering the dirty zone and turn it off again when you return to the clean zone, says Jensen .
The municipal superintendent emphasizes that he has referred the nursing home to the FHI guide for very specific guidelines for operating nursing homes and managing outbreaks.
READ ALSO: This is FHI’s advice for nursing homes
INVESTIGATING CONDITIONS: Villa Skaar CEO Richard Skaar Thorsrud writes to VG that they will now follow up on all incidents during the established on-call period to find any deficiencies in their performance of their routines. Photo: Terje Bringedal, VG
Minimal training
The complainant further claims that the alternates received minimal training and that one of the other alternates came out with the infection control gown incorrectly. The infection control coats were small and one of the employees reached for his elbow.
– They sound detailed, but in reality it is a crisis if you enter an infection room and have a coat that reaches to the elbows, says the complainant.
– We treated the infected and the uninfected among ourselves, and they only told us to take off our outer coat when we went to the uninfected. There were also very few at work and the employees were completely exhausted. There was no opportunity to take a break.
– We take this very seriously
This was the response of Villa Skaar CEO Richard Skaar Thorsrud to VG’s query:
“We recorded that a surrogate who has worked a shift has reported deviations from infection control rules. We take this very seriously and will now follow up on all incidents during the established on-call period. We invest all resources to find any poor compliance with our routines There are no exceptions here, we have zero tolerance for infection control rules not being followed at all times.
We introduced comprehensive infection control routines in our seven nursing homes in March of this year, and today we only have infections in our nursing home in Eidsvoll. Despite the strict routines, the infection has entered this house and shows how serious and unpredictable this pandemic is. Infection control is at the top of the agenda in all of our homes, and in the demanding situation we find ourselves in, of course, we also have an additional focus on our residents, our employees and their families. “
Amended: The death toll at Villa Skaar Valstad Nursing Home was updated from eight to nine residents after the nursing home reported another death. This was posted on 11/24/2020 at 1:50 PM.
