AN OXFORD care home has told how it was put under pressure not to go into lockdown by the health watchdog.

BBC Newsnight reporter Lewis Goodall posted a thread on Twitter on Wednesday following interviews with care home management and workers in Oxfordshire.

He wrote: “They tell a tale of the mistakes of this crisis, how the differences between expensive care homes and more modest ones and good and bad companies help determine who lives and who dies for both residents and carers.”

He spoke in particular to those in charge of Cumnor Hill House in Oxford, where there have been no deaths and only five positive cases of Covid-19.

The care home is costs £1,500 a week, £85,000 a year and has privately funded its now eight-week supply of Personal Protective Equipment.

The Cumnor Hill House's group chief executive Andrew Winstanley was is in no doubt what difference it makes: “Of the cover emergency money government has promised...it’s nothing, councils are saying we’ll give you two per cent...that’s getting an extra box of masks, not enabling them to deliver really effective infection control procedures.”

Cumnor Hill House also locked down on March 12 - three weeks before the government changed guidance saying that care homes should do the same. At the time, managers told Mr Goodall independent watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) tried to talk them out of it.

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The care home was allegedly told by the CQC that was this not in accordance with government advice- that social interaction was vital and it represented a deprivation of liberty. It wasn’t until April 2 that the government changed guidance to lockdown care homes.

Mr Goodall also spoke with a care worker in Oxfordshire who described a far worse situation where she is employed. The woman, who did not want to be identified, said it was under-resourced with half their staff off and 15 deaths in her unit alone.

On testing she said they had only been able to test 13 residents, 12 of those came back positive. six who tested positive passed away. Another 10 passed away and were not tested but all had symptoms of Covid-19.

Other issues included a lack of PPE, meaning staff were using sheets as a barrier and a 'traumatic' seven-day lock during which staff stayed in cramped conditions with so few workers they were managing on four hours sleep.