Borderland Rotary are getting back into the swing of having speakers at their meetings and the first was David Coull, Chief Executive of Coverage Care the county’s largest independent social care provider.
David, who has been in post for 17 years, retired in May 2019 but because his successor had to return to the West Country, he agreed to return to support the company. When he agreed, little did he know of the whirlwind which was about hit the world.
David said, “As the world hasn’t faced a pandemic since 1918 it was generally a voyage into the unknown and messages from government and the NHS were, somewhat understandably, often unclear and sometime contradictory.
The first death in Shropshire was on March 10th nearly 2 weeks before lockdown, so minds were very focused and change and response was immediate.
As has been widely reported, PPE was indeed an issue in some sectors but also general hygiene practices regarding uniforms and non-medical equipment had to be modified with uniforms being laundered on site and staff arriving and leaving work in ‘mufti’.”
David, whilst supporting the applause for the NHS felt that, ”There are many unsung heroes in society who have faced adversary with a smile such as supermarket and local keepers and of course, people in the care sector”. He concluded his in-depth talk by saying “We will probably have to face a further “wave” of the pandemic but hopefully, next time, we will be better prepared as a country to provide a more unified health and social care response, fundamentally based on mutual respect”.
David referred to the urgent need to resolve the funding of social care but agreed that it was such a vast subject it was perhaps a topic for another day.
David Coull, Chief Executive of Coverage Care.
