Nursing home team focus of Manx police corona investigation

Monday 29 June 2020

It's emerged that four people representing a nursing home company that travelled from Jersey are being investigated by Isle of Man Police for allegedly breaking covid-19 restrictions by going out for a meal, when they should have been isolating.

The island's Chief Minister, Howard Quayle MHK, confirmed the investigation when responding to questions in the Manx government assembly on Friday afternoon.

He said that the four people arrived from Jersey on 17 June, having been granted exemption certificates the day before, so that they didn't have to isolate for 14 days on arrival, in line with the Isle of Man's standard covid-19 precautions. 

They were there to discuss increasing the number of beds at their IoM nursing home in order to accommodate moving in a group of residents from Abbotswood Home, which is owned by a different group, and linked to 20 of the 24 deaths in the Isle of Man from covid-19 so far. 

Pictured: Manx Chief Minister, Howard Quayle, MHK.

The Chief Minister said the visit was to ensure they were ready to receive the new residents "in terms of operations and compliance."

The group were granted the corona exemptions on the condition that they stay in isolation in their Douglas hotel, when not working - but it's been alleged that this restriction was broken when they went out for a meal in a public place. 

The circumstances are now being investigated by the IoM Police. 

The issue was first raised by Mr Quayle last Monday, when he gave a statement saying: "I have been made aware of a party from Jersey - who entered the Island last week for work reasons. We can confirm that they arrived on the Island legally. They had applied for and had been given an exemption certificate. This included an exemption from self-isolation subject to an adherence to strict protocols. The certificate clearly sets out the conduct required of the group while on the Island.

"As part of the application they had submitted a risk assessment and a plan of how they would protect others during their visit. This plan had been agreed with the Department of Health and Social Care.

"We are also aware that questions have arisen as to the party’s adherence to these requirements. This is being looked into and the police may decide to take a look at this. The group have now left the Island."

Pictured: the four people from Jersey were representatives of a nursing home company.

He was then challenged on that statement in the Tynwald on Friday afternoon by Jason Moorhouse (MHK, the Hon. Member for Arbory, Castletown and Malew) and more details emerged. 

In his replies to Mr Moorhouse, Mr Quayle said that IF the island's covid-19 restrictions had been breached, then that would be taken "incredibly seriously." He declined to comment further on the basis of the ongoing police investigation. 

The Isle of Man will be creating an "air bridge" with Guernsey, which means that travellers between the two places don't have to be tested for corona virus, or go into isolation, on arrival. Neither the Isle of Man, or Guernsey, has any active virus cases.

In total the Isle of Man has seen 336 positive cases with 24 deaths linked to  the virus.