Wrexham nursing home owner tells Covid inquiry lack of testing terrified staff

Helen Louise Hough says staff at her nursing home slept in a caravan in the early stages of the pandemic because, without coronavirus tests, they did not know who had the illness. Photograph: UK Covid-19 Inquiry

A woman whose husband killed himself amid the pressure of running a care home during the pandemic has told the Covid inquiry that staff were “absolutely terrified” owing to the lack of testing in its early stages.

Helen Louise Hough owned and managed a nursing home in Wrexham with her husband, Vernon, which housed up to 40 residents whom she described as like “their extended family”.