Covid: Care home diary reveals lockdown isolation

"I now have to get used to being alone all day, no-one to talk to."

Those are the words of 94-year-old Bob Skinner, who has kept a diary of life at a care home during the pandemic.

The diary - which has been turned into a book - tells of the isolation felt by a "forgotten army" as they were forced to shield from the world, with visits banned.

Mr Skinner also revealed how he needed hospital treatment after catching Covid - but lived to tell the tale.

"I was unlucky - I thought it was coming because I had a cold, I really felt very ill," he said.

"I was in hospital for three weeks, I didn't think I was coming back, but I made it back."

Mr Skinner, a former journalist and PR executive, moved into Sunrise, a senior living home in Cardiff two years ago, not long before the outbreak began.

He said he started his diary to "record my thoughts on the current coronavirus emergency".

In Pandemic! My Care Home Diary, Mr Skinner tells of his frustration at seeing society gradually going back to normal while he and his fellow residents at care homes across the country were still "confined to our rooms" and banned from seeing their loved ones.

"While the rest of the country starts to experience the pleasures of normal life, our freedom is still very limited and, worse, there seems little prospect of change," he wrote.

"And who is thinking of us, speaking up for us?"

The misery of lockdown turned to joy as he was finally reunited with his son Robert, who drove for five hours for a one-hour visit.

"It was more than a happy reunion after those unreal months - proof that brighter days lie ahead," wrote Mr Skinner.

"I had been looking forward for so long to today and was standing by the window watching for him to arrive."

A former soldier, Mr Skinner likened the days after World War Two to the period emerging from the pandemic.

"Those were grim days, but you can see now there is hope coming," he said.

"But if people look after other people, things are going to get better.

"There are huge challenges ahead, vast changes, the pandemic won't disappear. I think it will get better, what it needs now is for an honest review of what can be done and how people can be kept safe."

There have been 1,680 Covid-19 deaths in care homes up to 20 August, making up 21% of all coronavirus deaths in Wales.

There were no registered Covid deaths involving care home residents in the latest week, according to ONS.

Care Inspectorate Wales said in the latest two weeks, up to 25 August, there had been four reported deaths of care home residents relating to suspected or confirmed Covid.

It said there were 80 care homes that have reported cases involving staff or residents in the past week, "generally increasing" since the start of June.