A care home boss was forced to bring in Covid-positive staff to care for dementia-hit patients suffering from the virus because the home was short-staffed.
Ann Bedford was left with nobody to care for those living at the Caledonia home in Holyhead, Anglesey, where 11 out of 12 of the residents were suffering from Covid-19.
Owner Ms Bedford said the 15-bed home, which specialises in dementia care, only made it through the weekend because two Covid-positive members of staff agreed to work.
The two staff members manned the night shift and cared for the residents who had also tested positive for the virus.
Ms Bedford was forced to take the desperate step after being told by Isle of Anglesey Council they didn't have anybody available that they could send to help.
According to Ms Bedford, there was already a recruitment crisis in social care before the pandemic began, and now the problem has become even worse.
She said: 'Even before Covid impacted on us, residential homes were struggling to recruit and now there is absolutely no spare capacity in the system, nowhere to turn.
Ann Bedford (pictured) was left with nobody to care for those living at the Caledonia home in Holyhead, Anglesey, where 11 out of 12 of the residents were suffering from Covid-19
'I have never known a situation as bad as we faced over the last weekend. As a matter of course we have contingency plans in place to cope in emergencies but even these buckled under the strain. My heart sinks when I think about for the weeks and months ahead.
Ms Bedford has run the Caledonia since 1987, but she said it has been increasingly difficult to recruit staff over the last decade.
The home normally has a core of between 13 and 15 staff, including a manager, two full-time senior carers, a rota of approximately 11 part-time care staff, two cooks and two cleaners.
But over the weekend, with so many of the team off sick or self-isolating, they were left with no night staff, only three daytime staff, no cleaners, and only one cook.
Ms Bedford explained: 'We felt abandoned and alone. I called on social services for help but they were facing their own emergencies.
'The shortage of carers on Anglesey is at dangerous levels and is being intensified by the pandemic.
'I contacted one reputable care sector recruitment agency and their reaction when I asked for temporary staff was "You must be joking". They were overwhelmed by pleas from desperate care home owners.'
The owner said she could not give enough praise to the two dedicated members of staff who volunteered to come in, despite having Covid themselves.
Ms Bedford said she felt 'desperately sorry' that they were in a position where the two members of staff had to come in, saying that the night shift is tough and tiring work.
She continued: 'It really knocked them for six and both these staff are now suffering much more from the symptomatic effects of Covid.
'I am so grateful to them but this is a situation which should not have
