A CARE home boss killed himself after residents died and sick staff struggled to PPE during the pandemic, his wife has said.

       Vernon Hough, 61, and wife Louise ran Gwastad Hall Nursing Home near Wrexham, Wales, together until his death.

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       Vernon Hough, 61, and his wife Louise Credit: MEDIA WALES 3

       They ran Gwastad Hall Nursing Home together throughout the pandemic Credit: MEDIA WALES

       Vernon was found fatally injured in his car just a mile from the home at a police headquarters in May 2020 - with a shotgun wound to his head.

       Now Louise has said the nursing home’s struggles through the pandemic were to blame, reports The Daily Mail.

       At an inquest into his death Ms Hough said: “My husband committed suicide, My husband shot himself. We were watching patients die.

       “We are very fond of our patients but he is not medically trained. The week prior to this we had 15 staff off sick and everyone was in rooms isolating.

       “We had to take four patients each so we could get through feeding them all.”

       Things got so tough that staff were forced to fashion their own PPE using duvet covers and laminated paper.

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       And the couple were unable to get their hands on vital oxygen to give to residents who had caught the virus - and within 36 hours several residents had died.

       She said: “Imagine a fish pulled out of water. That is how they were gasping for air. I had no oxygen here.

       “I was begging the health board for oxygen just to give them some relief. There is still no oxygen in any care home, who decided this I don't know.”

       She soon saw the toll the pandemic was taking on her husband and he began to lose weight.

       She said: “I told him to stay at home for at least a week, stay away from the place and do not turn the telly on.

       “I said we would go on holiday at the end of June and get away from all this and the next day he went to feed his patients.

       “One of the ladies wasn't very well and he came back, got his shotgun and shot himself.”

       GOVERNMENT 'FAILINGS'

       Mrs Hough is now calling for a Welsh Government inquiry into the pandemic.

       She believes the Welsh Government and local health boards let the nursing homes fall into ruin during the pandemic - and that a lack of testing made things worse.

       In March last year Mrs Hough was pressure into taking patients discharged from hospital without tests.

       She said: “The local health board told me they were going to report me to CIW (Care Inspectorate Wales) for bed blocking.

       “I said ‘you can report me to whoever you like sweetheart but nobody is coming through my door until they have tested negative’.”

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       Vernon was found fatally injured in his car Credit: MEDIA WALES