The owner of a nursing home where seven elderly residents died after contracting coronavirus at the height of the pandemic has spoken of his sorrow at learning of what may have been happening, an inquest heard.

Will Neal said he was “disappointed” and “shocked” and found some of the allegations made about what was happening at the Holmesley Care Home in Sidford, Devon, as “absolutely unacceptable”.

It has been alleged that during the Covid-19 pandemic some staff did not wear face masks or PPE, that others carried on working after testing positive for the virus, and that test results were ignored.

Alison Longhorn, area coroner for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, has resumed inquests into the deaths of William Wilkinson, 102, Doris Lockett, 92, Roy Gilliam, 96, Jean Hartley, 81, Susan Skinner, 70, Ronald Bampfylde, 92, and Stanislawa Koch, 93, who all died in March or April 2021.

The inquest has heard evidence from Jemma Turner, the nursing home’s deputy manager, who alleged a night-time nurse had refused to wear a facemask and was claiming “Covid was a conspiracy”.

Other staff alleged the manager, Joanne Burchell, had not sent sick staff home due to shortages and had ignored positive lateral flow tests results.

Mr Neal told the inquest of one occasion where Mrs Burchell had informed him she had been left with no choice but to ask a live-in care assistant, who was isolating after testing positive for Covid-19, to work because of staff shortages.

“I felt very uneasy about this, but I was not on the ground and Joanne Burchell had to make the very hard choice between the real dangers, possibly choking or falling, on one hand, and Covid exposure on the other,” he said.

“With two people who were already Covid positive, she felt that seemed like the less risk.

“I was quite shell-shocked by the conversation because it was very, very difficult. She made the decision she made in the best interests and overall safety of the residents.

“I didn’t like it and didn’t really want to do it but it was her decision as the care professional on the ground.”

Mr Neal said Mrs Burchell had told him the care worker would be working on his own and only with patients with Covid-19.

Asked about the evidence of another nurse who alleged this care worker was in fact not wearing PPE and was seen outside the room of a non-Covid-19 positive resident, Mr Neal replied: “That would be very shocking to me.”

The inquest has heard that staff realised there was potentially an outbreak on the morning of March 2, but days before six positive results had been ignored and attributed to a bad batch of tests.

Mr Neal said he did not know any of this until he was told days later by Mrs Turner in a whistleblowing email.

“When I did hear about that I thought that was unthinkable,” he said.

“The idea that six people would be coughing, displaying symptoms of Covid-19, and tested positive, and we just ignored it and called the GP.

“I found that hard to process. I cannot get my head around how that happened.”

Mr Neal told the hearing he regretted not dismissing the nurse who was refusing to wear a mask after they had previously been told to use PPE after it was raised as a concern following a Care Quality Commission inspection the previous month.

“I feel really upset and I feel really disappointed,” he said.

“The situation of not wearing a mask, when he should have been wearing a mask appropriately, is really, really disappointing to hear.

“Jemma did the one to one with him after it was identified. Maybe we should have an instant dismissal, and it is easy to say now we should have sacked him, but we had employment rules and stuff like that.

“I wished we had dismissed at that point.

“If it had been highlighted to me that he was not wearing his mask after having had that conversation I would have said he has to be suspended, and I would have been saying get rid of him.

“In terms of the six people who supposedly had a positive LFT test on March 1, if that happened that is really, really bad and I feel very disappointed about that if that has happened.

“If Jo has retained people at work when they should have gone home then that is absolutely unacceptable.

“I did assure Jemma when she whistle-blowed directly to me that I would have dealt with these matters but we were in the eye of the storm.”

The inquest heard that Mrs Burchell and the nurse who refused to wear a mask were both arrested and interviewed by the police, but no further action was taken against them.

The hearing continues.