A SINGLE mum from Worcester says she has been told not to drop her child with a respite service in Malvern due to a coronavirus scare.

Yvette Powell usually drops her 16-year-old son off at Osbourne Court in Malvern once a week to get a break from her role as his carer but, this week, she was told not to bring him.

Miss Powell said: “I got a call the morning before my son was supposed to be sleeping over at Osbourne Court.

“They told me not to bring him in as another child at the facility had had to isolate.

“They did say he could probably go in the following day, but they would let me know. It seemed odd that he couldn’t go in the one day but might be able to the next. Maybe they were doing a deep clean or something.

“It obviously can’t be helped, but respite is so desperately needed at the moment.

“Lockdown was incredibly hard with a special needs child.”

Osbourne Court provides short term breaks for parents of children with learning difficulties and disabilities.

It is run by the Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust.

A spokesman for the Trust said: “Our services are following all the infection control guidance to ensure our patients, staff and wider communities are safe and the threat of infection minimised.

“There are currently no positive cases at Osborne Court and the unit remains open to provide planned respite care for children and families.

“However, in line with national measures we are putting in place specific plans for any child identified as a contact of someone who is positive.

“This may lead to slight changes to planned admission dates for other children and families while we ensure all infection control measures are done and in place.

“We are in regular communications with all our families to keep them updated and expect any changes to be minimal at this stage.”