Coronavirus: Former Savoy chef dies aged 95 after outbreak at care home

MP calls for prime minister to deliver on commitment of tests and PPE for all care workers

A former Savoy head chef who reportedly cooked Prince Charles’s stag do meal before he married Princess Diana has died following a coronavirus outbreak at his care home.

Giuseppe Casciello died on Monday just two days after his 95th birthday after testing positive for Covid-19 at Oaklands Nursing Home, in Hove, East Sussex.

Hove MP Peter Kyle said Mr Casciello had to wait 10 days to be tested, during which time 14 of the home’s 20 residents and seven members of staff developed symptoms.

One worker had to be admitted to an intensive care unit and several residents are still “extremely sick”, he said.

Mr Casciello, who worked at The Savoy hotel in London during the 1970s, last spoke to his family during a video call on Saturday, The Argus reports.

Speaking on behalf of Mr Casciello’s family, Mr Kyle said they were particularly upset about not being able to be by his side during his final moments because of the risk of infection.

Mr Casciello’s daughter is said to have “held his hand every day for the last seven years” up until that point.

Mr Kyle is now calling for all care workers to be tested for coronavirus and for urgent protective equipment (PPE) to be delivered to frontline staff.

The prime minister promised PPE would arrive for every single person working in Britain’s care homes by the end of last week.

But Mr Kyle claimed he had spoken to MPs across the country as well as the 30 care homes in his constituency and only about half appear to have received new deliveries of equipment.

The politician has now written to Boris Johnson, urging the prime minister to deliver on his commitment.

He wrote: “Bluntly speaking, when Covid-19 enters a care home with residents living into extreme old age it will likely kill those it infects.

“There is only one strategy therefore to protect residents and that’s to stop the virus entering care homes at all.

“Testing social care workers must become a priority for government without delay and before contagion spreads throughout our residential care network.”

Mr Kyle said all of the workers who became ill at Oaklands were agency staff who also work in other care homes.

Another care home in the area has since also had an outbreak of four confirmed cases – although the number could be higher as more are displaying symptoms but tests were “rationed to five per care home”, he said.

Mr Casciello, who had four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, was described by his family as “the most gentle, kindest man ever”.

The Independent has contacted Downing Street for comment.