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Home Sittingbourne News Article
An entertainer who was set to perform for care home residents at Christmas and New Year has been cancelled after saying “Sod Boris” and making a comment about Covid-19 on social media.
Musician Rob Tompsett was due to perform for residents at Newington Court, in Keycol Hill, Sittingbourne, but was left heartbroken when management told him he wouldn’t be performing after reading a comment he made on Facebook.
Mr Tompsett, of Halstead Walk, Maidstone, was replying to a friend who worked at the home and was upset she couldn’t see her children when he said: “Sod Boris – if you want to see your kids, then go see them.
“Lockdowns won’t help anyway, the virus isn’t going anywhere and will still be here when we come back.”
He deleted his comment minutes after making it and explained it was meant to be supportive.
Rob, who has been performing for 28 years, said: “I am really upset residents will miss out as I appear to have been made an example of over a personal Facebook message in response to a friend’s comment.
“I regretted it but it was an attempt to try and cheer her up. When she pointed out that she couldn’t as she would lose her job, I agreed, apologised, and removed the original post.
“In the message I made no mention of the care home or the provider and I was merely expressing my upset at the current situation we all find ourselves in and reacted in support of a friend who was very sad.
“I actually didn’t expect to be taken literally – of course we need to do everything we can to save lives and I would never seriously encourage someone to break the law. But last week, the home manager, ordered all of my bookings to be cancelled.”
Mr Tompsett rang the manager of the care home, which is part of Barchester Healthcare, and pleaded with them to reconsider its action.
The 51-year-old added: “I appreciate she needs to put the right message out to staff, but what about the residents? After all they are the ones we all actually work for.
“Why couldn’t they give me a warning? That I would have accepted and it would have been fair.’’
Rob has been entertaining residents at the home for years and says he’s even performed for free on occasions.
He says he feels sorry for the elderly residents at the home who will now miss out on his scheduled online New Year shows.
He said: “I feel aggrieved for the elderly residents, who are now being denied their entertainment at a time when they really need and clearly will benefit from it.
“I have worked hard to develop the best quality Covid safe online entertainment for care home residents across the country.
“This isn’t just a job for me, I want to make as many people happy as I possibly can, but alas management have seen fit to prevent me from doing this for people in their care, people who have had limited visiting entertainment during these cold months, coupled with limited contact with loved ones.
“It’s hurt me, I feel so sad that I can no longer bring joy to, or maybe never see again, these lovely residents. This could have been resolved so easily and I did try, but I have now been completely shut out. I’m heartbroken."
A spokesman for Barchester said: “Our residents have a wonderful array of entertainment this Christmas with so many lovely things that have already taken place, and the line-up for the day itself is full of fun and excitement.
“We really value the support we have had to enable our residents to continue to be part of both the local community and the wider community of arts and crafts through the use of technology and life enriching activities.
“It is unfortunate that due to the circumstances we have been unable to take forward this particular offer of entertainment.”
Non-profit care organisation Care Campaign for the Vulnerable backed Mr Tompsett after his “unintentional mistake”.
A spokesman said: “We’re saddened to hear Rob Tompsett account that bookings were cancelled to entertain elderly residents in a care home because of his “unintentional” disregard of visitation restrictions.
“This was an obvious moment of frustration in support of a care worker unable to see her children.
“He understood his words could be taken as irresponsible and deleted the message and apologised. During such difficult times maybe a warning would have been sufficient here especially now when a bit of cheer is definitely needed in care homes.”
