A FORMER nurse ‘trapped’ because of a lost Covid test has finally moved into her new care home, after the family took matters into their own hands.

We reported how a lost coronavirus test meant Marion Branton was not allowed to move from Norton Hall to Severn Heights nursing home, in Callow End, which is closer to her family home in Malvern. Authorities needed evidence of a negative test before any move took place.

Mrs Branton,77, who has Parkinson’s and dementia, was taken by her family to a drive through testing station as the family had had enough of waiting for the results of a retest to arrive.

Daughter Anna Branton, 52, said: “Since we were first in the paper, my dad lost his patience, so we arranged with Norton Hall to drive my mum to the drive through test station.

“After 19 weeks of mum being in lockdown, it is a massive relief that she has tested negative and has finally moved to her new care home.

READ MORE: Extinction Rebellion stages Worcester 'sit in'

READ MORE: 10 amazing photos taken in Worcestershire by camera club members

“She still has to isolate for 14 days but I feel like we are finally making some progress.”

Her husband, Michael Branton, aged 81, told the paper when she was in limbo: “I just want my wife to move to Severn Heights as soon as possible.

“We have been through so much as a family in the last few months - she deserves a quiet life.”

Mrs Branton, who joined the NHS in 1964 and worked at hospitals in Worcester and Bromsgrove, moved into Norton Hall near Worcester before lockdown for a period of ‘respite care’, which should have lasted a couple of weeks.

Shelly Andon, operations director for Severn Heights, said: “We had previously tested our staff and residents as part of our routine testing and for some reason, we had swabs going missing in the post as well as Norton Hall.

“In a batch of 70 we sent for staff and patients for routine testing, seven disappeared - these people have since been retested and were found to be negative.”

The first test results for Mrs Branton got lost once submitted, somehow ending up at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, instead of a Public Health England laboratory.