A coroner’s inquest into the deaths of three residents has revealed the enormous pressure care homes were under during the Covid pandemic.

Leonard Austin Mitchell, 79, Geoffrey Walsh Turpin, 85 and Graham Binney, 81, died at Cornwall Care’s Cedar Grange care home in Launceston in March and April 2021 after contracting Covid-19.

Cedar Grange was among 15 Cornwall Care homes acquired by Sanctuary Care in October 2022.

Anne Thomas, the former chief executive of Cornwall Care, told the inquest care homes had been “left to fend for themselves” during the pandemic, Cornwall Live reported.

Thomas said she had begged for volunteers and for NHS help to cope with the burdensome Covid testing regime.

Around 2,400 Covid tests were carried out at the home each month contributing to the strain that led 40 staff members to leave during the first wave.

Senior coroner for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Andrew Cox expressed “considerable sympathy for all involved” insisting “everyone had been giving their all in a professional manner in unprecedented times”.

Cox said there was no issue of neglect or misconduct in anyway with regards to the deaths of Leonard Austin Mitchell, Geoffrey Walsh Turpin and Graham Binney and concluded death from natural causes in all three cases.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Care said: “We are grateful to the coroner for giving us the opportunity to fully engage with his inquest and for the diligence, understanding and sensitivity he has shown. All our thoughts remain with the families and friends of the residents who sadly passed away.”