Government blasted for care home blunder

THE Government made an “appalling error” by sending hospital patients to care homes without first testing them for coronavirus, an inquiry has found.

And support for care homes during the pandemic was “slow, inconsistent and, at times, negligent”.

But the failure to protect care home residents during the Covid-19 crisis compounded “years of inattention, funding cuts and delayed reforms”.

The findings were published on Thursday by the Public Accounts Committee.

The cross-party committee includes Birmingham Ladywood MP Shabana Mahmood (Lab). A majority are Conservative MPs.

The report will increase pressure on the Prime Minister to hold a full independent public inquiry into the Government’s handling of the pandemic.

There have been 1,216 deaths from Covid-19 in Birmingham, and 207 of these, around one in six, occured in care homes. Another 890 people died in hospital, while other deaths occured in the home, in a hospice or in other settings.

But in some parts of the West Midlands, a quarter of all deaths from Covid occured in care homes.

There were 82 Covid19 deaths in care homes in Solihull, 30 per cent of the total deaths from the virus. Elsewhere, there were 75 virus deaths in care homes in Dudley, 24 per cent of the total, and 95 in Walsall, also 24 per cent of the total.

MPs condemned the decision to discharge 25,000 patients from hospitals into care homes without making sure all were first tested for Covid-19, pointing out that the policy continued even after it became clear people could transfer the virus without ever having symptoms. They said the Government must give adult social care “equal support” and consider health and social care part of the same system.