Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HOMES TRUTH
Chief Medical Officer ordered inspections at care facilities to be reduced
CARE home inspections were ordered to be reduced by Northern Ireland’s Chief Medical Officer, we can reveal.
Three days before lockdown, Dr Michael Mcbride told the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority to “cease its nonstatutory inspection activity and review programme with immediate effect”.
Keith Gray, whose mother has dementia, said the move has left families devastated.
He added: “During a world pandemic that preys on the elderly, we needed more inspections of care homes, not fewer.
“Families can’t access the homes and now the frequency of inspections is reduced.”
THOUSANDS of people headed to beaches in England yesterday on the hottest day of the year so far, sparking fears of a second wave of infections.
It added to the mounting pressure on No10 to get its track and trace system working by June 1, as schools prepare to reopen next month, and holidays in the UK are touted to return at the start of July.
English families hit seasides, parks and scenic spots yesterday as temperatures reached a high of 27.8C at Heathrow airport.
Sitting in public spaces while maintain social distancing is within the rules, but there are concerns that increased contact among people will make it harder for the Government’s plans to test, track and trace the spread of the disease.
Boris Johnson yesterday said he had “great confidence” that the system would be working by 1 June. But his promise began to unravel when his official spokesman refused to guarantee that the NHS’S national tracing app would arrive on time, saying it would be ready “within a number of weeks”. And Justice Secretary Robert Buckland admitted the system would not be “as widespread as we’d like” by the June 1 deadline. At Prime Minister’s Questions, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer slammed the PM. He said: “For 10 weeks there has been no tracing, unlike in Germany and South Korea.
“Tracing is critical. There now appears to be some doubt about when the system will be ready. Can the Prime Minister indicate that an effective
system will be in place by 1 June?” Mr Johnson replied: “We are making vast progress, and I have great confidence that by June 1 we will have a system.”
The PM said 25,000 contact tracers, able to track 10,000 new cases a day, will be operational by next month.
It came as the UK’S death toll rose by 363 to 35,704 yesterday, but London recorded no new cases. And record 177,000 tests were carried out, almost double
previous day. Track and trace systems slow the spread of the virus by tracing those who an infected person have had contact with and contacting them, via an app or directly, to tell them to isolate.
But PM’S spokesman refused to guarantee that the national NHS app – currently being trialled on the Isle of Wight – would be ready by June 1. He said it would be rolled out in “the coming weeks”, and it was “only one part of the system”. Justice Secretary Mr Buckland said: “I think it won’t necessarily be as widespread and as full blown as we’d like. That will develop over several weeks.”
Teaching unions want the tracing scheme in place before schools return, as a growing number of councils refuse to stick to the June 1 deadline.
Kevin Courtney, of the National Education Union, said: “The R rate is worryingly high in many parts of the country, and a local authority is far better placed than the Government to decide on this issue. Many councils agree with the NEU that the Governthe ment must publish its scientific advice, must ensure that contact tracing is working and that the case rate is falling if schools are to open more widely on a safe basis.”
The Department for Education said: “Plans for a cautious, phased return are based on the best scientific and medical advice.” Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said that staycations may be permitted by the “beginning of July” if the R rate of transmission is under control. He added: “We can only do it if it’s safe to do so.”
For ten weeks there has been no tracing. Will we hit the deadline?
KEIR STARMER ON THE CONFUSION OVER JUNE 1