English care homes had worst excess deaths

COVID deaths in English care homes during lockdown were nearly a fifth worse than those in Scotland, new research suggests.

Analysis of excess deaths, seen as the best way of assessing the true impact of the pandemic, found care homes in England recorded a 79 per cent increase on previous years, Scotland 62 per cent, Wales 66 per cent and Northern Ireland 46 per cent.

Scientists calculated deaths above the five-year average in each country from the week ending March 13 to the week ending June 26.

Prof David Bell, who led the research at the University of Stirling, said: “Measuring excess deaths presents the most reliable approach by which to assess the relative failure or success in handling the pandemic in care homes.”

Allowing patients to be discharged from hospital to care homes without being tested for coronavirus as the pandemic took hold has emerged as arguably the most serious criticism of the Government’s performance.

Minutes from meetings of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergency, released earlier this month, showed that as late as June government scientists were still warning health chiefs that failing to test all hospital patients before they were discharged risked “reseeding” the disease.

Of all deaths registered as Covid-19 related in the UK, 17,127 – 31 per cent – occurred within care homes and at least 21,775 – 40 per cent – were accounted for by care home residents. In Scotland, 47 per cent of deaths attributed to Covid-19 occurred in care homes. This compares with 42 per cent in Northern Ireland, 30 per cent in England and 28 per cent in Wales.

While Scotland had the highest proportion of care homes affected by Covid-19 and the highest proportion of care home deaths attributed to the virus, it had a lower proportion of excess deaths in these facilities compared to England and Wales.

Northern Ireland had both the lowest share of care homes infected and the lowest level of excess deaths in care homes.

However, the researchers said these findings may reflect differences in testing practices and death registrations across the nations.