Residents in 5pc of care homes have not been tested for virus

Social care screening rates still too low, health experts warn, despite Government pledge to ramp up system

FIVE per cent of care homes have had no testing for their residents, according to new data.

In July, the Department for Health announced that care home staff would be tested weekly and residents tested monthly in a bid to curb the spread of Covid-19 in social care settings.

Yet the department was forced to apologise after moving the target back to September, citing “unexpected delays”.

However, new data have suggested that almost 40 per cent of care home residents were not tested for Covid-19 in the month to Oct 13.

Furthermore, the data showed that 5 per cent of care homes had not had any residents tested at any stage, prompting alarm from health experts.

The statistics come from anonymised Covid-19 testing data from the Data Analysis Bureau ( T-DAB) and Person Centred Software (PCS).

PCS offers real-time management information systems to the care home sector which also provides data for Care England, the leading representative body for care suppliers, and collates live care- related data from more than 52,000 of the 410,000 care home residents, equating to roughly 13 per cent.

Its recording system is also used for 50,000 service users across more than 2,000 care providers in the UK.

The data, released today, show that in the last seven days, 31.93 per cent of care residents were tested for Covid-19, while over the last 30 days, 61.93 per cent residents were tested.

Responding to the data, Simon Briscoe, the T-DAB director, said: “Despite a few outbreaks our data shows that Covid-19 cases in care homes are still not rising sharply.

“But if the government, NHS and public health agencies are to avoid a repeat of the care home disaster of earlier this year, there needs to be proper s upport provided to t he under resourced care sector, including mass testing. Testing rates are still far too low and care homes need support from public health and NHS to rectify that.

“Protecting care homes properly would have been the easiest way to reduce the death toll in the spring. The sector cannot be let down a second time.”

The data also showed that there is no evidence of a rise in infections in care homes, mirroring that seen in the wider community in many areas of the UK.

Yet despite a summer of testing, roughly a fifth of residents (22 per cent) have not been tested since the end of May when the Government pledged to have a more thorough Covid-19 testing regime in England’s elderly care homes.

“Care homes need access to test kits but also stronger and more consistent local guidance if they are to achieve universal testing,” T-DAB has warned.

The concern comes after more than 15,000 care home residents died of the virus, according to the ONS, and after The Daily Telegraph reported yesterday that care homes have been told they will be expected to make room for coronavirus patients who have been discharged from hospital.

This i s despite the policy being blamed for the spread of the virus during the peak of the pandemic.

A letter sent from the DHSC to providers urging them to prepare “isolation”, was leaked to this newspaper, sparking concern from carers on the front line.

Gaynor Saunders, the chairman of the Independent Sector Liaison Group for care providers in Wakefield, and also chairman of the Hull and East Riding Care Association, said in response: “This decision, as with every other the Government makes, shows that they are just floundering around in the dark and every solution is just sticking plasters on top of plasters on top of plasters. They’re being reactive, rather than proactive.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “This study accounts for only 10 per cent of care home residents in England and is not an accurate reflection of care home testing.

“All Cqc-registered adult care homes can access tests for asymptomatic staff and residents and we have sent out over 10 million test kits to care homes so far.”

‘Protecting care homes properly would have been the easiest way to reduce deaths. The sector cannot be let down a second time’