VIRUS TOLL IN CARE HOMES NEARS 15,000

THE death toll of people trapped in coronavirus-hit care homes across the UK is approaching 15,000, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The number of deaths involving Covid-19, as a proportion of all deaths in care homes, has fallen to 32.5 per cent but figures show the virus continues to have a hold.

During the week ending May 22, UK care homes had reported 14,868 deaths from suspected or confirmed Covid-19.

The number of deaths in care homes was 1,289 higher than the five-year average, while in hospitals the number of deaths was 24 fewer than the five-year average.

Separate figures showed hundreds of patients were being discharged from hospitals in England to care homes on a daily basis during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

Data from NHS England showed that between March 16 and April 16, the average number of discharges to care homes a day dropped from 1,109 to 512 – a decrease of 54 per cent.

Undervalued

However, the number of patients transferred to homes, as a proportion of all hospital discharges, increased from 2.2 per cent at the start of March, to 3.5 per cent by the end of the month, before dropping back to 2.3 per cent by April 16.

Professor Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians, said: “This crisis has once again shown how important it is that the UK Government urgently brings forward its plans for sustainable social care provision.

“For too long social care has been underfunded and undervalued. This cannot go on.”

Professor Neil Ferguson, of Imperial College London, told the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee yesterday: “The infections in care homes and hospitals spilled back into the community, more commonly from the people who work in those institutions.”