CARE HOMES: WE’VE BEEN BETRAYED OVER JABS

Despite promises, just one in ten vulnerable residents has been given the Covid vaccine

FRAIL residents in the nation’s care homes have been betrayed by the slow rollout of the vaccine, it was claimed last night.

Care providers say they have been ‘left in the dark’ and hit by outbreaks while waiting for jabs.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock promised on December 10 that care home residents would be vaccinated by Christmas. A month on, Boris Johnson admitted just one in ten residents had received the vaccine. But the Mail spoke to 28 providers – which together run 556 homes with around 30,000 residents – and 17 said not a single resident had been vaccinated. Managers described ‘haphazard and confusing’ communication, with eight claiming they have had no details of when to expect vaccines.

Worryingly, almost half – 13 – said they are currently battling coronavirus cases in their homes.

Jayne Connery, director of Care Campaign for the Vulnerable, said: ‘Unsurprisingly, care home residents have been betrayed again.’ Eileen Chubb, director of Compassion in Care, added: ‘Promises have been broken again and

again. It’s absolute chaos. Carers are off sick and care is suffering because of these mistakes.’

Suspected and confirmed Covid outbreaks in care homes rose by 65 per cent in England in the week to January 3, compared with the week before, and 60 per cent across the UK, according to the latest data from Public Health England. Now the Mail can reveal:

■ Care home bosses claim they have been left ‘like sitting ducks’ with little or no communication about when they can expect vaccines;

■ Several homes have suffered their first Covid outbreak in the past few days – claiming it could have been avoided if had they been given jabs when they were promised;

■ The owner of a care home currently dealing with its first outbreak provided a list of all residents and staff requiring the vaccine to his GP three times – and has still heard nothing back;

■ Britain’s biggest care home providers say just one in five of their residents

‘I’m worried… worry, worry all the time’

has received the jab. Yesterday, Mr Hancock said around two million people – including a third of the over 80s – had received the first shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

The Government is set to unveil its long-awaited vaccination plan today.

Guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation stated care home residents and staff should be the first priority group to receive the Covid vaccine. During the first peak more than 20,000 vulnerable care home residents died.

Campaigners said they had been put at risk by a policy of discharging patients into homes without Covid checks. Amid an outcry, care homes were given better access to testing to help isolate cases early, but this was also hit by delays.

Mr Johnson has promised every care home resident will be offered a Covid vaccine by the end of this month. But last night campaigners said the Government had failed care home residents once again.

David Steedman, who runs Arlington House care home in Hove, said his residents were left ‘like sitting ducks’ waiting for the vaccine.

Mr Steedman and his staff had managed to keep Covid out throughout the pandemic – but in the last week he, another staff member and one of his 24 residents tested positive. Although his staff were vaccinated on Tuesday, he still has no indication of when his residents can be given the jab. ‘We were promised vaccines in December, then it was the start of January and now it might be the end of January and then we have to wait three weeks for protection. They need it now. Not in three weeks, a month’s time. Now.’

Also struggling with its first Covid outbreak is Harkham Lodge in East Sussex. The care home received a letter on December 4 from the Department of Health telling it to prepare residents for vaccinations the following week – but then heard nothing.

Five of the home’s 18 residents and six of the 22 staff are now infected – leaving it worryingly understaffed. Owner Peter Sims said the home was ‘existing on the knife- edge of a potential nightmare’. Raj Singh, who runs Altham Care in Lancashire, was also hit by his first positive cases last week – with two infections. ‘We’ve been contacted for lists of staff and service users in preparation for the vaccine two or three times but then we’ve not heard anything,’ he said. ‘I feel so let down.’

Like several providers, Aylsham Manor in Norfolk has been given no guidance about when it can expect vaccines for staff or residents. Owner Carl Denis said: ‘I am worried. Worry, worry, worry all the time.’

It is not just smaller providers that are struggling to receive the vaccine. Barchester and Care UK, two of Britain’s

biggest providers which run 322 homes between them, said last week that fewer than one in five residents have been vaccinated.

However, Barchester said jab numbers are ‘increasing every day’ and Care UK said figures ‘should rise significantly over the next week’.

Liz Kendall, shadow minister for social care, said: ‘After more than 20,000 deaths from Covid19 in care homes, residents and staff must be the absolute priority for vaccination.’

The Department of Health said it was ‘doing everything we can to protect care homes’. ‘This survey started before the rollout of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine – which is now being given in care homes across the country – and by the end of the month, we aim to have offered every elderly care home resident a vaccine.’