Number of Covid care home deaths in Hull revealed
DATA PROMPTS COUNCIL FUNDING DEBATE
NEW figures have revealed there have been 97 deaths attributed to coronavirus in Hull care homes so far this year.
Published by the Office for National Statistics, the overall tally of Covid-related deaths in care homes across the city up to October 16 mirrors a new Hull City Council report showing a marked reduction in the number of care home placements it funds.
The cabinet report said that by the end of the August there were 92 fewer council-funded placements for over-65s in residential care homes across the city than there had been at the start of April.
It gave no specific reason for the fall in numbers.
However, it coincides with the onset of the pandemic and closely mirrors the total number of Covidrelated deaths officially recorded in care homes by the ONS during that initial five-month period.
It’s not known whether all of the 92 placements involved Covidrelated deaths, but it’s thought the vast majority did.
Giving a breakdown of changes in anticipated spending on adult social care, the report said Guildhall officials were now expecting to spend £170,000 less than what was originally allocated for residential care placements for over-65s during the current financial year.
Normally, a budget underspend would be welcomed as part of efforts to balance the council’s books.
But the mood at this week’s meeting darkened when deputy council leader Daren Hale challenged the report’s spending forecasts for residential care.
Questioning the £170,000 figure, Councillor Hale said: “I find that just incredible, knowing what a week’s care costs this seems to me to be very low. I just hope we are not paying for 92 places that we are not using, or a proportion of those, because I can’t see how that (underspend) can’t be anything minimum.”
Replying, the council’s chief finance officer David Bell said: “While we have currently got 92 fewer placements than we originally budgeted for, we are currently assuming that the majority of those placements will occur between now and the end of the year.
“If we had a full year of 92 people not being within the service, that would be a more significant saving. What we are currently assuming is that the majority of those people come back to the service.”
But Cllr Hale, reflecting on the impact of Covid-19 on the care home sector, said: “I have to say, and this is going to sound churlish, those 92 won’t be coming back into the service because they are actually dead.
“It’s now a question of whether or not we will see large numbers to replace those people.
“I am reckoning, perhaps wrongly, more like £500,000 that for lots of people with elderly relatives the last place they would want them to go at the moment is a care home.
“That’s the sort of debate I didn’t really want to have here, but I do think we need to have elsewhere outside of this meeting.”
In the report, the council’s adult social care director Alison Barker said she still expected residential care numbers would increae back to pre-covid levels over the next few months.
She said: “The service is expecting numbers of people receiving care to return to pre-covid numbers over the coming months.
“This is due to family supporting care at home being un-furloughed, pressure on families and the worry over risks in care homes diminishing.
“To that end, the reported position assumes an upturn in numbers between now and the end of the year.”