Care homes say they cannot take patients from hospitals
‘Sending Covid-positive patients to care homes which are not properly equipped will risk lives’
CARE homes cannot safely accept coronavirus patients from hospitals without risking the lives of their residents, ministers were told last night, as figures suggested nursing home deaths now account for at least a quarter of total UK deaths from the disease.
Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said yesterday that hospital patients who tested positive for Covid-19 would continue to be discharged into care homes, despite growing evidence that the policy is spreading the disease.
Charities and local authority leaders said the approach designed to free up hospital beds was “madness” because many homes did not have the resources to isolate vulnerable residents safely.
Morgan Griffith-david, of the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “If hospitals continue sending Covid-positive patients to care homes which are not properly equipped, then that will cause further outbreaks and will risk lives.”
A care home in Newcastle-underlyme has recorded 24 deaths linked to the virus in just over three weeks. Bradwell Hall Nursing Home’s death toll is believed to be the highest in a single UK care facility.
Health bosses insist coronavirus patients can be safely admitted to care homes as long as strict guidelines are maintained. If a safe care home cannot be found, they will be housed in alternative accommodation by local authorities, the new guidance says.
At yesterday’s Downing Street press conference Mr Hancock claimed that no residents had “died unnecessarily”. However, National Records of Scotland statistics released yesterday found that 237 out of the 962 (24.6 per cent) fatalities, recorded from the start of the outbreak until Sunday, happened in care homes. If applied to the rest of the UK, the figures would suggest that around 4,000 care home residents have so far died from the virus.
The death toll contrasts with data from the Office for National Statistics from Tuesday that said 217 people died in care homes in England and Wales up to April 3, around 5 per cent of deaths.
Care home providers have also demanded to know when a pledge by the Health Secretary to test residents and staff would be delivered after ministers repeatedly refused to confirm when the programme would be rolled out.
As part of the new plans, every hospital patient who cannot return to their own home will be tested for the disease before being sent into social care. Even if they test positive, according to the new guidance, care homes will be expected to keep them “in isolation” to prevent a further outbreak.
Every afternoon we await the latest government figures, telling us how many more hundreds of people have sadly lost their lives to Covid-19. Every evening we review the latest figures about how many residents in our care homes have sadly passed away with suspected or confirmed Covid-19. Each day our figures rise – a sobering reminder of the tragic impact of this virus.
Whilst difficult to come to terms with, the international evidence is clear: this virus disproportionately affects people who are older and those with underlying health conditions. Therefore, we cannot escape the fact that the vast majority of our residents are at a greatly increased risk.
This is supported by a report from the International Long-term Care Policy Network, released over the weekend, which highlighted data from Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy and Spain which showed that between 42 per cent and 57 per cent of a country’s Covid-19-related deaths, so far, were care home residents.
My colleagues working on the “second front line” are doing all they can to care for those who have suspected or confirmed Covid-19. It’s a Herculean effort, and every day I’m inspired by the courage, dedication, and commitment of my colleagues.
These efforts would be greatly supported by the rapid roll-out of testing for social care workers, and the long-term surety of protective personal equipment (PPE) supply.
Our residents are not just our clients – they are our friends, and part of our family. Our colleagues, and indeed, care workers across the UK, have been following best practice and government guidance from the outset of this pandemic. It is very hard to accept the death of a person in your care, and this is made harder by the apparent desire of many – who often have limited knowledge of the circumstances – to question and critique the work of our selfless care workers. That is not to say the care sector should not be challenged – it should – but to allege, as some have, that a high death rate in care homes is somehow down to the care runs contrary to the emerging evidence of how this virus behaves and spreads.
Dealing with this deadly virus is for all of us without precedent. There is a clear professional and public interest to learn about its impact and discuss this openly. The figures currently being shared by the Office for National Statistics include a significant time delay and therefore do not give an accurate picture of what is happening on the ground in real time.
We have decided to share the number of cases and deaths at a company level, with the numbers encompassing either confirmed tests or suspected cases based on the clinical assessment of a GP, community matron or a member of our own clinical team. These will be published on our website each day from today. We hope this transparency helps to give people a better understanding of the situation in the UK’S care homes. We also hope this provides our colleagues with the space and privacy they need to continue to fulfil their vital role, and that it gives colleagues and the families the privacy to grieve for those we have lost.
Sir David Behan is chairman of HC-ONE and a former chief executive of the Care Quality Commission