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More coronavirus testing in care homes promised by government
Everybody going from hospital to a social care setting will be tested for coronavirus and isolated as they await results, health secretary Matt Hancock has said.
The government has also vowed to ensure care home staff have access to tests as the government aims to make tests available nationwide in the coming days.
The health secretary said the government had been working “incredibly hard” to protect people in social care despite being criticised for lack of access to personal protection equipment and testing in the sector.
“We can announce that everybody going from hospital into social care will be tested, will be isolated while the result of that test comes through because that helps to protect people who are in social care,” Mr Hancock said.
He also confirmed that every social care worker who needs a test can now get one, and as the country’s new mega labs develop, it would prioritise the testing of symptomatic social care workers and their families.
The announcement comes amid reports of multiple deaths in several care homes across the country and concerns that care home deaths are not being included in government figures.
The Care Quality Commission will co-ordinate tests among care providers and aims to have contacted 30,000 by the end of the week.
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“As we continue to ramp up our testing programme, we will test all current care home residents with coronavirus symptoms and all new care homes residents who are discharged from hospital into care,” Mr Hancock said.
On 13 April only 14,982 tests had been carried out, which is below the government target of 25,000 a day by mid-April.
Professor Martin Green OBE, chief executive of Care England, said: “During this dreadful pandemic it is hard to find things to be positive about, but today’s announcement from DHSC [Department of Health and Social Care] that testing will be available for all social care staff and residents that need it is indeed welcome.
“Care homes will be in a much better position to face this virus head on once they have been able to test both their staff, residents and new residents who have been discharged from hospital into their care homes.”
