You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Deaths in care homes could be higher than 7,000, sector body estimates
The National Care Forum (NCF), the membership group for not-for-profit social care providers, has called for greater support from the government after data showed there were 2,500 COVID-19 deaths within care homes in just one week.
The NCF began an independent benchmarking exercise with its members after “deep concerns” that national coronavirus mortality rates were not including care home deaths. The exercise found that 4,040 people may have died of the virus in UK residential and nursing services before 13 April.
“Factoring in the deaths of individuals who were admitted to hospitals, the figure is a tragic 7,337 deaths amongst our most vulnerable communities,” the NCF said.
The group, which represents 115 of the UK’s leading social care charities supporting more than 135,000 people in 6,500 settings, said it hoped the analysis would help deliver greater support from government.
READ MORE
Vic Rayner, executive director of the NCF, said: “So long as groups such as residents in care services are omitted from the real-time national reporting on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the government will surely be unable to properly plan for how to protect its people or exit this crisis.
“Care providers need to be given every ounce of support from government to protect the vulnerable people they care for and the health of their workforce, but to date this has not been forthcoming.”
Government figures, which record only hospital deaths, show that 16,060 people had died as of 5pm on 18 April.
Ms Rayner called for a “ring of steel” around care homes, including access to personal protective equipment (PPE), medical monitoring devices, rapid and comprehensive testing, proper funding, and intensive research to safeguard people they care for.
Data from the NCF is based on contributions from 47 members, covering 7.4% of the adult social care residential population, which found that between 6 March and 7 April there were 103 suspected or confirmed deaths within care homes.
Between 7 April and 13 April these numbers had jumped to 299 – an increase of 197 in one week alone.
When scaled up to reflect the UK’s care home population of 411,000, this suggests that a total of 4,040 people may have died from the virus before 13 April.
The government unveiled its social care plan last week. It included a commitment to offer tests to all those who need one and to increase the availability of PPE.
