Coronavirus care home deaths 'far higher' than official figures, study suggests
Flawed reporting of COVID-19 deaths is leaving providers "to face the biggest health crisis of a generation alone", it is claimed.
Sunday 19 April 2020 11:51, UK
The number of deaths linked to coronavirus in care homes may be higher than official figures show, according to new analysis.
The National Care Forum (NCF) estimates more than 4,000 people in residential and nursing homes may have died after contracting coronavirus before 13 April.
This is significantly higher than the 217 care home deaths recorded in the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) up until 3 April.
The NCF's report comes amid concern that care home deaths are going "under the radar" as the Department of Health's daily update on fatalities only accounts for those who have died in hospitals after contracting COVID-19.
The group, which represents not-for-profit care and support providers, says its audit exposes "significant flaws" in the reporting of deaths linked to coronavirus, resulting in the government failing to protect the most vulnerable in society.
The NCF said many care providers felt they had been "left to face the biggest health crisis of a generation alone".
It has called for a "ring of steel" to be built around care homes, with a comprehensive package of support, including the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) and extensive testing for the virus.
The Department of Health provides a daily update of UK coronavirus deaths which only includes people who died with COVID-19 in hospital.
Figures for care homes and the wider community covering England and Wales are published separately on a weekly basis by the Office for National Statistics.
And, the ONS figure is often behind the Department of Health figure, because it can take a while before deaths are reported to register offices.
As a result the NCF carried out its own audit collating data from 47 homes looking after more than 30,000 people across the UK, representing 7.4% of the care sector population.
It said it found 299 confirmed or suspected Covid-19 deaths across those specific homes in one week between 7 April and 13 April. That is almost three times the number of deaths in the preceding month between March 6 and April 7.
Applying its findings across the whole sector, its analysis suggests there may have been 4,040 corornavirus-related deaths in care homes which are not yet included in DoH figures.
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Vic Rayner, NCF executive director, 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.
"Our current national debate on how to mitigate and exit this crisis is virtually entirely centred on the management of the peak within hospitals.
"We are overlooking how this crisis is playing out in other settings, which are there to protect those who are most vulnerable to the impact of the virus.
"The figure of more than 4,000 people passing away of COVID-19 within care homes in little more than one month is devastating. Every death is a loss and a tragedy."
She said the study showed "that whilst all attention has been on managing the peak in hospitals, the virus has attacked our most vulnerable communities".
She added: "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.
"We need to ensure that proper support is provided now to sustain our essential care services now and for the future.
This virus is not going away, so this has to be a wake up call to government and society as a whole to recognise that the 'whatever it takes' mantra has to be applied equally to the most vulnerable in social care, as we have to the NHS."
Health Secretary Matt Hancock last week announced a package of measures to try and combat the spread of the coronavirus in care homes.
Tests have now been pledged to all who need them in care homes - including staff and residents - with the Care Quality Commission charged with coordinating who will get them and when.
Mr Hancock also promised improved access to personal protective equipment through a supply network of "unprecedented scale".