‘Vital that a ring of steel is placed around care homes’

The figures obtained from the Western Trust relate to the period between April 6 and May 6, 2020.

A Trust spokesperson was unable to give any details about the treatment required by the patients. However, they did confirm that the decision to admit care or nursing home patients with COVID symptoms to hospital was made by their GP.

There have been widespread concerns about the number of COVID cases in care homes, and the number of deaths account for almost half the total death toll from coronavirus across the North.

The most recent figures released by NISRA, which take into account deaths across different settings, show there have been 516 deaths across the North from COVID-19. A total of 232 of those relate to deaths in care homes.

The UK death toll as a result of the pandemic now stands at over 31,000, and in the South almost 1,500 people have died.

The Commissioner for Older People in Northern Ireland, Eddie Lynch, has called for a ‘ring of steel’ to be placed around care homes.

He said: “If an older person in any setting requires hospital treatment they will be transferred to hospital, although many older people with COVID-19 are being cared for in care homes.

“The latest death figures from NISRA sadly highlight once again that care homes are being the hardest hit at this time.

“It is vital that a ring of steel is placed around care homes to protect against coronavirus infection in the first place and a rolling programme of universal testing for all residents and staff must be introduced without delay.”

The commissioner said he has ‘sought assurances from all of the health authorities that older people in need of hospital treatment will be given it.’

Mr. Lynch said he understands that ‘any older person in a care home who has this virus will be cared for in the home unless they require hospital treatment. The GP or home nurse manager can refer any resident in need of hospital treatment to hospital’.

“The clinical guidance from BMA is clear that every decision to be taken will be made on an individual basis depending on the needs of the individual older person,” he added.

SDLP health spokesperson Mark H Durkan MLA, said that the government ‘should have acted quicker to provide care homes and the independent sector with adequate PPE to ensure that everything that could be done, was being done to keep this killer virus out of care homes.’

He added that the NHS was a service for all from the cradle to the grave and that equality in terms of access to treatment was a vital part of that.