Change of time, change of tone
A year ago, Boris Johnson said ‘we will fix the crisis in social care’. One year on his tone of voice is far more deceiving after talking about care homes responses to the coronavirus outbreak. ‘Too many care homes didn’t really follow procedures’, were his words which have faced criticism.
The government and owners of care homes are pointing the finger of blame at each other for the failure to prevent deaths of residents. Care homes have been hit the worst during the coronavirus outbreak with approximately 20,000 people confirmed to have died of coronavirus in a care home environment, within England and Wales.
Too little? Too late?
Government minister Lord Greenhalgh of the Conservative’s said that procedures given by the conservatives in the crucial early stages of the pandemic were “not as clear as it could have been”.
The government’s SAGE had advised on the 10th February that ‘there is a realistic probability that there is sustained transmission in the UK or that it is to be established in the coming weeks. By the 25th February, no significant actions had been taken upon this advice.
Even up until the 13th of March the government stated: ‘It remains very unlikely that people receiving care in a home will become infected. However, on the same day the WHO identified Europe as the centre of the pandemic, Spain declared a state of emergency and the UK confirmed its 11th death of the virus.
Care homes were being ravaged by coronavirus in Spain and Italy and a rising proportion of Covid-19 deaths were happening in care homes in England and Wales. As other nations were receiving their first wave before the UK, the UK had time to respond to the pending disruption.
‘The government didn’t react fast enough when it came to care homes. Considering so many highly vulnerable people live in an enclosed space, you would think it would have been high on the list. But it took weeks into lockdown to get protocol, PPE and procedures put in place from the government. For that reason, thousands died.’
Anonymous care worker from Hampshire.
What procedures did care homes ‘not really follow’?
On the 13th of March, the governments guidance was “care home providers are advised in asking no one to visit who has suspected Covid-19, and by emphasising good hand hygiene for visitors”. On the same day Bupa and Four Seasons stopped non-essential visits, Scottish Care – advised care homes to close to visits two days before and care groups Barchester and HC-One stopped non-essential visits on 10 March and 12 March.
14th March, the government began prioritising the most vulnerable individuals for testing in hospitals and care homes, however 24 people had died from the virus by this point.
By the 2nd of April, people who had coronavirus in hospitals and lived in care homes were able to go back to living in a care home setting, provided people wore PPE. On the same day, a letter from the government recognised “the challenges providers may have experienced in obtaining PPE supplies over recent weeks,” and promised the supply chain would be bolstered.
On the 15th of April, the government said all patients who had been discharged from hospitals were eligible for a test, for 13 days they weren’t. All people who worked in the care home environment were also eligible, if they showed symptoms. By this time, 12,868 people had died, 400 people were dying each day in care homes, and roughly 1000 people had been tested who work in a care home.
By the 28th April, another 13 days later, all care home residents and staff were finally eligible for a test whether they had symptoms or not. There were early findings of asymptomatic carriers in March.
These were Boris Johnson’s conservative government procedures that care homes ‘didn’t follow’. In comparison to Germany, they kept its care homes outbreaks at bay by simply applying the rule of nobody being allowed to enter them unless they had recently tested negative for covid-19 or had been isolated in quarantine for 14 days in a designated centre.
While Boris Johnson was seen clapping for carers, he’s now turned on them, blaming them for not following his governments poor prevention procedures. The Conservative government has been called out for its lack of communication of important information during this pandemic, with calls from the public and other political parties for more clarity.
Their lack of clarity has cost lives, especially in the care home environment. Their lethargic and late response to the precedented situation of encouraging herd immunity downplayed the risk in the early stages of the pandemic. The government’s unwillingness or failure to prepare resulted in a failed attempt, to supply PPE to privately run care homes.
Are they completely in the wrong?
Prior to the 2019 election, the conservatives promised £1 billion per year to fund social care for the foreseeable future, an additional £600 million has become available for care homes and they have also added an emergency fund of £3.2 billion to English councils. It would be unfair to say that the conservatives have done nothing to help the situation but it is the lack of action before the pandemic that has very sadly killed thousands in care homes.
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