The government has claimed to have hit its target of testing all care workers and elderly residents by 6 June, even though some of the tests have just been delivered, rather than completed.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said tests had now been offered to every care home for over-65s or those with dementia, with kits delivered to nearly 9,000 locations.
However, Labour said the goal had been missed and that the government had been “too slow to actâ€, as many homes had only just had kits delivered.
“Last month the health secretary promised that by 6 June, all residents and staff in care homes for the over-65s would have been tested. Today he said that care homes would only have tests ‘delivered’,†said Liz Kendall, the shadow care minister.
“Care home residents and staff need to be regularly tested if we are are going to get to grips with this virus. And we swiftly need to move to regularly testing family members too, so they can safely visit their loved ones.
Public Health England issues guidance stating that it was “very unlikely†care homes would become infected. The guidance was not withdrawn until 12 March.
Despite a lack of official statistics about fatalities, care homes warn that they are at “breaking point†and MHA, the country’s biggest charitable provider, says it has suspected cases in more than half of its facilities.
The Department of Health and Social are guidelines on discharging hospital patients into care homes states: “Negative tests are not required prior to transfers/admissions into the care home.â€
Chief medical adviser Chris Whitty says that more than one in ten care homes (13.5%) now has at least one case of Covid-19. Whitty says: “Care homes are one of the areas where there are large numbers of vulnerable people and that is an area of risk and therefore we would very much like to have much more extensive testing.â€
Testing is expanded into care homes but only for people with symptoms.
Five of the largest care home providers say they have now recorded a total of at least 1,052 deaths
Care home deaths are included alongside deaths in hospitals after a sharp rise of more than 4,300 deaths over a fortnight in England and Wales. Testing is extended to staff and residents without symptoms.
Launch of a national delivery system for personal protective equipment to care homes is hit by a delay of up to three weeks
Academics report that more than 22,000 care home residents in England and Wales may have died as a direct or indirect result of Covid-19 – more than double the number stated in official figures.
“Ministers should now implement a comprehensive strategy for regularly testing all care homes – including for the under-65s – and give social care services the priority and resources they deserve.â€
Hancock announced that the government considered its latest target met after previous controversies over testing goals. Last month, he said a target for 100,000 tests a day had been reached, even though it subsequently dipped well below that level for some time afterwards.Â
He said: “We have now managed successfully to offer tests to every care home that is eligible, both for staff testing and for residents to be tested. What that means is that for about three-quarters of a million people living and working in nearly 9,000 eligible care homes, the tests have been delivered.â€
He said the government had now provided more than one million test kits to 8,984 care homes, and had the capacity to send out over 50,000 test kits a day. The government said it had sent test kits to all eligible care homes unless they stated that they did not want to receive them.
The next step is the rolling out of whole home testing to all adult social care settings, including specialist learning disability and mental health care homes.
The National Care Forum had previously surveyed care homes to find out the state of testing. It found that 87% of 264 care homes that responded had been tested, while the remaining 13% were still waiting to receive home testing kits as of 2 June. However, it said the whole home testing programme still faced “significant challenges in terms of accuracy and timeliness of test resultsâ€.
The survey showed that 43% of care homes tested received test results that included void and inconclusive results, with 12% still waiting for results. Its findings also gave some insights into the trends relating to asymptomatic and symptomatic residents and staff.
It found the majority of responses indicated that between 0% and 10% of staff and residents who tested positive were asymptomatic, but a significant minority of respondents reported a higher range of residents in this category of between 40% and 60%. It also found that between 30% and 60% of residents who showed symptoms tested positive.
