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UK Government ’Tossed Out Lockdown Plan for Care Homes Proposed to Stem COVID-19 Deaths’

UK Government ’Tossed Out Lockdown Plan for Care Homes Proposed to Stem COVID-19 Deaths’
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By Staff, Agencies

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, care homes in the UK have increasingly become epicenters for deaths linked to the respiratory disease, with some 16,000 residents suggested to have died, according to official UK figures.

Public health officials in the UK had proposed plans for a radical lockdown of care homes back in April in an effort to stop the spread of deaths from COVID-19 among the vulnerable residents, but their proposal fell on deaf ears, according to The Guardian.

On 28 April, officials at Public Health England [PHE] submitted to Downing Street an 11-point plan proposing “a further lockdown of care homes” at a time when mortality rates were starting to peak at the facilities, The Guardian added.

In line with the proposed draft, ministers were urged to “use NHS facilities and other temporary accommodation to quarantine and isolate residents”, deploy NHS Nightingale hospitals, and to “consider whether staff can move into the care home for the next four weeks”.

Although recommended as “high impact” by the PHE officials, ministers rejected the live-in proposal, under the belief that not all care homes could offer staff suitable accommodation for living on site.

Care operators were issued government guidance last week that suggested only staff “who proactively choose it should be offered accommodation on site or in hotels”.

Instead of the proposal to “require care home workers to isolate to reduce risk of picking up COVID-19, possibly with higher pay”, the government told care operators to ensure staff “minimize risk of picking up COVID-19 outside of work”.

The PHE proposal to “use NHS facilities and other temporary accommodation to quarantine and isolate residents before returning (them) to their care home” was also declined.

The suggested use of the NHS Nightingale hospitals, erected with the help of the military in the early stages of the pandemic and barely used, was rejected as not suitable for providing care to elderly people.

Government ministers had instructed local councils to “ensure that there is sufficient alternative accommodation as required to quarantine and isolate residents”.

Attempts to follow this advice experienced challenges, as was the case with Somerset county council, which tried to set up a “pop-up” home in Yeovil to house infected care residents. The project was delayed for weeks, reports the outlet, due to commercial insurers declining to underwrite risks.

Health officials had also urged the “very high impact” measure to “stop staff from COVID-19 positive homes being rotated to those which are COVID-19 free”.

This was already being implemented at NHS hospitals, and it was suggested that the measure should be extended to care facilities.

However, the government’s subsequent guidance was that “subject to maintaining safe staffing levels, providers should employ staff to work at a single location”.

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