UK Edition
Social care leaders warn of 'enormous anxiety' in care homes as fears over PPE shortages mount
Charities and social care providers have set out the challenges facing the sector in a conference call with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer
Social care leaders have warned of a PPE crisis in residential homes due to the coronavirus pandemic, with some providers having to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds to source equipment for staff.
In a conference call with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on Monday, chief executives of leading charities and organisations warned that there was “enormous anxiety” over the safety of residents and staff.
It comes after The Daily Telegraph reported last week that the number of care home residents who have died of suspected coronavirus may have reached 7,500, according to data collected by Care England.
The figures are far higher than the official figures provided by the Office for National Statistics, which has recorded 217 care home deaths from the virus up to April 3 – the most recent date for which official data is available.
While hospital leaders have already warned of shortages of personal protective equipment, social care leaders told Sir Keir they also faced significant challenges in sourcing enough items and shouldering the additional costs incurred.
They included Mencap, the learning disabilities charity, which revealed that it had already spent £600,000 on purchasing PPE for staff working in its residential care homes.
However, despite the significant costs involved, Edel Harris, the charity’s chief executive, said that 60 percent of local authorities which fund its services had either rejected or failed to respond to requests for an uplift in funding to deal with the pandemic.
Her concerns were echoed by Professor Martin Green of Care England, who told those on the call: “What our members are telling us is the big issue is PPE: the guidance on using PPE and consistency of supply.
"Not only have we got challenges about how we get it but we are also going to have challenges about how we pay for it. So we need that money in care services as a matter of urgency."
Gavin Edwards, a union official at Unison, also read out a series of personal testimonies from care workers, including one who said they were “terrified” to attend work and that colleagues had been forced to resort to wearing homemade masks.
Another said they were not being issued with the correct PPE but feared raising concerns with their line manager because a colleague had been threatened with disciplinary action for doing so.
Mr Edwards also claimed that there had been instances where staff considered to be in a high risk group, such as pregnant women or those with weakened immune systems, had been told to attend work.
Caroline Abrahams, the charity director of Age UK, added: “In terms of older people’s perspectives...clearly there is enormous anxiety about what is going on in care homes, whether people can be kept safe, what the options are.”
Separately, Emily Holzhausen of Carers UK warned that thousands of unpaid carers were not being provided with “any PPE at all” despite performing many of the same duties as social care staff.
Asked by Sir Keir what guidance was in place for these carers, she replied: “There isn’t any guidance on unpaid carers. They have to wash their hands and distance themselves as much as possible.
“Of course that’s just not possible if you provide personal care to people. You have to touch people, you have to get close to people. So that continues to be a concern.”
During the call sector leaders also raised concern over staff shortages, with Prof Green stating that some services were “50 percent down because people are self isolating.”
There were also calls for the Government to ramp up the number of tests being performed on social care workers, amid fears that many may be carrying and transmitting the disease unwittingly.
On Monday the Care Quality Commission, the industry regulator, confirmed that almost 12,500 tests had been booked for care home staff.
However, Prof Green cited logistical difficulties in getting staff and residents to testing centres.
“We have started the testing process but testing centres are sometimes a long way from where care homes are,” he added.
“I heard of one case where there would have been a two hour drive from East Anglia to get to Stansted airport.
"I also heard of a case this morning of a large care home being refused any more tests on residents because they had said they had had their testing allocation. It was news to me there was a testing allocation.”
Speaking after the call, Sir Keir told ITV News: "The importance of these calls is for me to hear first-hand from the frontline, particularly those delivering care in the care sector.
"There's obviously been an improvement on things like testing but the numbers are still very low and real practical problems about testing, because they're not being done in the homes, people are being asked to travel sometimes many many miles to a testing centre which for people without cars is a very very difficult thing to do, so still significant problems in the care sector."