Cabinet minister denies care homes overlooked during coronavirus pandemic; admits ‘a real focus’ on NHS

Carers working at Newfield Nursing Home April, 30, 2020. Tom Maddick/SWNS

Whilst the UK prepares to publish daily death figures for the community as well as hospitals, a cabinet minister has conceded that the government focused more on the NHS but denied that care homes had been overlooked in the early stages of the outbreak.

Despite outbreaks continuing to worsen in care homes, George Eustice, the environment secretary, defended the government’s handling of the crisis for older people, while acknowledging its approach had not been “perfect”.

The death toll from COVID-19 in care homes is to be announced on a daily basis after figures this week revealed a sharp rise of more than 4,300 deaths in a fortnight in England and Wales and care operators said they were at the centre of the crisis.

Sir David Spiegelhalter, professor of the public understanding of risk at the University of Cambridge, said on Wednesday that he thought there may be at least as many deaths in care homes and the community as in hospitals. “I would push my neck out that it is plausible that there are now as many Covid-labelled deaths occurring out of hospital as there are in hospitals in England,” he said.

Asked whether the risk of spread in care homes had been overlooked, Eustice told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t accept it was overlooked but obviously there was a real focus on the NHS because there were concerns it might be overwhelmed.

“But in the case of care homes we’ve always recognised there was more vulnerability there and that residents were more susceptible to this virus. That is why a lot of things were done in making sure they could get some PPE – we all know there have been challenges with PPE.”

He explained that since the NHS procurement system, which is to serve 15,000 care homes had taken time to set up, in the meantime the government had been distributing equipment through local resilience forums.

“It has not been perfect, we recognise that,” he added.

Much criticism has been directed at the government for having been slow to realise that coronavirus was spreading unchecked in care homes, with initial advice in mid-March only that unwell visitors should be banned.

Despite the government’s promise two weeks ago that all care home residents with symptoms would be tested, most residents with symptoms have still not been checked.

With the government now promising tests for all care home residents regardless of their symptoms, Eustice said the capacity for tests had been vastly increased and the ability to test everyone in residential settings was now there.

“We got it there as quickly as we can,” he said.


On the same programme, Prof John Newton, the government’s coordinator on testing, said he was “pretty confident” that the target of 100,000 tests a day would be hit by the end of the week.

He said the latest widening of the testing eligibility criteria meant the next step would be providing “a test to everyone who needs one” with symptoms.