Commissioner calls for ‘ring of steel’ around care homes in light of persisting ‘high number’ of outbreaks in the facilities

The commissioner for older people has called for “a ring of steel” around care homes as Covid-19 restrictions are relaxed.
Commissioner Eddie Lynch says he is ‘wary’ about the length of time being taken to take appropriate actionCommissioner Eddie Lynch says he is ‘wary’ about the length of time being taken to take appropriate action
Commissioner Eddie Lynch says he is ‘wary’ about the length of time being taken to take appropriate action

Eddie Lynch is concerned that there are “still a high number” of outbreaks in the facilities across the Province.

He was responding after the News Letter reported that despite almost £7m investment so far, there had been no significant reduction in the number of outbreaks in NI care homes throughout last month.

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Residents account for a hugely disproportionate 53% of NI’s Covid-19-related deaths so far.

At a press conference on Tuesday Health Minister Robin Swann emphasised that strenuous efforts resulted in 60 care home outbreaks being “closed” last month. However, he did not volunteer the number of outbreaks which are still live, until asked, which he confirmed was 71.

This represents no significant reduction in live outbreaks; at the start of May, NI care homes had 75 confirmed and 35 suspected outbreaks and last month closed with the figures almost unchanged, at 71 and 36 respectively.

Responding to the revelations, Mr Lynch told the News Letter: “I’m concerned that there are still a high number of care homes in Northern Ireland with Covid-19 outbreaks. Although there have been many cases where an outbreak has been cleared, there are still a significant number of homes that are presenting with confirmed or suspected cases.

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“I welcome the announcement made by the health minister at the beginning of the week, surrounding the extra funding in the care home sector; but I’m wary of the length of time it is taking for appropriate action to be taken to protect some of the most vulnerable in our society.

“These are people’s homes and the authorities must do everything in their power to ensure they feel safe and protected and provide necessary support for their families and the staff working there.

“As the lockdown restrictions start to ease, I fear the increased movement in the community may result in continued care home outbreaks.

“Therefore a ring of steel must be placed around these residents through a rolling programme of regular testing, sufficient levels of PPE and enhanced infection control.”

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On Tuesday a Department of Health spokeswoman said it has now devoted £18.2m to care homes, including a further £11.7m announced that day. DoH has so far provided millions of items of PPE and thousands of health trust staff hours to support the homes, she said.

The majority of homes are outbreak-free, with only 15% currently affected, she added.

Yesterday the News Letter asked the DoH and the care home regulator, the RQIA, why there has been no appreciable decrease in outbreaks.

The RQIA responded that the Public Health Agency is responsible for managing the outbreaks and that it would be “best placed to respond”.

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A Department of Health spokesperson said: “As this is an emerging pandemic, the systems used will constantly evolve and the complexity of the analysis will increase. This will therefore impact how the data is interpreted at a point in time.

“During May, changes were made to the system of reporting data in line with the RQIA reporting method. This means that where a home has both nursing and care home separate components and outbreaks in each, it is now counted as two outbreaks whereas previously it counted as one. Therefore, the figures reported are slightly higher than those previously reported. We still receive notification of new outbreaks, but we have seen an overall decrease in the number of new care home outbreaks reported over the last few weeks, and the number of closed outbreaks is still continuing to grow.

“As testing continues to be rolled out to all care homes, including those without symptomatic residents and staff, there will be earlier detection of positive cases.”

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