Coronavirus: Infected care homes rise from 20 to 32 but resident death rate unknown

The news comes after the government confirmed there had been coronavirus outbreaks at more than 2,000 care homes in England, with claims that many older people are being “airbrushed” out of figures because official death rates only include those who die in hospital - and not those in care homes or in their own houses.

Last week Health Minister Robin Swann said Covid-19 had been detected in 20 NI care homes. It is understood there are 483 care homes across the province.

On Monday morning the News Letter asked the Department of Health (DoH), the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA), which regulates care homes, and the Commissioner for Older People how many NI care homes had now been penetrated by the virus; how many residents were infected; how many had died and where the patients are now? None of the authorities were able to give specific answers in their responses.

The DoH responded: “We have publicly stated that it is not possible for the Public Health Agency’s (PHA) daily Covid-19 bulletin to accurately pick up on a daily basis deaths that occur outside of hospital settings.

“The process for registering deaths in the community takes a number of days. It involves a doctor completing a death certificate and then the death being registered by the General Register Office and the Northern Ireland Statistical and Research Agency (NISRA). It takes up to 5 days to register a death – and sometimes longer.”

After 2pm on Tuesday Mr Swann announced that the number of NI care homes affected had risen from 20 to 32.

NISRA publishes a weekly bulletin on all deaths registered in Northern Ireland, including those related to Covid-19, however this is not broken down by Hospital and other locations, it said. DoH will continue to work with NISRA, the PHA and others to ensure that all statistics give as full a picture as possible, it added.

The Commissioner for Older People for NI, Eddie Lynch, said: “I am concerned with reports that victims of coronavirus who lived in care homes are not being recorded in official statistics. The Department of Health needs to be working closely with care homes to record this information. The death of a loved one from this terrible virus is the same no matter where that person lived and as a society it’s important we recognise every victim equally and with the dignity they deserve.”

NI Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride has said the number of Covid-19 related deaths in care homes remain unclear.

Dr Michael McBride said the process of registering deaths was complicated, and being investigated by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

“Every death counts. Behind every death is a person. It is wrong to create an impression that those lives lost don’t matter,” Dr McBride told the BBC yesterday.

The RQIA said that the DoH has asked all health care regulators to stand down at present to prevent the spread of infections.

While it is informed of all deaths in care homes, it said, it is not possible say how many are Covid-19 related in advance of death certificates being delivered, and where tests for the virus have not been carried out.

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