Rise in NI care home coronavirus outbreaks worrying, says union leader

Health authorities are dealing with nine outbreaks at Northern Ireland care homes, according to the latest information from the Stormont health department.

Eight outbreaks have been reported in the past two days.

This comes amid a dramatic rise in the spread of coronavirus in recent weeks, which means Northern Ireland now has more coronavirus cases per head of population than any other part of the UK or Ireland.

Patricia McKeown, regional secretary of Unison, has now re-iterated calls for a public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic in care homes.

The latest figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), published on Friday, show that of the 866 deaths linked to coronavirus up to August 14, nearly half (431) were care home residents.

The total number of deaths linked to the virus has risen by seven when compared with the figures from last week.

Ms McKeown said the recent rise in coronavirus outbreaks is “very worrying”.

She added: “The indications are that it (coronavirus) is rising again in our care homes.

“The virus is still out there and it is still impacting disproportionately on health and social care workers.

“We would like to see where the outbreaks are happening and why they might be happening. Are they in care homes using agency staff? Are they part of a chain of homes that move staff around? Those things can contribute massively to a potential outbreak.”

The union boss continued: “The testing programme has ramped up somewhat but I think there is an awful lot more that needs to be done.”

In June, Unison, Amnesty International and the Committee on the Administration of Justice called for a public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic in care homes.

Yesterday, Ms McKeown said: “We are still formally calling for a public inquiry into the handling of the coronavirus pandemic in care homes.

“We think it’s the only way everything is going to come into the open.”

In June, Health Minister Robin Swann said there would be a “time to consider” public inquiries.

At that time, he announced a ‘Rapid Learning Initiative’ chaired by the deputy chief nursing officer Linda Kelly to “identify learnings that can be taken forward”.