Read on Twitter
A short thread on coronavirus and care homes...
There has finally been some really strong coverage of the threat to care home residents posed by #Covid19UK. Guardian and BBC are covering reports from large (brave) providers that they have much higher rates of infection and Covid related deaths than 'official' sources recognise
Here are some reports on these providers' accounts of deaths: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/14/uk-care-home-providers-report-521-coronavirus-deaths https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-52277855
Some reading on the impact on care providers themselves of these devastating infections https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/14/are-people-dispensable-care-home-manager-tells-how-third-of-residents-have-died-from-covid-19
Charities rightly raising questions about why these deaths in care homes aren't appearing in the national statistics https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52275823
A brilliant blogpost by @chrishattoncedr on the different sources of data on care home deaths - none perfect, and none seem to reflect the picture being reported by providers themselves https://chrishatton.blogspot.com/2020/04/recording-and-analysing-covid-19.html Hats off to those providers who did speak out ( @DavidBehan15)
Some reports say that @CareQualityComm is now collating data on Covid19 deaths in those using care services. I'm not sure this is quite correct. Rather, CQC collect data where death occured whilst a 'regulated activity' was being provided, and includes whether Covid was present
The relevant CQC death notification info is here: https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/notifications/death-person-using-service-notification-form
That's not quite the same as saying providers must report to CQC every single death in a care home or from other care service users (e.g. supported living) where a person had Covid.
This difference is important, as the CQC data may also underestimate the true scale of deaths of care home residents in the UK from Covid.
In other words, it looks as if all 'official' sources will underestimate the true scale of care home deaths in the UK. This is appalling in itself, as these lives are airbrushed out, and hampers action we could take now. But it is underplays the overall scale of the UK pandemic.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I do think there's little incentive for government to work towards accurate real time recording of deaths in care homes as they may well indicate that the UK has a much higher death rate than European counterparts.
