With almost 27,000 excess deaths in care homes since the start of the pandemic, at least 15,000 due to Covid-19,
& with rising infections in care, we urgently need a winter plan for social care. I’ve written to @MattHancock setting out 5 key areas for action 1/8

Govt 1st promised weekly staff tests in care homes by July but then delayed until Sept. Care homes for adults w disabilities are only just able to order tests & home care workers aren’t included. Ministers must now guarantee weekly staff tests in all settings & swift results 2/8

At the start of pandemic there were countless, terrible examples of frontline staff left without vital PPE. Ministers must now spell out how they will guarantee PPE supply chain in care homes, home care, supported living & for personal assistants employed by direct payments. 3/8

Family carers are at breaking point & need urgent support to help them cope incl proper breaks. Families with loved ones in care homes are also desperately worried. They should be treated as “key workers” & made a priority for testing so they can safely their relatives again 4/8

Govt must learn from mistakes made at start of the pandemic when people with COVID-19 were discharged from hospitals into care homes. Ministers must ensure this does not happen again & that all care homes get the support they need from GPs, district nurses & other clinicians. 5/8

Last but not least councils & care providers must have the additional resources they need to deal with COVID-19, esp for staffing & PPE. Evidence from @ONS unsurprisingly shows care homes with proper sick pay & less reliance on agency staff have lower infection rates .... 6/8

...yet Infection Control fund, which helped with precisely these issues, finishes at end of Sept. Ministers must think again. These immediate resources must come alongside plans for longer term social care reform which PM promised in his 1st speech but have not been delivered 7/8

We can’t afford for action on social care to be as slow and chaotic as it was at the start of this pandemic. I hope Govt listens to these constructive proposals - and puts in place the changes social care users, families & staff need. See my full letter to @MattHancock here 8/8