At least one in three Covid deaths in England were in care homes, according to new figures from the Care Quality Commission with a care home in Leigh revealed as having one of the worst figures
Bedford Care home in Leigh had the worst figures with 44 people losing their lives
The data reveals that some care homes lost around 75% of residents to the virus
Care home bosses said the sector was “left out to dry” by a lack of PPE and testing, as well as being forced to accept infected patients after they had been discharged from hospital.
Other care homes in the region with high numbers of deaths included Mill View Care Home, Bolton, with 37 deaths, Gorsey Clough Care Home, Bury, with 33 deaths, and Lakes Care Home, Tameside, with 27 deaths, Farnworth Care Home, Bolton, with 25 deaths
Kate Terroni, CQC’s Chief Inspector for Adult Social Care, said: “In considering this data it is important to remember that every number represents a life lost – and families, friends and those who cared for them who are having to face the sadness and consequences of their death.
“We are grateful for the time that families who lost their loved ones during the pandemic have spent meeting with us and the personal experiences they have shared. These discussions have helped us shape our thinking around the highly sensitive issue of publishing information on the numbers of death notifications involving COVID-19 received from individual care homes.
“We have a duty to be transparent and to act in the public interest, and we made a commitment to publish data at this level, but only once we felt were able to do so as accurately and safely as possible given the complexity and sensitivity of the data. In doing so, we aim to provide a more comprehensive picture of the impact of COVID-19 on care homes, the people living in them and their families. It is important to be clear, however, that although this data relates to deaths of people who were care home residents, many of them did not die in or contract COVID-19 in a care home.
“As we publish this data, we ask for consideration and respect to be shown to people living in care homes, to families who have been affected, and to the staff who have done everything they could, in incredibly difficult circumstances, to look after those in their care.”
