Panel looks at actions taken after half of Sunderland care homes hit by virus

According to figures revealed by care chiefs this week, 48% of homes saw two or more cases.

The data covered registered care services in the city supporting people with learning disabilities, mental health issues and the elderly.

For older people’s care homes 74% were affected by Covid-19 at some point, including some outbreaks leading to deaths.

No more coronavirus deaths at Sunderland care homes in latest...

Although the North East has one of the highest proportions of care home deaths in the country, care bosses say lessons have been learned from the pandemic.

This includes the importance of ramping up testing, spotting unknown carriers and partnership working within the care sector.

“What we did spot early on was that asymptomatic transmission was a big driver both in staff and residents,” Graham King, Assistant Director for Adult Services for Sunderland City Council, said.

“What we often found was some of our older persons’ residents weren’t displaying the classic signs and symptoms such as a high temperature and a cough.

“We used that insight quite early on in terms of how we organised homes and how we cohorted residents and organised care.”

The council officer, who also serves as chief operating officer for Sunderland Care and Support, was speaking at a virtual meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board on June 25.

He added as care homes got to the “front of the storm” of the pandemic, the Government requested local authorities to provide a ‘care home support plan’.

The request included providing data around personal protective equipment (PPE), staff availability / movement and staff welfare, with Sunderland’s statement passed as “excellent in all areas”.

However, care bosses said work was already ongoing before the intervention from Ministers.

Measures ranged from a Covid-19 care home support group, collaborating with partners, collecting data on infection rates and staffing numbers and providing financial support to the care market.

The meeting heard that all care homes had been supplied with PPE throughout the coronavirus crisis alongside online advice and support and staff being offered counselling services over the death of residents.

Additional beds were also put in place in two homes in the city to manage demand, with staff adapting to flexible working.

Despite the positive work in the sector, Mr King said the national discharge policy around patients being sent from hospitals into care homes could have had an impact on Covid-19 cases.

“We implemented it in Sunderland as all areas were required to do so and we know that from some of the early admissions to care homes from hospital without tests, that may have had an impact,” he said.

“I think it’s too early to come to a definitive view on a range of issues but we will in due course.

“I think the approach to testing in care homes has not been great on a national level, we know that from the moment we were seeing asymptomatic patients and staff that the key to moving that on was regular testing of staff and customers. It is getting better but it’s far from ideal.”

The council officer added: “Whilst the outcomes for care homes and residents might not have been as great as we would have wished, I think we have done a really good job as a system of doing what we could based on the limitations of sometimes national direction and knowledge in dealing with what was a rapidly emerging pandemic.”

There are currently 85 care homes/services registered with the Care Quality Commission within Sunderland.

New admissions are now being isolated for a period of 14 days when they go into care homes.

Looking forward, leaders are preparing a winter plan as the city approaches the flu season alongside reviewing the hospital discharge pathway and how it fits with care homes.

Director of Public Health, Gillian Gibson, added it was important to increase vaccinations during the winter months.

“What is really important is that we have a big focus on vaccination against flu this year, I think the Health and Social Care system would not be able to cope with a flu pandemic plus a Covid-19 pandemic,” she added.

“But also from an individual’s perspective to be infected with both flu and Covid-19 would not be good for them, so we really need to think seriously about how we have a different approach to flu vaccination this year.”

Weekly statistics published on Tuesday, June 23, show that the number of Covid-19 fatalities at city care homes since April 10, when figures were first recorded, remains at 93.

The figures, which cover the week ending Friday, June 19, have been released by the Office for National Statistics following pressure on the Government to be clear on how many people have died of the virus while being cared for in homes.

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