Responding to the Government announcement of an expansion of
testing to include weekly tests of those working in home care,
Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s
Community Wellbeing Board, said:
“This is a much needed and positive
expansion of testing to carers working in people’s homes, which
councils and care providers have long been calling
for.
“Homecare workers have not been able to
access the same level of testing as their colleagues working in
care homes, so this announcement should redress this balance. The
further rollout of these tests to live-in carers and personal
assistants also needs to happen as quickly as
possible.
“We all need to do as much as we can to
prevent the spread of coronavirus, particularly among our older
and most vulnerable people, so this regular routine testing is a
vital part of our defence.
“The Spending Review next week must also
provide councils with the extra funding they need to help shore
up social care ahead of winter and get through the second wave of
COVID-19, while also using this as the basis for future reform of
social care to place it on a long-term, sustainable
footing.”
Notes to
Editors:
Skills for Care: There
were an estimated 480,000 direct care providing jobs in
domiciliary care services in England in
2019/20
