Responses to plan to help protect care homes over winter

“Labour has repeatedly called for additional resources for social care and a new Chief Care Officer to provide the strong leadership that was clearly lacking at beginning of the pandemic. So we welcome the announcement that the infection control fund will continue, and the appointment of a Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care.

“But the real test of this plan is whether the Government delivers on weekly testing of all care staff - first promised in July but still not delivered, with serious concerns about delays in getting results back. Ensuring families can visit their loved ones is also critical, as without this care home residents can end up fading fast.”

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK said:

“Social Care was unprepared for Covid-19 when it first came roaring in and the hundreds of thousands of older people who depend on it and whose lives are potentially at risk from the virus cannot afford for us to make the same mistake again this winter.

“Although the devil will be in the detail, which we have not yet seen, on the face of it this Plan seems to get some important things right.

“The extra funding is welcome, though a little more would give us and no doubt providers more confidence that they will get through the next few months without a financial crisis.

“We aren’t yet clear what the offer to providers is on PPE but we hope it is of free kit throughout the winter - anything less will be a disappointment.

“Testing remains hugely problematic, and utterly crucial, but we hope the situation can be rapidly retrieved.”

“The appointment of a chief nurse for nurses in care homes is a really good idea, but there’s a lot more we need to do to get to a place where the provision of healthcare in care homes is as reliable and seamless as older people living there have a right to expect.”

“All in all what we have seen so far is promising, but we will await with interest to read what the Plan says about visiting in care homes. With Covid-19 cases on the rise and winter on the way its right that every activity that could potentially place residents at risk is considered very carefully, including visiting, but any sense of a ‘blanket ban’ would be highly inappropriate, however anxious we may all feel. Risks, capabilities and opportunities of all kinds differ hugely across care homes and for the sake of older people this enormous variation must be taken fully into account.”