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The number of deaths at Britain’s care homes from suspected Covid-19 infections are higher than the official statistics, new data shows.
The virus is already spreading through residential homes in America but lessons could be learned from the U.K., which is a few weeks ahead of the U.S. in terms of the spread of the disease.
In many care homes it is not known if sick patients are suffering from Covid-19 because of a shortage of tests. It is then not being recorded as a coronavirus related death if they pass away.
Britain’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) released figures on Tuesday that showed 237 people died in care homes in England and Wales for the two weeks to 3 April. But the ONS only records what is written on death certificates rather than suspected cases.
Britain’s two biggest care homes operators HC-One and MHA estimated they had seen a combined 521 deaths of patients who had suspected Covis-19 symptoms over the past few weeks to Monday evening.
The ONS figures do have a 10-day time lag, and also differ from the daily mortality rate given by the government. This government daily figure purely relates to those who have died while under the care of the National Health Service, because it has established data collection systems in place to provide that real time figures. It does not include deaths from care homes which are owned by different operators and fragmented around the country.
Read: What It’s Like to Be a Health Worker During the Coronavirus Crisis
HC-One is backed by a private-equity firm, and MHA is a charitable operator.
Private ownership of care homes has recently come under the spotlight, with a recent study in the U.S. linking private equity ownership of care homes in America to an overall decline in standards.
Before the crisis exponentially increased the death toll in nursing homes around the world, the regulator of social care services in England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), had sounded the alarm about lack of hygiene and other serious failings at several care home chains, including those backed by private-equity firms, a Private Equity News report revealed.
Today, at least 15 buyout firms have holdings in adult care homes in the U.K., accounting for 13% of the market, according to health care advisory company LaingBuisson. Inspections conducted by the CQC over the past four years rated 24% of HC-One’s 271 homes in England as inadequate or requiring improvement—the two lowest ratings out of four. Similarly, the watchdog said that 15% of Care U.K.’s 113 homes required improvement.
A spokesman for Care U.K. had said: “If a home requires improvement, it receives extra focus and coaching from our internal care quality and governance team. Homes are regularly monitored by our own governance team and operations team to ensure that appropriate improvements are made quickly.”
They added that, “with the annual threat of influenza and coronavirus, our home colleagues are already well versed in infection control and have clear processes in place to prevent infections among both residents and team members.”
Since 2017, the CQC has rated close to 15,000 care homes in the U.K., with only 17% of them receiving an overall rating of inadequate or requiring improvement.
In one of the reports about a HC-One-led facility, for example, the CQC said some “areas of the home smelt strongly of urine throughout the day and the home environment was not always clean.” The inspection also found that people’s dignity “was not always upheld.”
HC-One had said the home fell short of the high standards its residents expect and deserve, but said that following the inspection, it “immediately implemented a comprehensive action plan to make the necessary improvements,” which included hiring a new manager.
On the coronavirus it had said: “HC-One has always had robust policies in place to both prepare for and prevent the spread of any infection or virus, including coronavirus. In light of recent events we have updated these policies in line with the latest advice from the U.K. and devolved Governments, the NHS and Public Health bodies in relation to Covid-19. We are confident that all reasonable steps have been taken to mitigate risk to residents and colleagues, and that we have robust contingency plans in place.”
