Truth about Covid-19 in Care Homes Required

People Before Profit Cllr Eamonn McCann said:


“The fact that the North’s chief medical officer, Michael McBride, says that he doesn’t know the detail of the number of deaths from Covid-19 in care homes calls for an explanation.

Even with NISRA (the NI Statistics and Research Agency) reporting a week behind, we should now have the number of deaths in nursing homes week ending 4th April. Why don’t we?

We also need explanation why care workers going in and out of homes have been provided with flimsy protective equipment which gives them no confidence of their own safety or, given the vulnerability of care home residents, the safety of those for whom they care.

Nursing homes are regulated as health care facilities. The standards of hygiene and protective equipment in those facilities should be no less than in other health care settings.

Care homes are officially regulated. The homes and the numbers of residents in them must be available to the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) and to the Health and Social Care Trusts.  A dedicated phone line for care homes to report any deaths associated with suspected COVID-19 would not be too hard to organise.

Relatives of care home residents are understandably distressed that their loved ones appear to have been put into a sort of limbo as far as identifying people with Covid-19 are concerned. The message conveyed is that they have been forgotten.

None of this is the fault of care homes workers – who are themselves at risk. The failure is systematic.

This is not a time for political argy-bargy. It is a time for the people to be trusted with the truth. There is enough anxiety in the community already.”