Social care chiefs welcome weekly coronavirus testing in care homes

The Department of Health and Social Care has announced care home staff will be tested weekly, while care home residents over 65 or living from dementia will receive a test every 28 days.

Care leaders have welcomed the new testing measures but says it needs to be rolled out to the wider communities.

The testing will be an addition to intensive testing in any care home facing an outbreak, or at increased risk of an outbreak.

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England said: “Regular and routine testing is absolutely critical if we are to garner a better understanding and keep at bay this dreadful virus which has had such a devastating impact on care homes.

“Testing is not a one-off activity, in order for it to be meaningful it needs to be regular thus we welcome this measure as a step forward. Staff and residents can be asymptomatic yet testing shows that they are positive hence the need for testing, testing and yet more testing to get a handle on this virus.”

The tests need to rolled out to community care settings

The government said that over the next four weeks, retesting will be rolled out to all care homes for over-65s and those with dementia. Repeat testing will be extended to include all care homes for working-age adults in August.

Professor Green added: "This initiative needs to be rolled out to all care homes, including those adults with learning disabilities and also supported living."

Mark Adams, chief executive of Community Integrated Care, said: “The ability to routinely test colleagues and people supported in care services for COVID-19 is one of the most essential tools for protecting those that deliver and receive care. The social care sector has been championing this loudly throughout this crisis, so we welcome the news that this support is finally being delivered."

Mr Adams' hope is the government will extend this support from care homes for the over 65s to the “wider care home population” soon and move to a position of weekly testing for care home residents.

The Community Integrated Care leader would also like to see regular testing within community care settings. He said: “We support people who are as old as 102 and individuals who have highly complex health needs, so it is obviously wrong to discriminate against them due to the category of property that they live in."

Mr Adams hopes "the Scottish government follows suit.”

The testing will give ‘peace of mind to the families’ of residents in care homes

The Vivaldi 1 study, which surveyed almost 9,000 care home managers and analysed data from whole care home testing, identified the higher levels of the virus among care staff, particularly among temporary staff who work in multiple care settings.

The study estimates that more than half (56 per cent) of the care homes that participated reported at least one confirmed case of the disease. Of those, 20 per cent of residents and seven per cent of staff are estimated to have tested positive for coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, according to reports from care home managers.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock said: “This will not only keep residents and care workers safe, but it will give certainty and peace of mind to the families who may be worried about their loved ones, and give staff the confidence to do what they do best.”

David Pearson, chair of the Adult Social Care Support Taskforce has written to care providers this week outlining the importance of reducing movement between care homes, making best use of the Infection Control Fund.

Mr Pearson said: “Protecting staff and residents inside our care homes is an absolute priority throughout all phases of the pandemic. Testing is clearly an important part of this, particularly regular testing in key areas where prevalence is likely to be high.

“This new phase in our testing strategy is an important step in protecting the 1.5 million care home staff across the country and the residents they care for. We are prioritising those care homes for older residents and those with dementia, but will expand this even further by August.”