Elderly people turned away from care homes due to Covid-related staff absences

‘Many people are suffering as they are unable to access the care they need or even an assessment of their care needs,’ says industry leader

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Elderly and sick people who require a care home place are being turned away by providers due to rising staff absences caused by Covid-19, industry leaders have warned.

The National Care Association (NCA), which represents hundreds of care homes across the country, said it had started receiving reports of members refusing new contracts in the last two weeks.

“We’re beginning to hear about it more and more,” said Nadra Ahmed, chair of the NCA.

Homecare Association, which represents organisations providing care to people living in their own homes, said the recent rise in Covid-19 cases was also “adding more pressure on an over stretched system” and fuelling a surge in staff absences.

Against this backdrop, providers are similarly being forced to “hand work back” or reject new clients, said CEO Dr Jane Townson.

This comes at a time of rising outbreaks across the social care sector. In the seven days to 3 July, there were 389 outbreaks of respiratory infections — predominantly Covid-19 — in English care homes, according to the latest data from the UK Health Security Agency. This is up from 56 in the week ending 5 June — a six-fold increase.

“A lot of homes are starting to say to us that they have staff who are testing positive and there are concerns because they can’t find new staff to step in,” said Ms Ahmed.

“Covid is rearing its ugly head, there’s no doubt about it. We’re hearing about outbreaks from more and more providers. It only needs one family member to have come in with Covid.”

During the pandemic, funding from the government was provided to cover the sick pay of staff forced to self-isolated due to Covid. But this is no longer available, meaning staff may ignore their symptoms if infected and come into work, posing a threat to residents, Ms Ahmed said.

“There’s an underlying worry among providers that staff won’t do the test because they’re concerned about losing wages,” she added. “If people are going to test positive, they’re going to have to isolate and that’s an issue too.

“The rise in infections has a direct impact on our ability to deliver when staff are off sick. Getting agency staff is not our favourite route, and with the cost of living crisis hitting hard, it’s an option that many can’t always afford.”

The Homecare Association urged the government to reinstate emergency Covid-19 funding for social care to enable care workers to receive full sick pay while isolating.

The latest goverment data meanwhile show there were 6,964 positive test results among staff in the week ending 28 June — more than double the 2,629 positive tests reported in the week ending 24 May.

During this same period, the number of residents testing positive for Covid almost tripled, rising from 254 to 750.

Across all care homes in England, 90.7 per cent of residents have received a first booster jab. However, in older adult care homes, just 55.1 per cent of staff have been boosted, according to the DHSC figures.

The proportion of care home staff absences due to Covid increased by 33 per cent from May to June, the data adds.

Dr Townson warned that the growing lack of capacity in the social care sector “is not just impacting on individuals in the community, it is having a knock-on effect on the NHS”.

She added. “Without access to care in their own home people cannot be discharged from hospital which is contributing to increased ambulance response times and difficulty in reducing waiting lists.

“Many people are suffering as they are unable to access the care they need or even an assessment of their care needs.”