Cumbria is stepping up the support for the county’s residential and home care sector to support the battle against the spread of COVID-19.
Work to support the care sector has been in place since infections first started being reported, but with the virus now affecting more care settings health and care organisations in the county are working together take further action and protect lives.
Partners in the county are taking a three pronged approach:
- Co-ordinating requests for support from care settings to ensure that the right support can be offered as quickly as possible – including staffing, PPE, infection control and testing.
- Managing the discharge of patients from hospitals into care settings to minimise any infection risks.
- Daily data gathering of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases in care settings to provide up to date understanding of the scale of the issue and identify settings in need of support.
The priority is to ensure that care settings which are infection free remain that way, and where infection is either confirmed or suspected that support is provided to help contain the outbreak and minimise the impact.
COVID-19 is a highly infectious disease, which has had the greatest impact on the elderly and vulnerable. Cumbria County Council is leading the response, working with the two hospital Trusts, two Clinical Commissioning Groups and alongside representatives from the independent care sector.
Data collected so far sadly shows a growing number of confirmed or suspected deaths in care homes due to COVID-19.
Currently in Cumbria data indicates that:
- 23 of the county’s 112 care homes have had suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases.
- There are 55 care home residents confirmed to have COVID-19, with a further 170 suspected cases.
- Since 1st April 2020, with 17 confirmed deaths as a result of COVID-19 and 74 where COVID-19 is believed to have been a factor. For context, a further 100 people have died from non-COVID-19 related causes.
There are approximately 3400 people living in the county’s residential and nursing homes. This data will continue to be tracked on an ongoing basis.
Until now only limited testing of care home residents has been conducted. New processes being put in place now will radically increase the availability of testing for care home residents, helping to ensure the most accurate picture of what is happening and guiding where support is needed most. Testing for staff caring for our elderly is currently available via several routes and work is ongoing to improve the range of local options.
Assistant Chief Constable Andy Slattery, Chair of Cumbria’s Local Resilience Forum, said: “Residents in nursing and care homes are amongst the most vulnerable people in our community and LRF partners are working hard to support care homes and minimise the spread of infection.
“This is a serious challenge though and very sadly there have been a number of deaths from confirmed or suspected COVID-19 in homes across the county. Our thoughts are of course with their families and loved ones.
“We understand how distressing this situation is for residents and their families and we are doing all we can to keep families informed and keep people safe.
“Staff in homes are doing a very difficult job in quite extreme circumstances and deserve our recognition and thanks. LRF partners are supporting with additional expertise in infection control and care, supporting sourcing staffing if required, as well as ensuring homes have the critical supplies of PPE they need. Given the availability of PPE nationally this is a particular area of focus.”
Colin Cox, Director of Public Health at Cumbria County Council, said: “This is a very distressing situation for residents, their families and the staff supporting them and our thoughts are with them. We have been working hard to support the care sector since the epidemic began, and several parts of the health and care sector have now come together to help provide the most robust testing and infection control system we possibly can.
“It is so important that we take all possible steps to support these most vulnerable members of our community and I’m very grateful both to the staff in care homes, and to families of residents, whose support is so crucial in keeping residents safe.”
Dr Colin Patterson, clinical lead for NHS North Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said: “Our residential and nursing care homes are a vital part of our health and care system and our GPs work very closely with them.
“We have also provided some CCG staff to care homes which needed urgent support, as well as advice and support around testing.
“There is no doubt our care homes are facing a massive challenge and we have to meet this together.”
Margaret Williams, Chief Executive Nurse at Morecambe Bay Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Those caring for our vulnerable and elderly loved ones have been committed to keeping them safe and well, and have been working as tirelessly as colleagues on the frontlines in our hospitals, as well as our GPs.
“I would like to pay tribute to the compassion and dedication that they continue to selflessly give to their roles. Dealing with the loss of any life is painful and heartbreaking for families and staff at any time, but particularly distressing at this unprecedented time and my thoughts are with them. I would also like to thank my colleagues across the LRF for their resolve in ensuring that our colleagues in the care sector have the support that they need.”
