Thread by @MartinRemains

‘Policies designed to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed pushed a greater burden onto care homes.’

To protect hospitals they killed in care homes. reuters.com/investigates/s…

‘many care homes say they believe the British government made a crucial early mistake: It focused too much attention on protecting the’ NHS ‘at the expense of the most vulnerable in society, among them the estimated 400,000 mostly elderly or infirm people who live in care homes’

‘A UK government spokesman defended the strategy. “This is an unprecedented global pandemic and we have taken the right steps at the right time to combat it, guided by the best scientific advice.”’

We know that is not true.

‘The effects of this approach have been felt desperately in Elizabeth Lodge, in Enfield, north London, where Kaygan worked.

The first coronavirus test of a resident of the Lodge only took place on April 29. That was 34 days after the first suspected case at the home’

‘It was also 14 days after Matt Hancock... pledged tests would be available to “everyone who needs one” in a care home.

“The government’s response on testing has come way too late to have any meaningful effect on keeping the virus out of our homes,” said Knight’

‘Out of those deaths, more than 5,890 were registered as occurring in care homes in England and Wales by April 24, the latest date available. These figures don’t include care home residents who were taken to hospital and died there.’

How many died without hospital treatment?

‘During the 10 weeks prior to the outbreak, including the height of the flu season, an average of 2,635 people died each week in care homes in England and Wales. By April 24, that weekly death toll had risen to 7,911...has resulted in at least 12,700 excess deaths in care homes.’

‘...Graeme Betts, acting chief executive of Birmingham City Council, which oversees the UK’s second-biggest city. “And I think early on care homes didn't get the recognition that perhaps they should have.”’

‘“I think it has taken too long for the government to turn its attention to vulnerable people outside hospital. “I think it's fair to say that the sector has felt like an afterthought for quite a long time.”’

Helen Wildbore, director of the relatives and residents association.

‘Jeremy Hunt, a former Conservative Party health secretary and now chairman of the House of Commons health select committee, advocated banning visits to care homes by friends and family from early March, advice that wasn’t followed.’

“What happens with any NHS winter crisis is the focus of attention immediately switches to the hospitals and dominates the system’s thinking,” he said. “Many people in the social care sector told me exactly the same thing happened with COVID-19.”

‘Established plans drawn up by the government for dealing with a flu pandemic had always been clear that care homes could be a place for infection to spread.’

‘But on February 25, Public Health England, a government agency overseeing healthcare, stated it “remains very unlikely that people receiving care in a care home or the community will become infected.”’

Why would they conclude that?

‘The guidance was widely reproduced on care home websites and stayed in force until March 13. It meant that few care homes restricted visits and few families withdrew their relatives from homes. No plan was put in place for testing staff.’

‘On March 12, the government shifted from what it termed a “contain” to a “delay” phase... The UK now focused efforts on mitigating the spread of virus through the general population, allowing “some kind of herd immunity” to develop’

‘the chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, explained on BBC radio on March 13. But, said Vallance, “we protect those who are most vulnerable to it.”’

But they didn’t. What did govt do to protect those living in care homes? Who is more vulnerable? They left them to die.

‘David Halpern... who heads... the “nudge unit”... expanded on the idea in a separate media interview... As the epidemic grew, he said, a point would come “where you’ll want to cocoon, you’ll want to protect those at-risk groups so that they basically don’t catch the disease.”’

‘Nonetheless, Reuters interviews with five leaders of large local authorities and eight care home managers indicate that key resources for such a cocoon approach were not in place.’

Govt talked big, did nothing & people died in care homes in their thousands.

‘Above all, those interviewed said, there was no plan for widespread testing in vulnerable places like care homes or prisons, let alone an infrastructure to deliver it.’

‘Local councils knew they had to act quickly, but there was no dialogue about how things should happen. “It felt very much like government by press release, with local government left to pick up the pieces,” Hopkins said.’

Sounds like government as incompetence to me.

‘“it did make it quite challenging from a local authority perspective, when, you know, the prime minister says at 5 pm or 6 pm that something's going to happen. Eleven o’clock or midnight you get some guidance on it, and you're meant to be off and running in the next day.”’

‘The most acute problem identified locally early on was the shortage of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS and care home staff.’

‘Yet Jenny Harries, England’s deputy chief medical officer, declared on March 20 that there was a "perfectly adequate supply of PPE" for care workers and the supply pressures have been "completely resolved."’

But there was not. Why did she say there was when there was not.

‘Five days later, Johnson told parliament every care home worker would receive the personal protective equipment they needed “by the end of the week”. This didn’t happen’

A month later there were still shortages. Did Mr Johnson lie to Parliament? What he said was not true.

‘According to Nesil Caliskan, leader of Enfield Council, early statements that local shortages were caused by distribution difficulties proved to be a “downright lie.” The government simply didn’t have enough kit, she said.’

We have experience of this government lying.

‘Determining how... (residents & Kaygan a care worker) became infected will be hard. That is partly because, as Reuters has previously reported, as the outbreak began Britain had no plan for widespread testing for the virus once it started spreading in the community.’
No plan.

‘So how did infection take hold in care homes?

According to several care home managers, a key route for infection was opened up by an NHS decision taken in mid-March, as Britain geared up for the pandemic, to transfer 15,000 patients out of hospitals and back into the community’

‘including an unspecified number of patients to care homes. These were not only patients from general wards. They included some who had tested positive for COVID-19, but were judged better cared for outside hospital.’

‘ A Department of Health guidance note dated April 2 and published online further stated that “negative tests are not required prior to transfers / admissions into the care home.”’

By all means clap for NHS workers but don’t clap for the Dept of Health or anyone in govt.

While noting he wasn’t aware of specific cases, he described what he called an egregious and reckless policy “of sending COVID positive patients back into care homes and knowing that it's so infectious a disease.”

Jamie Wilson.

‘The problem was that most patients had not been tested for COVID-19, and care homes have few facilities to quarantine new arrivals.’

In the context of transferring patients from hospitals to care homes:

“It was just so reckless,” she said. “They were not thinking at all about us. It was like they were saying, let’s abandon the old people.”

‘By April 6, the Enfield council had recorded at least 26 deaths in care homes, and 126 suspected cases. Yet only 10 tests per day were being offered for the thousands of care staff across the whole of north London, said Enfield Council leader Caliskan.’

‘Finally, on April 28, Hancock said all care home residents and staff could be tested even if they were not displaying symptoms. Again, the words didn’t match the experience on the ground.’

Empty promises and policies that killed.

‘“What the government says is a load of rubbish,” she said. “I am angry because we are not being supported.” She declined to discuss how many residents have died.’

‘Another employee at Elizabeth Lodge told Reuters that although staff raised concerns, many had to operate for weeks without face masks or visors. “I was petrified. Every time I went in there, I worried for myself, my family, the people living there, my colleagues,” she said.’

“If I never make it back, look after my baby.”
Sonya Kaygan’s words to her mother as she left for hospital.

Sonya Kaygan died. Govt policies contributed to her death.

‘at the time Kaygan worked at the Lodge, face masks were not being used. That, according to the home, was because official guidance then recommended such masks were only necessary when working within a metre (three feet) of someone with COVID-19 symptoms.’

‘Across Enfield, supply of PPE was a major problem. According to council leader Caliskan, by the end of March, supplies in some homes were inadequate, and others were running out. The government repeatedly promised to send supplies’

‘but when a much-anticipated delivery by the army arrived at the council depot on March 28, it took just 6 minutes to unload, she said. It contained only 2,000 aprons and 6,000 masks, which aren’t designed for repeated or prolonged use, for Enfield’s 5,500 care workers.’

‘When she began to struggle to breathe, Nabi urged the home to send her to hospital.

A nurse, he said, told him: “We've been told not to send people to hospital. Just leave them here. They're comfortable.”’

How many stories like this are there?

‘This approach to hospitalisation reflects what many homes took to be national guidance. An NHS England policy document issued on April 10 listed care home residents among those who “should not ordinarily be conveyed to hospital unless authorised by a senior colleague.”’

‘Possible evidence of restrictions on admissions came in a study of 17,000 patients admitted for COVID-19 to 166 NHS hospitals between February 6 and April 1. The study showed that one-third of these patients died, a high fatality rate.’

‘this indicated... that England set a “high bar” for hospital admission. “Essentially, only those who are pretty sick get in.” But, he said, there was no data yet on whether that high bar ultimately made people in Britain with COVID-19 worse off.’ Good guess though.

‘On the national stage, the government projected a picture of success. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, at his first daily Downing Street briefing since recovering from coronavirus, said on April 30 that Britain was past the peak and had avoided overwhelming the health service.’

‘“It is thanks to that massive collective effort to shield the NHS that we avoided an uncontrollable and catastrophic epidemic,” said Johnson.

Even so, deaths in care homes were surging.’

So many failures by government. Most of it stemming from their incapacity to test.

Why would you send sick, possibly infectious, people from hospital to care home, full of the most vulnerable, without testing those sick people?

To protect the NHS? To have a win? To claim that you are successful?

Read the article. It will appall you.

reuters.com/investigates/s…