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Health Minister Robin Swann has announced the Executive’s intention to significantly expand Covid-19 testing across care homes throughout Northern Ireland. It's part of a three point plan to help protect car home residents which also includes intensive support for care homes and investment and reform in social care.
Residents of Care Homes here have been disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 pandemic with more deaths in care homes than in hospitals.
Minister Swann said: “Covid-19 is a cruel virus that targets the most frail and vulnerable members of society. Care homes here and in many other countries have been seriously impacted.
“Our colleagues in the Republic and across the UK have had similar distressing experiences to Northern Ireland.
“I want to emphasise that extensive support has been and is continuing to be provided to the care home sector. The Department, Board, PHA, Trusts and RQIA are all playing their part. We are constantly seeking ways to enhance and intensify this support.
“We have a lot of work ongoing and will always be looking to do more. Care homes are an absolute priority.”
Three Key Areas
1: Significant expansion of testing for care home residents and staff
This expansion will be informed by advice being prepared for Government and the NHS by SAGE (the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) and the Department’s Strategic Intelligence group (SIG).
Ahead of that, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service has this week started to provide a mobile testing service for care homes. This service is integrated into the Trust and PHA/HSCB teams who are currently working with and providing support to our care homes. In addition, up to 40 nurses from the HSC are being deployed to support testing in care homes. Again this service will be integrated into the support teams currently in place for care homes. It has also been recommended by the Department’s Advisory Group on Testing and agreed by the Minister that testing will be extended into supported living. Testing has been available to these services from Monday of this week (11 May).
Homes are also asked to check staff and residents twice a day for symptoms, including temperature - recognising that symptoms in care home residents may be atypical.
2: Intensive support for care homes, including strengthening by Trusts of hospital-to-community outreach teams.
This builds on important work already being done by care homes and in partnership with the HSC.
Outreach teams deliver specialist care and support to older people in care homes and their own homes. Teams work in partnership with GPs, district nurses, AHPs and social care colleagues.
This can facilitate vital initiatives such as virtual ward rounds. A virtual ward round allows clinicians to connect with staff in homes. Using a mobile phone or device, they can speak face to face with the home about the needs of each individual, and can also observe and speak with residents. This also reduces footfall into care homes – an important infection control priority at this time.
Support for the care home sector to date has included: producing and updating guidance to homes; £6.5m in additional financial support for the sector; providing millions of items of PPE and thousands of staff hours to care homes free of charge. Further financial support for care homes is under active consideration.
3: Investment and reform in social care
Minister Swann is finalising a paper for the Executive charting a way ahead for the sector, including as an immediate priority additional support for staff.
He commented: “I want to again thank care home staff for all the work they are doing.
“The social care sector has been struggling for years and as a whole is not fit for purpose. The structural reasons for this are well documented and are no fault of staff. Reforming social care remains one of the most difficult long-term challenges facing modern day Government.
“It is beyond doubt that the sector needs much greater resilience. This is essential given the threat that will be posed by Covid-19 in the months and potentially years ahead.
“I am therefore proposing to move ahead with reform and investment plans, subject to the necessary financial support being provided by the Executive.
“As an early priority, I want to see training and terms and conditions for care home staff being standardised and improved. We will have to ensure that the return on this investment will be to the benefit of staff and residents, not the profit margins for operators.
“That means a decent wage, access to some form of sick pay, a career pathway and training to do the job safely and well. I accept that many providers already provide this. In the future, we must ensure that all do.
“Many people, myself included, struggle to understand why some private sector care homes have been unable to pay staff sick pay during this pandemic while others have been able to do so. Likewise I wonder how some manage to pay a living wage while others only provide the minimum wage. And as we move through this pandemic phase, I am sure other differences will emerge between how different providers responded.”
Mc Nulty - Care Homes "New Front Line"
Assembly Member for Newry and Armagh Justin McNulty MLA has paid tribute to health care workers in care homes, hospitals and in the community as they care for the most vulnerable in our community.
Mr McNulty said, ‘Frail and elderly people in our community are the most vulnerable and we must make sure every effort is made to protect them from the ravages of Covid-19 and in doing so we must pay tribute to and recognize those who care for them.’
‘Whilst we have had some success in our battle against Covid-19, it’s important to recognize that every life that has been lost has left a devastated family behind who will not have been able to grieve their loss in our unique Irish way.
‘We must be grateful that our hospitals have been able to cope with the demand, including Intensive Care Units. This is down to the hard work and diligence of our healthcare professionals in hospitals and indeed to society at large for obeying the strict and sometimes burdensome restrictions.’
‘I welcome the acknowledgement from the Minister for Health this week that the new front line in the battle against this virus is not necessarily any longer in hospitals but in Care Homes and in the Community. This is something I have raised previously and I welcome this acknowledgment. Evidence across the globe and across this island has shown that the most vulnerable in our communities, including those in care homes are those who now are most at risk.’
‘I strongly welcome the announcement by the Health Minister of additional financial support for the sector, and this must continue. We need to see staff in care homes protected, just as we do for those in hospital settings. The appropriate level of PPE must be provided and I welcome the efforts by the Southern Trust to assist with this. However, we can also learn from the South were the HSE are providing staff, including nurses, for the care homes if needed.’
‘Care in community and in nursing homes is the new front line in this battle against Covid-19. The carers, nurses and care teams are making extraordinary efforts to protect and care for their patients. They take huge pride in caring for their patients as if they were their own family. With some carers out ill or shielding because of their own family circumstances it has placed many care homes and carer organisations under huge duress. Huge credit is due to the people working in the care sector for their determination and sense of duty in working multiple long shifts to protect and care for their patients. This must be acknowledged by the authorities and the Care Sector needs to be fully resourced in terms of staffing and PPE to enable them to overcome the challenges they will face now and in the days and weeks ahead.
