Care providers warned fresh Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Office for National Statistics data showing the number of deaths in care and nursing homes from Covid-19 could be below the true figure.
Figures released today showed at least 5,500 people could have died due to Covid-19 in care and nursing homes so far.
The numbers released today show care homes doubled in the week 17 to 24 April due to the virus.
From 10 to 17 April, CQC were notified of 1,968 deaths. Between 10 April and 24 April CQC were notified of 4,343 deaths, a rise of 2,375 in a week.
The Independent Care Group (ICG) said the real figure may be higher.
“Due to the lag in collating these figures, we do fear that the true number of people who have died in care and nursing homes since the start of coronavirus may be higher than these figures suggest. It may well be that they are increasing whilst hospital deaths are falling,” said ICG chairman Mike Padgham.
Care provider Methodist Homes (MHA) said the figures are beginning to show that care homes are the “most affected area of society in terms of deaths from Covid-19”.
“Already we have had 294 of our residents die from suspected coronavirus,” said MHA chief executive Sam Monaghan.
“I say suspected because, apart from 84 of these, none of them had been tested to see if they had the virus,” he added.
The National Care Forum (NCF) meanwhile said the data showed the importance of tracking the impact of Covid-19 beyond hospitals.
NCF executive director Vic Rayner said: “It shows the very urgent need for a daily tracking of all COVID-19 deaths as a key priority for the government.”
She added: “Every day we review the graphs on the daily briefings to understand the charting of the progress of Covid-19 in hospitals – we must now see the daily picture in care homes and communities.”
