UK: agency staff spreading COVID-19 between aged care homes, unpublished Government study found. Solution – pay more to work in one home

Temporary aged care staff unknowingly transmitted the coronavirus between homes as cases increase, according to an unpublished government study which was shared with providers last week, The Guardian reports. The study by Public Health England (PHE) – which used the genome tracking research into the behaviour of the virus in six care homes in London – found in some cases, staff who spread the virus had been drafted in to cover for care home staff who were self-isolating expressly to prevent the people they look after from becoming infected.

“Infection is spreading from care home to care home, linked to changed patterns of staffing, working across and moving between homes,” it warned.

As we reported here, it is now estimated that around 22,000 aged care residents have died either directly or indirectly during the pandemic. However, the results of the study only came to the attention of operators last week when the Government announced a £600 million “infection control fund” for care homes to allow providers to pay extra to carers who normally work in several homes in exchange for working in only one home. The advice from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) – issued on 16 April – does not advise operators to restrict the movement of staff between homes to control the spread of infections. On 30 April – after 4,300 care home deaths were recorded in two weeks in England and Wales – the DHSC drafted new plans for infection control measures – including “minimising the extent to which care workers are moving between different units” – but these were only published last Thursday – two weeks later. During that period, it is estimated that another 2,500 aged care residents died, according to the Office for National Statistics. The DHSC says it is now working on new guidance, but this could make the situation for operators even tougher, the sector warns. Vic Rayner, the executive director of the industry peak National Care Forum (NCF), which represents Not For Profits, said many care homes had been putting restrictions on staff working in more than one home since the pandemic began and buying out agency staff at their own cost so they stay in one home.

“The challenge here is they are looking for restrictions on movement when we are already running with a high level of vacancies in the sector, people self-isolating with symptoms and now the roll out of testing of asymptomatic staff which will increase the numbers self-isolating again,” she said.