Kirklees care home providers “lack confidence” in speed of Covid testing

And some homes across the area are seeing more vacancies – or void levels – than in normal circumstances, which is attributed to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Reporting to Kirklees Council’s Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel Richard Parry, the strategic director for adults and health, said care home providers were indicating “a lack of confidence” around testing.

He said: “That’s the ability to get test kits into care homes [and] for them to be collected and get results back in a timely way. So there’s an absence of confidence in the system at the moment around those testing arrangements.”

There are currently 127 Care Quality Commission-registered care homes in Kirklees catering for older people or individuals with learning disabilities or mental health issues.

In total they offer 3,541 beds.

A report to the panel showed almost a quarter of the available care home beds were vacant in July, the month that represented the peak of the void.

That figure has now dropped to a fifth – from 520 to 494 – but it is still higher than historical averages.

The report added that the increase in voids was as a direct result of the increased death rate experienced through the pandemic as well as the reduction in placements being agreed within care homes during the last few months.

Mr Parry added: “Care providers have seen an increase in vacancy levels.

“That’s a combination of two things. Sadly a number of people passing away, particularly in that Marsh-April-May period, and fewer people during that period moving into care homes.

“We are seeing a significant change in both of those trends now. So we are seeing the numbers of people moving into care homes increasing and the number of people passing away has significantly reduced.

“Nonetheless that has left care homes with more empty beds than they would normally have expected to see, which is carrying a financial pressure.”

The council has also had to step in and assist with the funding of PPE for care homes.

It has set up a distribution hub for its “significant stock” of PPE and has been running a programme of financial support for organisations that required it to ensure care homes remain viable.

That financial support is due to cease at the end of September.