Coronavirus care-home deaths in England believed to have doubled in just five days over Easter weekend

The number of deaths from coronavirus in English care homes reported during a five-day period over the Easter bank holiday is thought to be twice the total figure up to that point, prompting concerns at the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and among officials at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

The CQC has started to record figures of confirmed and suspected coronavirus deaths in care homes, and has said that the number of people who were recorded between 11 April and 15 April as dying from the virus could double the total deaths to 2,000.

This would be about twice as many as the 975 reported on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics for deaths in England up to and including the week ending 10 April, and would mean that the total number of care-home deaths since March, when the first deaths happened, will have exceeded 6,000.

The death toll demonstrates how severe the spread of the coronavirus in care homes has become. The sector has been hit by shortages of protective equipment, and a lack of testing for staff and residents, while homes have been expected to take hospital patients at short notice.

In a joint statement today, the CQC and DHSC said: “It is anticipated that the number of deaths in care homes relating to Covid-19 reported by providers between 11 April and 15 April could be double the number of care home deaths reported yesterday.”

Professor Carl Heneghan, from the University of Oxford, who has been tracking the data warned that, as the number of deaths in hospitals falls, the numbers in care homes could rise because of the delays in the infection being “seeded” in homes and the lag time between infections and deaths.

The CQC requires care-home providers to notify them when a resident in their care dies, and homes have always been able to report the cause of death. However, in order to gather specific data about the impact of Covid-19, the CQC has changed its process to specifically catch any suspected or confirmed deaths from the disease.

Officials at the regulator are thought to be extremely concerned about the impact of the virus in the care sector, which has received less support than the NHS.

In a move away from its normal role of regulation, the watchdog has begin coordinating testing of social care staff for the coronavirus.

Up to Tuesday this week, it had booked more than 12,400 appointments for staff to be tested.

In the statement today, the DHSC and CQC said: “Our thoughts are with everyone who has lost a loved one – and with the care workers who are working tirelessly to provide care and support during the pandemic.

“Together, we are working closely with ONS to provide a more detailed and timely picture of the impact of Covid-19 on adult social care, using the data on deaths of people with suspected and confirmed Covid-19 that CQC collects from providers.”

It added: “Issues with the completeness and consistency of this data meant that the number of Covid-19 deaths being reported did not match what CQC was hearing anecdotally from providers. In response, CQC amended its data collection form to make it easier to record and collate this data, and communicated with providers to make it clear that they should be notifying CQC of both Covid-19 and suspected Covid-19 deaths. This improved data collection began on 10 April.”

It added that the CQC had also found a significant rise in non-Covid-19 deaths, which has also been reported by the ONS.

The statement added: “This is of particular concern and we will be exploring the factors that may be driving this with local authorities, adult social-care trade associations, Public Health England and NHS England to ensure timely action is taken to safeguard people.”

The next analysis of data on deaths in care homes and the community will not be available until 28 April.