Care home deaths in Hampshire rise to 275 as county has highest number in the country

According to the Care Quality Commission between May 1 and May 8 there were 60 care home deaths linked to Covid-19 in the Hampshire County Council area, making a total of 275 since April 10.

This was the same as the previous week of April 25 when 60 more people died.

Since April 10 the total number deaths in the area, both unrelated and related to coronavirus, was 674.

And in the Portsmouth City Council and Southampton City Council areas the total of Covid-19 linked care home deaths was 36 in both.

In Portsmouth this meant an increase of nine since the week of April 25.

The leader of Portsmouth City Council, Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson, explained the council had been supporting private care homes as well as its own. He said: 'We are very close in our council-run care homes to seeing the the end of the outbreak because we are down to having very few people with symptoms.

'We aren't given the same information for private homes. But we are providing staffing for other care homes, which has been one of the biggest issues, due to the number of staff who have had to stay home due to illness or because they have underlying health conditions.

'We've also been distributing PPE and have helped with their shopping by asking supermarkets to make things easier for them at this really difficult time.'

The figures also showed 8,314 out of 20,349 deaths in care homes in England between April 10 and May 8 were linked to coronavirus.

Carers union Unison had raised fears about how this was affecting both residents and staff members. Assistant general secretary at Unison, Christina McAnea, said: 'There’s clearly no major slowdown in the devastation being experienced in care homes, causing heartache for so many families. It's not just the lives of vulnerable residents that are being lost, but care workers too.​This underlines why any return to work and school must be managed safely to avoid key workers being exposed to the virus as they travel, putting further lives at risk.'It remains vital that supplies of proper safety kit keep on coming to stop the spread within care homes and out in the community. The government must now put in place an effective system of testing, tracking and tracing as a matter of urgency.'

Councillor Liz Fairhurst, executive member for adult social care and health at Hampshire County Council, said: ‘We are going to enormous lengths to support our own homes, as well as the independent sector wherever we can, to prevent any further spread of the virus.

‘This includes continuing to operate and advise on stringent hygiene and infection control processes, in line with the latest clinical guidance from Public Health England, and to provide staff with the required PPE.’

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this story on portsmouth.co.uk. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to portsmouth.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit our Subscription page now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.