| Care home coronavirus testing pledge abandoned 17:01 - Aug 2 with 139 views | BringBackTheRedRoom |
Ministers have abandoned a key pledge to test all people in care homes regularly throughout the summer, plunging the test and trace system into chaos.
In a leaked memo sent to local authority chief executives on Friday night, Professor Jane Cummings – the government’s adult social care testing director – said “previously advised timelines for rolling out regular testing in care homes” were being torn up because of “unexpected delays”.
Regular testing of almost two million residents and staff was supposed to have begun on July 6. But Cummings said it would not reach all care homes for older people and those with dementia until September 7.
Other adult care homes will only be able to order test kits from August 31. She also admitted that the system for registering tests was “unnecessarily burdensome”.
A separate memo circulated among health officials last week said 64% of homes for the elderly or those with dementia had not had a round of “asymptomatic” testing. Of 9,144 homes, only 3,271 were sent testing equipment.
A senior public health official said more lives would “undoubtedly” be lost as a result.
Details emerged as it was revealed that Boris Johnson has drawn up “nuclear” options to prevent a new nationwide lockdown that point to millions more over- fifties being told to stay at home. The prime minister held a war game with Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, on Wednesday and asked officials to draw up proposals to expand the number of people who are shielded if local lockdowns do not work. He also signed off on tough measures to curb any upsurge of the virus in London.
In the worst-case scenarios:
â— Millions aged 50 to 70 will get personalised risk ratings, adding them to the 2.2 million vulnerable people already shielded
â— People would face a ban on travelling beyond the M25
â— All travel corridors with foreign countries would be scrapped so that everyone arriving into the UK from abroad would have to quarantine for 14 days
â— Londoners would face stay-at-home orders and be banned from overnight stays in others’ homes.
Scientists on the Sage emergency committee demanded regular testing in care homes to prevent people with no symptoms spreading the virus between homes.
But Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, which represents providers, said: “This commitment has not been delivered. Many care homes have not had tests for a significant time.”
Analysis of official figures shows that the tracing regime is also in trouble. Serco and Sitel, the two outsourcing giants paid £192m to run the scheme, are only reaching 52% of the contacts named by infected patients, even when they live under the same roof. Professor Sheila Bird, the former vice-president of the Royal Statistical Society, described the figures as “extraordinary”.
Problems with test and trace are causing tensions at the top of government. A No 10 official was overheard last week contemplating taking responsibility for test and trace away from the Department of Health, denouncing the system as the product of “Matt’s mates”, a reference to Matt Hancock, the health secretary, Baroness Harding, who runs NHS test and trace, and Lord Bethell, the health minister in charge of testing.
It is understood Sunak has clashed with Harding, amid frustration in the Treasury that there is not enough testing in the workplace to encourage people back to work and that £10bn has been spent on the system without it yet working as intended.
A government spokesman said: “A combination of factors has meant that a more limited number of testing kits, predominantly used in care homes, are currently available for asymptomatic retesting and we are working round the clock to restore capacity.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/care-home-coronavirus-testing-pledge-abandone | |
| ‘Where there is harmony, may we bring discord. Where there is truth, may we bring error. Where there is faith, may we bring doubt. And where there is hope, may we bring despair’ |
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| Care home coronavirus testing pledge abandoned on 19:24 - Aug 2 with 123 views | spell_chekker |
The government have abandoned many of the people who have voted for them.
More than that, there's a "general" opinion in society that it's ONLY / MAINLY old people who are dying from the coronavirus and therefore we're not that bothered about it. They are dispensable, and we don't care!!!!!
All very distasteful to me. | |
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| Care home coronavirus testing pledge abandoned on 20:21 - Aug 2 with 116 views | spudgun |
A theme is beginning to develop:
Make something up on Monday.
Review it on Tuesday.
Abandon it on Wednesday.
And after one year of Boris Johnson, it should be perfectly clear of the difference in wanting to be Prime Minister, and wanting to govern. Like much of Johnson`s life, getting the prize is the finishing line to him... | | | |
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