Care Association Chair: Lack of testing in care homes "a failure of the system"

30 August 2020, 10:28

Care Association chair: tests in care homes aren't being carried out

The chair of the National Care Association revealed that a "lack of joined up thinking" is putting care homes at risk of a second spike of coronavirus.

Nadra Ahmed told Andrew Castle that the testing capacity of care homes isn't being fulfilled by government and when it is, the service isn't anywhere near good enough.

Executive Chairman of The National Care Association revealed "they're asking for the tests and they haven't had them, results are coming back six or seven days later which makes it pointless."

"It can't be a lottery because people's lives are being affected by it."

Andrew wanted to know if the issue has been raised with the Health Secretary, and Ms Ahmed said there has been one meeting and that is all.

She suggested that testing isn't happening in care homes because "these are empty promises. This is a failure of the system failing to deliver what they're announcing."

Ms Ahmed went on to note that Public Health England "is in the forefront," of the testing fiasco, with a lack of joined-up thinking being at the core of the issue.

Andrew got to the bottom line of the issue which is that a lack of testing leads to people not being able to visit their loved ones.

"We need this testing so we can create some sort of normality for people in our services who have a right to have contact with their loved ones," said the Care Association boss.

"Without it, providers are terrified of a second wave and the introduction of the virus back into their services."

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