Care sector chief questions government's "outrageous" response to care homes during pandemic
8 April 2020, 17:58 | Updated: 8 April 2020, 18:00
Care home chief challenges "outrageous" response to care homes
Care sector chief brands the response to care homes during this pandemic as "heartbreaking" and "outrageous."
National Care Association chief Nadra Ahmed said it was "heartbreaking" that the care sector have not been able to get protective personal equipment as the fundamental aim of a care home is to create a place of safety.
Ms Ahmed branded the response "outrageous" when the care sector asked for PPE; they were told "very quickly that everything had been requisitioned for the NHS."
"We're paying 600% more for items of PPE we wouldn't normally use but providers are having to force them and then pay the extra... it's not sustainable for us to do that."
There have been reports of NHS England sending patients back to care homes without testing them for coronavirus due to a lack of tests.
"The difficulty is what NHS England are doing is trying to protect the people that are in the service and that's right and proper. The challenge here is the external world doesn't seem to realise just how important the testing would be," Ms Ahmed said.
"You cannot expect a responsible care provider not to be asking the questions about testing...we can't just take people because we don't have separate wards," she said, "we need them to be tested."
