Vulnerable people still being sent to care homes without Covid tests, claims carer
27 April 2022, 16:52
Care home worker tells Shelagh Fogarty they 'have to' take in elderly residents
Care homes are being told to accept vulnerable people despite not knowing if they are coronavirus negative, according to a carer.
The High Court ruled the Government acted unlawfully by discharging patients from hospitals to care homes during the pandemic, without giving them Covid tests first.
However a listener to Shelagh Fogarty LBC's show, who works in a care home, claimed this is "absolutely, definitely, unequivocally still happening".
She said: "It's actually worse in my [care] home than in the thick of it.
"I don't even see the process has got any better - we're worse off now."
The caller added the admissions policy for her care home is "a lot slacker" than it used to be.
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High Court rules govt failed to protect care home residents from covid
Asked by Shelagh if this meant they are accepting residents without knowing if they have been Covid tested, she replied: "As carers we don't know.
"We are told we have to take this person, there is nowhere else for this person. The hospitals are full up."
The High Court case was brought by Dr Cathy Gardner and Fay Harris, both of whom lost relatives in care homes during the pandemic.
Speaking after the ruling Dr Gardner said she'd "believed all along that my father and other residents of care homes were neglected and let down by the Government".
In response, addressing the House of Commons, Boris Johnson said: "Of course I want to renew my apologies and sympathies for all those who lost loved ones during the pandemic, people who lost loved ones in care homes."
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