Researchers from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and The London School of Economics discuss whether the UK Government Really did throw a protective ring around care homes during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The objectives of the study were to: “examine COVID-19 policies for care homes in England and to describe providers’ experiences of those policies in May and June 2020.”

The methods they used were: “Mixed methods including policy analysis and an anonymous online survey of English care home providers, recruited using webinars and WhatsApp groups about their experiences of funding, testing, PPE, isolation and staffing until the end of May and early June 2020.”

Their findings are:  “Although social care policies in England have aligned with those advised by the World Health Organization, they were arguably delayed and were not implemented effectively. Testing had taken place in 70% of care homes surveyed but only 36% of residents had been tested, of whom 16% were positive. Managers were unable to effectively implement isolation policies and reported that workforce and funding support did not always reach them. Guidance changed frequently and was conflicting and could not always be implemented, for example when personal protection equipment was extremely expensive and difficult to source.”

For full details of this paper click here

Researchers:

Selina Rajan, The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, GB

Adelina Comas-Herrera, The London School of Economics, GB

Martin Mckee. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, GB