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The Guardian learned that the devastating spread of the coronavirus among nursing homes has led to an increasing number of families seeking legal advice on how to bring their relatives home.
A law firm said it had received at least 10 calls per week from families who wanted to reverse the guidance that prevents them from withdrawing their loved ones.
Advice lines said they had also seen a small but growing number of calls from people experiencing what a lawyer called a new “fear factor … fear that the coronavirus will spread throughout the nursing home and all die “
Recorded deaths in Covid-19 nursing homes have been running at around 2,400 per week. When Boris Johnson said on Friday that the UK had passed the peak of the pandemic and could see a light at the end of the tunnel, care networks responded by saying that this was not true in care homes.
Over the weekend, HC-One, Britain’s largest home care provider, wrote to social service officials requesting a bailout after the model showed that employment was expected to drop from its normal 90% by 70% in July.
In a letter seen by The Guardian, David Smith, the company’s chief financial officer, said death rates were currently running at eight times admissions. The network had seen 637 resident deaths and three care worker deaths attributed to Covid, and the current death rate was three times higher than last year and the highest on record.
HC-One, which has 328 households and nearly 20,000 residents, has asked the councils to continue paying them at occupancy rates of 90%. In a note accompanying the presentation of their 2019 accounts, he said: “The directors consider that the impact of the specific negative scenario of Covid-19 on the group’s occupancy levels and cash flows is so significant that it represents an uncertainty. material that may raise significant doubts about the … ability of the group to continue as a going concern. “
Amid concerns about the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing in nursing homes, families now appear to be taking matters into their own hands.
Emma Jones, a human rights attorney specializing in Leigh Day, said she receives at least 10 weekly calls from families struggling to persuade social workers from local authorities to allow them to remove residents from care homes.
“Before the crisis, I often did not receive inquiries from families who wanted to take their loved ones out of residential care homes and into their own homes,” he said. “But families are now concerned that care homes are not the safest place for their loved ones and, as a result, they want them back home.”
“The difference now before the crisis is the fear factor. The fear that the coronavirus will spread throughout the nursing home and everyone will die. Not having permission to visit loved ones in care homes makes fear worse. The concern has increased. “
Jo, who did not want to publish her last name, took her 84-year-old mother, Phyllis, to her home last week. She said, “I am so glad that I finally brought her home.
“I have been struggling to get her for weeks because the local authority did not want to release her. Last weekend, I was flooded with tears because I thought I was not going to persuade them, but I did not give up.”
Jo obtained permission, but then the care home reported her first two cases of Covid-19. “I called and said I wanted to get her out two days earlier than we had agreed,” he said. “They fully understood and I picked it up a few hours later.”
Phyllis said it came out “through the skin of her teeth.” She said: “I felt so vulnerable, locked up there and unable to do anything. At the moment, care homes are more dangerous than being at home and I think I was lucky to escape. “
There are over 400,000 people in nursing homes in England and Wales. A significant number have been evaluated as unable to make safe decisions about their own care.
Deprivation of Liberty (DoL) safeguards mean that these people cannot leave their care homes without the permission of a social worker. In the year until March 31, 2019, 116,940 DoL were granted in residences or hospitals.
Helen Wildbore, director of the Family and Residents Association, said her helpline had seen an increase in calls on the subject last week.
She said: “After news of the increase in the number of deaths in nursing homes, we received at least 10 calls in four days. But for those who do not have the ability to choose where to live, bringing their loved ones home is not always as easy as some families might initially think: Many residents in nursing homes have DoL authorizations, which means that families will have to work with a social worker to make sure moving is the best thing for that person. “
“We have been helping family members explore practical considerations, such as the care needs of their family members, including their medical and mobility requirements. They then have to consider any risks associated with removing the person from the care home. Many of our callers have come to the difficult conclusion that moving their relative is not a viable option. “
According to Public Health England, there have been outbreaks in 29% of the country’s 15,000 homes, although it is believed to be an underestimate.
Oliver Lewis, a Doughty Street Chambers lawyer who specializes in protective court matters, said: “Nursing homes increase residents’ risk of infection due to physical proximity and multiple contacts between residents and staff. .
“Nursing home residents are more likely than the general population to have comorbidities related to respiratory disease, heart disease, their immune system, diabetes and obesity, which increases the risk that they will have a more severe form of the infection.”
