Covid Care Home Mortality Data Confidential “To Protect Commercial Interests” | World News

Covid-19 deaths at individual care homes were partially secreted by regulators to protect the commercial interests of providers in advance of the second coronavirus surge that the Guardian could reveal. It has been.

British Care Quality Committee (CQC) Care inspectors in Scotland have declined to announce which homes or providers caused the most deaths at risk of compromising the UK’s care system, which relies on private operators.

In response to the freedom to request information, regulators said they were concerned that bed supply and care standards could be jeopardized if a customer fled an affected operator.

However, a resident’s family attacked this policy, explaining that one survivor’s daughter was “ridiculous” and another relative had mortality data prepared for future outbreaks of the house. Have said.

“Commercial interest when people’s lives are in jeopardy should not be a factor,” said Sirin Kuyal, who lost her. Dad In April, he tested positive for Covid at a nursing home in West London. “The key here is the patient, not the company.”

In June, when a 98-year-old father died of a coronavirus in a nursing home near Glasgow, Findlater said: “Relatives who go to nursing homes without that information speak in large numbers. There are no deaths, which is no coincidence. Regulatory authority You should be able to provide this information. “

There is increasing evidence that links the way nursing homes are operated with the prevalence of infection. Last month’s research Coronavirus outbreaks have been shown to be up to 20 times more likely in large care homes. report On thursday According to the Guardian, it shows the relationship between occupancy and staff-to-resident ratio.

Although data on Covid deaths in individual hospital trusts are publicly available, information on deaths at specific sanatoriums has so far only appeared sporadically.

The highest confirmed death toll at age 26 Merbury coat, Durham’s home run by HC-One, the UK’s largest private provider, killed more than 1,000 people in total. 17 people Died At Sunnyview House nursing home in Bupa, Leeds.

Some of the largest providers offer a total of confirmed suspected Covid deaths. The four seasons health Care killed 567 people at Covid and Care UK, which operates 123 homes, recorded 642 deaths. Bupa reported 266 confirmed cases and refused to reveal suspected deaths.

“They are [residents and families] Helen Wildbore, director of the Hometown and Relatives Association, said: She said it was disastrous for residents and families to hear about death at home only through other sources.

The regulator’s attitude emerged after the Guardian’s request for freedom of information. CQC said the release of household mortality figures “is likely to undermine the commercial interests of care providers” and “risk of confusion regarding the spread, spread or effects of the virus.”

In a UK nursing home, 17,721 deaths from coronavirus occurred during the spring epidemic. The worst scenario, created by industry analyst Knight Frank, predicts that the provider could have 180,000 free floors by the end of 2021, amid further concerns over the winter of this year.

The 10 largest for-profit providers account for almost a quarter of the nursing home supply. In addition to small chains of one or two homes and private providers, Occupancy rate decreased Moreover, as labor costs and equipment costs rise, the government is worried that the sector will enter the winter.

“Unless we understand the size and occupancy of our homes, the underlying health of our residents, outbreaks in the area, and so on, this data can’t help us determine a provider’s response to a pandemic,” CQC said. Says.

The data said it could be used “in a way that could cause harmful behavior to the health of vulnerable people and wider public health,” and family take away a loved one from a home with a dead Given the potential, they mistakenly recognized it as safer.

However, it is constantly reviewing its position and told operators that it may disclose provider-level mortality data if it “doesn’t actively share proper information with family about outbreaks and deaths.”

A Scottish care inspector said transparency “commercially harms services commercially,” and without information such as the resident’s basic health, can lead to confusion about home safety and bed provision. They said they could put them at risk.

When asked about CQC’s concerns about harming the provider’s commercial interests, his father died at the Bupa Carehouse in Covid, Ivan Pointon said: [homes] If they don’t work, no one will be liable for this, and it’s the business structure, the policies and procedures, that causes the problem. “

Debbie Ivanova, CQC’s deputy adult social care inspector, said: “We regularly share data with the Department of Health and Human Services, partners and researchers in other countries and regions, at personalized care homes used for pandemic monitoring, planning, and response.

“By itself, the number of deaths in nursing homes does not provide a quality or safety assessment. If there is concern, we will investigate and publish the findings. If people are at risk, We take immediate action to protect them.”