Care homes for elderly people

Abstract

The majority of people in residential and nursing homes for older people are over 80 years old and particularly vulnerable to the ravages of COVID-19. Almost half – 46 per cent – of all excess deaths in England and Wales from the beginning of the pandemic to early August took place in care homes. In addition, the excess death rate for recipients of domiciliary care was similar to that for care home residents (Glynn, 13 July 2020). The UK was not alone in experiencing a high death rate among care home residents: Spain, Belgium, Canada and the US were all hit particularly badly in this regard, together with Sweden, albeit that a higher proportion of over 65s live in care homes there (Grabowski, 2020). Care homes in England recorded a 79 per cent increase in excess deaths from the week ending 13 March to the week ending 26 June (the figure for Wales was 66 per cent, for Scotland 62 per cent and for Northern Ireland 46 per cent). In England, 44 per cent of homes reported at least one case of suspected or confirmed COVID-19; the highest figure for UK countries was 65 per cent for Scotland (Bell et al, 2020). Unsurprisingly, nursing homes registered more cases and more deaths than residential homes. But other factors due to structural changes in provision, such as higher death rates in larger homes, beg additional explanation (as the total number of care homes has fallen, the number of large homes – with 45 beds or more – has increased.