THE council says it has not been approached about provision of specific – or “hot” – care homes for coronavirus patients.

A leaked email from an MP to fellow MPs said there were plans to treat people with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 in specific homes.

This would be similar to the way GP practices in Brighton and Hove have assigned “hot” sites for patients with the virus and “cold” sites for everyone else.

The email, seen by The Argus, said: “With care home staff and certain residents now being tested there is a plan being drawn up to deliver local ‘hot’ care homes to control virus issues on release [from hospital], deliver and prioritise care home PPE [personal protective equipment] where most needed and ensure the other care homes are not sent backwards (this is similar to the GP practice model on hot and cold sites).”

But when contacted by The Argus about the plan, Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group referred us to the NHS Incident team, which in turn passed us to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

DHSC, which was contacted via email and telephone, did not respond to several requests for comment.

The Argus:

Brighton and Hove City Council said: “We have not been approached about the concept of hot care homes.

“We are working closely with the NHS to make sure care for people in care homes is managed well and safely.

“We are working with our NHS colleagues to ensure we work together in agreed ways that put residents and staff needs as a primary concern.”

In the leaked email, MPs were told of plans for “hot” care homes said to be similar to “hot” GP hubs.

These are special GP surgeries exclusively for coronavirus patients in a bid to tackle the pandemic’s predicted peak.

Health chiefs have ordered GPs to set up “hot hubs” for Covid-19 sufferers to determine whether they should be sent to hospital.

Doctors will test coronavirus patients’ pulse, temperature and breathing rate at these hubs.

Other surgeries will become “cold hubs” for all other patients to prevent the infected from passing on the virus to others.

It comes after staff threatened to walk out over plans to move hospital patients into Ireland Lodge, a home for dementia patients, in Woodingdean amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In an explosive letter from staff, the council was accused of a “cowardly dereliction of duty” over plans to transfer patients from the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

The Argus:

The council has since said no new residents will be admitted “at this time”.

It said any suggestion Ireland Lodge would become a “hot care home”, similar to the GP hot sites, was “completely untrue”.

  • The coronavirus Sussex Crisis Fund has been set up to help those affected by the pandemic. The Argus’s charity and American Express have each donated £50,000 to kick-start the appeal. Grants will usually be for up to £5,000. More information is available at www.sussexgiving. org.uk/apply. To donate visit www.totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/sussexcrisisfund