Coronavirus: Covid-19 deaths in Brighton and Hove care homes

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures, released yesterday, come as care homes “take things into their own hands” to cope with the crisis.

They show total deaths in Brighton and Hove care homes have more than quadrupled since the outbreak began and have now surpassed the total number dying in the city’s hospitals.

David Steedman, who runs Arlington House care home in Hove with wife Roxana, said the figures were “tragic”

He said: “I have to say, this has to be expected, look at what has happened in Spain and Madrid. How can the Government have failed to notice this was coming our way?

“We are care homes for elderly people, we are not a facility built to cope with a highly infectious disease and we have all realised at this stage that we have to take things into our own hands.”

In the week leading up to April 14, ten people died officially from Covid-19 in the city’s care homes and 14 died from the disease in hospital.

In total that week, 35 people died in care homes compared with 21 in hospital.

Fears have previously been raised that the real figure for coronavirus-related deaths could be higher than official statistics.

The Department of Health and Social Care and the Care Quality Commission said they were now working with care providers to make it easier to report virus-related deaths.

The latest figures also show total deaths in care homes have more than quadrupled since the outbreak began. In the week ending March 6, the same week the UK recorded its first death, only eight people died in Brighton care homes.

The total number of people who have died in care homes this year broken down by week

Mr Steedman, who cares for dementia patients in his care home in Tennis Road, said: “As purely preventative measures, our hard-working staff are wearing masks throughout the shift, we are taking temperatures, the staff are coming in through a different door to wash and put on PPE [personal protective equipment] and we are doing random oxygen saturation testing.

"These are all measures we have had to come up with ourselves.”

A third of all coronavirus deaths in England and Wales are now happening in care homes, the figures show.

ONS data showed there were 2,000 such deaths in the week ending April 17, double the previous week. It brings the total number of deaths in care homes linked to the virus since the start of the pandemic to 3,096.

An outbreak in Oaklands Nursing Home in Dyke Road Avenue, Hove, is understood to have started on March 12.

One of the first residents to show symptoms, Giuseppe Casciello, died on March 30, two days after his 95th birthday. It is not known how many people have now died from the virus at the home.

Hove MP Peter Kyle said: “Staff have been put under unimaginable stress and strain and families under undue worry and heartache. It shows how the care home sector is viewed by government as second class to the rest of the health service and this has got to change.”

Lloyd Russell-Moyle, MP for Brighton Kemptown, said the figures were “troubling”.

The Labour representative said: “It shows how our care system in broken.

“We need to make sure we get PPE and support to care homes.

“Even today I’ve had calls from care workers saying they don’t have PPE.”

• 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