Coronavirus testing for care residents and workers: welcome but Government response has been 'extremely slow'
15 April 2020
It is welcome news the government has today announced testing for care residents, social care staff and people discharged from hospital to be tested before going into care homes. The care sector has been asking for this since day 1 of the pandemic, and the government has been extremely slow to respond to the emerging crisis.
Social care is an essential service and needs to be treated as one. It seems that the mantra what gets measured matters has been applied to the lives of people in care homes, and without the vital test to tell us that many were suffering, ministers and officials were unable to see the impact of the pandemic outside of the hospital environment.
Now, more than ever, social care has a vital and important part to play in supporting whole communities in the fight against COVID-19 and keeping many different groups of vulnerable people safe.
Alongside NHS staff and other essential services, care professionals are ‘the front line’ workers. The government needs to rapidly equip the whole health and social care system with the equipment and the resources required to fight the fight on every front to keep safe the old, the frail and the vulnerable during this pandemic.
Read the Government’s announcement about testing in social care settings.