Covid-19: Care Homes

Lord Bilimoria Excerpts

Wednesday 20th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

My noble friend raises one of the key features of our social care system. It is provided by 12,000 different care home providers—or 16,000, depending on how you measure it—many of whom have very different business models. This creates a rich and diverse tapestry of provision, but it is also extremely difficult to engage with from a central campaign provision. That is one of the challenges that we have faced when rolling out support such as PPE and testing. We do not believe that the business models are inappropriate, but undoubtedly we have challenges when we are trying to reach all the care homes with an equal and central format.

[Lord Bilimoria (CB)]

My Lords, the Statement says that 27% of coronavirus deaths in England have taken place in care homes, whereas in Europe the average is around half—but does the Minister agree that in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea there were zero deaths in care homes, and in Germany, a country with a population of 90 million people, 3,000 deaths? Also, can he confirm that no patients were ever sent from a care home to a hospital and then back from a hospital to a care home without being tested? Can he reassure us, as the Statement says, that the testing of all care home residents and staff, with and without symptoms, is now taking place? That is 2.5 million people. When will it be done by, and will it be done on a regular basis? Some care homes are saying that it will be necessary to test many times a week.

[Lord Bethell]

The statistics which the noble Lord refers to are correct. It is probably more appropriate to compare the British care home statistics with those in Europe rather than Asia, which had previous experience and different models. With regard to care home testing, not everyone needs to be tested every day. Not every care home has an outbreak, and we must focus our resources on those that do. Regular testing may be necessary for them, but it is not correct that, for example, 2.5 million people need to be tested every week. That is not the advice from the scientists or the CMO. We want to focus our tests where Covid-19 has been found, and we must use our testing resources to expunge the disease from those locations.

Covid-19: Response

Lord Bilimoria Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[The Deputy Speaker]

I do not think that the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, is with us this evening, so I call the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria.

[Lord Bilimoria (CB)]

My Lords, the Minister said that isolation is essential for those who have symptoms. It was only yesterday that the Government finally included the loss of the senses of smell and taste as a symptom. I fell ill with coronavirus on 15 March and lost my senses of taste and smell. At the time, it was not an official symptom. I could not even get tested then—indeed, not even doctors and nurses could—yet the WHO has been saying since the middle of March that we should “Test, test, test”. Eventually we have come around to doing it now and we are ramping it up. As the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, pointed out, the WHO said eight weeks ago that the loss of taste and smell should be considered a symptom. How many hundreds of thousands of people have now been infected and have infected others because this was not an official symptom? The WHO has also said that social distancing should be one metre, but we say two metres. Why are we not listening to the WHO, or only eventually listening to it? Why are there these inconsistencies?

[Lord Bethell]

I am very sorry that the noble Lord had coronavirus, and it is good to see him on such fine form and in characteristically enthusiastic shape. The bottom line is that lots of people do not lose their sense of smell or taste, and the addition of this symptom was delayed because we did not want to put off those who had not lost their sense of smell and taste from declaring their symptoms. The WHO is right about many things but not about everything.

Covid-19: Government Response

Lord Bilimoria Excerpts

Wednesday 6th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

The Government have gone about the Covid crisis with a great amount of transparency; a very large number of figures are published every single day. I am afraid that some of the questions my noble friend asks are beyond the reach of measurement in our statistical accountability at the moment, but I completely take on board and celebrate her call for transparency. We are working as hard as we can to get as many numbers out to the public as possible.

[Lord Bilimoria (CB)]

My Lords, tracking, tracing and isolating can be effective only if there is adequate testing. It was reassuring to hear the Prime Minister say today that the target was to be 200,000 tests a day by the end of this month. Earlier, he referred to 250,000 tests a day. Can the Minister confirm that millions of tests a week will be available, not just to patients and staff in hospitals and care homes but to the whole British public? In particular, they should be available to workers so that they can get tested and have the confidence to go to work, while consumers can have the confidence to go to restaurants and hotels, bars and venues. Can he also confirm whether pin-prick antibody tests will be available in the millions later this month to the whole British public so that people such as me, who have had Covid-19, can get tested? This would show that we have the immunity to go out to work and participate in the economy without infecting people or getting infected ourselves.

[Lord Bethell]

“Track, test and isolate” does not necessarily depend on doing millions of tests. South Korea, which has an extremely effective regime, does only 20,000 tests a day. That is because its whole society has worked hard to get the prevalence of the infection as low as possible. I celebrate the fact that the British public have committed to the lockdown, but I cannot disguise from the House the fact that the lockdown needs to continue to get the prevalence rate lower.

Covid-19: Social Care Services

Lord Bilimoria Excerpts

Thursday 23rd April 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bilimoria (CB)]

My Lords, just today, Dr Hans Kluge, the WHO regional director for Europe, said:

“According to estimates from countries in the European region, up to half of those who have died from Covid-19 were resident in long-term care facilities. This is an unimaginable human tragedy.”


In her excellent opening speech, the noble Baroness, Lady Wheeler, said that the social care sector was overwhelmed, undervalued and underpaid. The noble Lord, Lord Alton, said that we have just heard today that, sadly, 400 people a day are now dying of Covid-19 coronavirus in care homes. It appears to be sweeping through the council and privately run care homes, with some estimating that up to two-thirds of their residents are infected.

I am an association member of Bupa, which has several care homes. Paula Franklin, its chief medical officer, said that it was only last week that,

“the effect of Covid-19 on those who live and work in Britain’s … care sector has been in the headlines.”

Until then, we did not even know whether they were being counted in the sad daily death rates being told to us; now they are. Of this attention on care homes, she continued:

“In many ways, this is welcome and long overdue. Social care is something of a ‘Cinderella sector’ within the public health system. And yet the NHS could not function without it”,


much as we are thankful for and admire the NHS.

“Covid-19 has now intensified this. Right from the start, although there was a lot that wasn’t yet known about the virus, it was clear our society’s most elderly, frail and fragile were at the greatest risk from the virus … So, while the spotlight was on the … ICU … those working in social care”


are now also in the spotlight. They are the second front line in our battle against Covid-19.

There are 1 million people in care—in care homes, in their own homes and in the community—and some 1.5 million or 1.6 million people looking after them. Can the Minister confirm how many people from ethnic minorities work in the care sector and how many from the European Union? Will we be able to recruit sufficiently after the Government bring in their new immigration policies?

As has been mentioned by many noble Lords, it is shambolic that the care sector has not had an allocation of PPE. Will that now be available? Will the Minister confirm that extra funding will also be made available?

When it comes to testing, the social care sector has been at the back of the queue. Will the Minister now confirm that all patients in care homes and all workers in care homes will be tested? This is a sector in which many workers are elderly themselves. They need to be protected and shielded as much as the residents, yet so many of them are now living in the care homes because they do not want to bring in the virus—but we hear stories of care home patients who go into hospital being sent back without being tested. Will the Minister confirm that there will be regular testing for all 2.6 million people in the care sector—every one of the 1.6 million people who work in it and the 1 million patients?

In conclusion, the 1.6 million people who work in the care sector deserve the same recognition and thanks as the 1.5 million people who work in the NHS. Tonight, when we stand on our doorsteps and applaud the NHS, we will also be applauding our care home heroes.