Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance the Government has issued to care homes on mitigating the risk of staff coming into contact with residents who have tested positive for covid-19.

Supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) to the care sector are fundamental for both the good care of individuals with suspected symptoms of COVID-19 and equally vital to protect the care workers in the social care settings.

To address this, the Government has stepped up support, supply and distribution of PPE to the care sector. As of 8 May, we have released 60.9 million items of PPE to designated wholesalers for onward sale to social care providers. In addition, between 6 April and 12 May, we have delivered over 94 million items of PPE across 38 Local Resilience Forums to respond to spikes in need.

Working with care sector representative bodies, PHE published tailored guidance ‘COVID-19 How to work safely in care homes’ on 17 April, as well as a specialised training video demonstrating the donning and doffing of PPE in care home settings. The PHE guidance also provides tables on when and which PPE to use.