Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made for the implications of his policy of the Alzheimer’s Society survey, published 13 May 2020, that found over half of care homes surveyed felt unable to safely self-isolate residents with covid-19 symptoms.

The safety of residents and staff is our priority. If appropriate isolation or cohorted care is not available with a local care provider, the individual’s local authority will be asked to secure alternative appropriate accommodation and care for the remainder of the required isolation period, in line with the adult social care action plan.

Costs of providing this accommodation are covered by the £1.3 billion COVID-19 discharge funding via the National Health Service.

On 15 May we published our care homes support plan. This is the next phase of our response for care homes.

We have announced an additional £600 million Infection Control Fund for Adult Social Care to reduce transmission of COVID-19 in care homes as part of a wider support package.