Northamptonshire care providers given money to help fund personal protective equipment

The county council is making payments out of its hardship fund to help fund personal, protective equipment
The funds will go towards paying for personal protective equipment.The funds will go towards paying for personal protective equipment.
The funds will go towards paying for personal protective equipment.

Northamptonshire residential homes and care providers hit financially during the Covid-19 pandemic have been given hundreds of thousands of pounds to help them through the crisis.

The county council has given the funds to the county’s care providers to help cover additional costs such personal protective equipment and increased operating costs.

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Care homes have now become the new frontline of the pandemic with more than a fifth of care homes in Northamptonshire having had an outbreak.

Latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (to the week ending April 27) record that 66 care homes across the area have been affected with Kettering and Northampton having been impacted the most, each having three new outbreaks.

£212,000 has been processed through the hardship fund which is being paid for out of the £30.6 million grant given to NCC by the Government to help it cover the coronavirus related costs in the area.

Working with the Clinical Commissioning Group, the council now has a mobile taskforce who are attending any homes that are struggling and need help with training, advice or clinical help.

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Cabinet member for adult social care Cllr Ian Morris said: “We know that this is a particularly challenging time for care providers, unfortunately by their very nature are a high risk given that the elderly and those with underlying health conditions are most at risk from this virus.

“That’s why alongside Public Health England, the CCG and CQC we worked quickly and put measures in place to help keep customers and staff as safe as possible. This includes the provider hardship fund, and we have responded to requests for payment with almost £200,000 being allocated already. We have also worked to make sure they get their uplift information much earlier than usual.

“We also set up the provider hub, which has since become national best practice and has been mandated nationally as a requirement in all areas.

“We have been regularly contacting care homes to check they are coping okay, and where any short-term issues have been picked up we have responded rapidly, in some cases providing support such as PPE equipment within just half an hour of being contacted.

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“At the same time we have been working with GPs and community health partners around prevention and infection control and with public health to identify and track all cases and outbreaks. With the support of Northampton General Hospital, we were also able to undertake staff testing for all care home staff ahead of the national programme being launched. We have also set up additional sites, supported by health partners, should we need to move any residents or for any residents that cannot return to their care home from hospital.

“Above all, our focus remains the welfare of staff and residents and we want to assure them and the families of all care home residents that we continue to do everything we can to protect them at this challenging time.”

However testing for care home staff has not been blanket across all of the county’s 250 care homes. It is understood that staff are only being tested when they have symptoms, leading many people with family members in care homes to fear for their safety, as it is unclear whether all care home staff are coronavirus-free.

Some residents have contracted Covid-19 despite having not left the care home since the pandemic began.

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In the period before lockdown 291 people were moved out of Northamptonshire’s two hospitals and into residential homes on a temporary basis. This move was to free up hospital beds to make space for the expected surge in Covid-19 patients and was paid for out of budgets given to health providers by the government.

The county council is now predicting seventy per cent will now become permanent residents of the care homes and could cost the authority an additional £8.1m a year – representing double the number of new care home residents the authority would expect to accommodate over a typical year.