Our stricken care homes are being told they must take in Covid-19 patients if they want emergency Government cash.
Bosses warn this risks sparking further cases and deepening the crisis for hard-up sites struggling to stay open and keep the vulnerable safe.
Care England said: “Some local commissioners have stated that for care providers to receive emergency funding, they will in return be required to accept Covid-19-positive individuals to their services.
“Care England is of the view this contravenes the rights of the provider to themselves make admissions based on their understanding of what they have the capacity to provide, and to protect existing staff and residents.”
It comes as care providers are hammered by increased costs because of the need to buy in extra PPE and pay premium rates for agency staff.
Other conditions they face to get vital extra cash include filing detailed invoices for kit.
Chiefs insist the sector is “weeks or months” away from the peak – with experts warning more people could already be dying in care homes than in hospitals.
The Local Government Association is urging councils to raise payments by 10 per cent to cover increased costs. Yet Care England says red tape is holding up its share of a £3.2billion bailout pot handed to authorities – and the sector risks collapse if action is not taken straight away.
One care provider dealing with more than 100 local authorities has reportedly seen just 7.5 per cent of them cough up.
Care England boss Martin Green said: “Many costs arising as a result of Covid-19 are yet to become fully apparent. Sufficient funding is of fundamental importance in giving providers confidence in dealing with current issues but also the uncertainty of the coming weeks and months.
“Ultimately, in this time of crisis, social care providers should be given the necessary resources to allow them to focus upon providing care and support to society’s most vulnerable, as opposed to having to engage with local authorities and struggle for every part of their viability.”
Labour says councils imposing red tape should be bypassed to ease the logjam, with payments made direct to care providers instead.
Shadow Minister for Social Care Liz Kendall said: “Social care providers must get the funding they need to keep people safe and well.
“The Government has rightly said the NHS will get ‘whatever it needs’. The same must be true for social care, which was already underfunded.
“Providers must be compensated for additional costs and, if necessary, the Government must consider passing this funding directly to providers, as the Irish Government has.”
Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick announced emergency funding in March. But thousands of care home residents have since died.
In the week ending April 19, 651 of the 682 outbreaks across England were in care homes, Public Health England said. And former pensions minister Baroness Altmann said the 400,000 elderly in care homes had been “abandoned like lambs to slaughter”.
At Berelands Care Home in Prestwick, Ayrshire, 20 residents thought to have the virus died last month. Stanley Park Care Home in County Durham reported 16 deaths from Covid-19 among residents.
And Oak Springs in Wavertree, Liverpool, reported 15 deaths over a two-week period in April.
In a paper this week, Care England said the sector has been historically underfunded and had 122,000 vacant jobs before the pandemic.
Last year, it was revealed 100 care home operators collapsed in 2018, taking the total over five years to 400.
Now, Covid-19 means even more are struggling to make ends meet.
Figures from Italy, Spain, France, Ireland and Belgium last month showed half of all virus deaths were in care homes. One Italian site lost 190.
Critics also say the UK Government is still ignoring the need to test and protect vulnerable care residents.
The LGA said: “The £3.2billion funding made available to councils as a result of Covid-19 is much needed.
“However, there are many calls on this funding across the full range of services and additional resources will be needed to allow councils to support social care and other services.”
The daughter of a woman who caught Covid-19 in her care home said she faced dying scared and alone until the family intervened.
Lawyer Linda Duncan said: “If the Government is going to sacrifice the elderly, they should be transparent about it, and make sure care homes have enough staff qualified to provide dignity and care.”
Linda and son Anton had Anne Duncan, 91, moved from her care home in Edinburgh to the city’s Western General Hospital for her last two days, where the retired teacher was treated with dignity.
Linda said: “She put out her hand and there was someone to take it. She would have died alone in the home.”
Linda and Anton pushed for the move when they learned Anne would not be given oxygen or hydrated.
The Sunday People has desperately fought to shine a light on the scandal unfolding in care homes across the UK.
Covid-19 has created unprecedented challenges for NHS staff, emergency services and all frontline workers.
But we have been at the forefront of campaigning for action over the emerging human tragedy in residential homes for the elderly.
Even in the early days of the pandemic, the Sunday People told how care homes were a “ticking time-bomb”.
Four weeks ago – on April 5 – experts warned on these pages that the spread of virus through old people’s residential homes would lead to widespread loss of life.
And we told how elderly Covid-19 patients were dying in agony because their care home staff could not provide adequate end-of-life care.
Last week we reported calls for corona-stricken care home residents to be evacuated and be treated by medical teams at the country’s emergency Nightingale hospitals – many of which currently have scores of empty beds.
After our report, Cabinet minister Dominic Raab, who has filled in for Boris Johnson during the PM’s recovery from coronavirus, confirmed the Government was looking into moving virus-hit residents to the temporary hospitals to protect other residents.
