The peak of coronavirus-related deaths in care homes could potentially be 'months away', the chief executive of Care England has said.
Professor Martin Green said the peak of deaths in the care sector is 'a long way behind' the peak in hospitals.
Care homes were 'clearly not regarded as a priority' in the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he claimed.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK was 'past the peak' of the coronavirus outbreak at Thursday's daily press briefing.
But Prof Green today (Friday) said it will be 'probably be weeks but could potentially be months' before the number of deaths in care homes start to fall.
He said: “We are a long way behind, because despite what the Health Secretary says, about us being always regarded as a priority, well clearly we weren’t.”
“Clearly we weren’t at the centre of this pandemic. So I just think the Government needs to understand that, if they knew in January we were the high-risk area, and it’s quite clear from the very start of this that people with long-term and underlying health conditions were the most vulnerable, where every single person in a care home falls into that category, why wasn’t the response quicker?”
Estimating a timescale for the care home peak, he said: “I think it will probably, hopefully, be weeks, but it could potentially be months.”
Prof Green said NHS England and Public Health England will be held accountable if a future second wave of COVID-19 emerges.
Responding to reports that NHS England director Professor Keith Willett told NHS chiefs care homes will be the 'epicentres of transmission' for coronavirus spreading back into society, he said: “Care homes are in this situation because of failures of NHS England and PHE and actually, if there is a second wave, it will be a continuation of their failure that produces it.”
Speaking to the MEN, care home staff across our region said they feel 'powerless' as they lose resident after resident to coronavirus.
They said they have seen patients test positive for COVID-19 in hospital before being moved to a care home without disclosure of their condition - risking the lives of staff and the elderly.
According to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), there were more than 4,000 coronavirus-related deaths in care homes up to April 24.
On Tuesday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government would finally expand testing to all care home residents and staff in England whether they showed symptoms or not.
He also confirmed that now on, the daily death announcement will cover the whole of the UK, showing the number of deaths across all settings, whether they are in hospital, in a care home or elsewhere in the community.
Earlier this week, the Manchester Evening News revealed that half the Greater Manchester care home deaths reported to the social care regulator are now linked to COVID-19.
In the fortnight to last Friday, 48pc of those notified to the CQC here involved the virus, according to statistics released on Tuesday.
Oldham recorded the highest percentage - where more than 60pc of care home deaths notified to the regulator were linked to COVID-19.
Separately, the latest ONS data shows the number of coronavirus-linked deaths in Greater Manchester’s care homes more than doubled in the week to April 17, accounting for one in five of the conurbation’s total at that point.
The CQC's figures differ from those above, which relate only to COVID-19 deaths in hospitals.
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