Virus claimed over 100 in Hartlepool care homes

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said 108 care home residents in Hartlepool died with Covid-19 between April 10 2020 and March 31 this year

The highest number of fatalities, 58, were recorded between April 10 and June 30 last year, during the early weeks of the pandemic and 18 individual care homes in the area reported at least one Covid-19 related death.

Care homes in Sunderland which recorded Covid deadth over the year were:

Brierton Lodge Care Home (2), Charlotte Grange Care Home (5), Clifton House Residential Care Home (4), De Bruce Court (1), Dinsdale Lodge Care Home (9), Elwick Grange (1), Gretton Court (10), Lindisfarne Hartlepool (4), Queens Meadow Care Home (14), Rossmere Park Care Centre (19), Seaton Hall Residential Home (4), Sheraton Court (11), Stichell House (4), Warrior Park Care Home (6), Westview Lodge Care Home (3), Westview Lodge Care Home (7), Wordsley House (1) and Wynyard Woods (3).

The CQC said it was publishing the figures for the first time in a bid to be transparent and that releasing the information earlier in the pandemic could have had a “serious impact on continuity of care” but the risks have now changed.

More than 78,500 care home residents died in England.

Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, which represents independent care homes, said: “It is important that the entire system learns lessons from this data. I would like to pay tribute to all the frontline staff who have done a heroic job. Many of them lost their lives too.”

Kate Terroni, CQC’s chief inspector for adult social care, said: “We are grateful for the time that families who lost their loved ones during the pandemic have spent meeting with us. These discussions have helped us shape our thinking around the highly sensitive issue of publishing this information.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said the Government has done "all it can" to protect vulnerable people in adult social care throughout the pandemic.

“We have provided billions of pounds to support the sector, including on infection and prevention control measures, free PPE, priority vaccinations and additional testing,” she added.