Care homes in England have been warned by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) of a rise in Covid-19 infections within the sector.
In a letter to providers, DHSC said testing data revealed an increase in the number of positive results in care homes and action is required to prevent a rise in further cases.
DHSC director of adult social care delivery Stuart Miller urged care home bosses to test all staff, including agency staff and those without symptoms, every week.
Miller also called on any care homes that have not yet registered for repeat testing to do so, adding it has “no significant backlog and are able to send out test kits within several days of orders being placed” despite recent delays to the rollout.
In addition, Miller stressed the importance of consistent use of PPE due the possibility that staff or residents could become infected prior to the virus being detected.
DHSC meanwhile said it will shortly publish an Adult Social Care Winter Plan following work by the Adult Social Care Covid-19 Taskforce.
The plan will set out the support and resources to be made available nationally, as well as describing the actions for local areas.
