Half the 650 care homes in Wales threatened with closure.<\/p>\n
A care home boss who has lost 11 residents to suspected Covid-19 in one of his facilities has called for more urgent support from the Welsh Government amid warnings of mass closures across Wales.<\/p>\n
Sanjiv Joshi, the managing director of the Caron Group, which has 14 homes across South and Mid Wales, warned the coronavirus pandemic was pushing an already fragile sector over the edge financially.<\/p>\n
Mr Joshi is a leading member of Care Forum Wales which has warned that up to half the 650 care homes in Wales are threatened with closure unless urgent action is taken.<\/p>\n
Each of the deaths, he said, was a \u201cterrible tragedy\u201d that had been a traumatic experience for his \u201cheroically dedicated and caring\u201d staff.<\/p>\n
It also added up to a \u201cnational disaster\u201d in the making because he feared many care homes would not survive the pandemic, particularly the smaller stand-alone family-run homes serving rural communities.<\/p>\n
The company provides care for 600 residents and employs around 1,000 staff at care homes across Cardiff, Barry, Bridgend, Brynmawr, Pontardawe, Swansea, Haverfordwest and Rhayader in Powys.<\/p>\n
The occupancy level at the home where the Covid-19 deaths had occurred was down from 89 per cent to 46 per cent and was losing \u00a310,000 a week as a result.<\/p>\n
According to Mr Joshi, the Caron Group had taken the decision in March not to admit any new residents into their homes for fear they might be importing the virus into their homes.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWhat we\u2019re really worried about is the financial support that is needed to meet this unprecedented challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe as providers are making sure resources are available for our staff to get on with the real challenge that is at hand, which is to protect the homes from the virus entering and containing the situation when it does.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have unprecedented challenges, How do we manage our residents who get infected and at the same time, how do we also continue to deliver the high quality of care that we must for the other residents. Similarly, how do we\u00a0 protect our most valuable asset which is our staff ,who are equally susceptible to the virus?<\/p>\n
\u201cTo try do that we need exceptional amount of resources in terms of PPE, other equipment and most importantly an increase in staffing to deliver on all the additional measures being implemented. Also, we cannot avoid the measures needed to ensure that our staff remain safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had 11 residents passing away from suspected Covid-19 at one of our homes along with others who had a natural death. So we\u2019re down from 89 per cent occupancy to 46 per cent at this home.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur staff have risen magnificently to the challenge. They are brave, highly skilled, professional individuals but the situation is having a huge emotional impact. Losing residents who they cared for and treated like family is a traumatic experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had decided not to admit because when we did admit, we realised we were importing Covid-19 into the home because we would have residents coming from exposure in hospital and were carriers. Being asymptomatic they were bringing the infection in unnoticed.\u00a0 As a result, we\u2019ve had this huge spread in our home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not blaming hospitals because I don\u2019t think even the hospitals realised that they were carriers because they were asymptomatic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe shock caused by the pandemic is so great and so big, that you run out of money very quickly. Our immediate focus has been in providing and mobilising resources for our homes with the sole purpose of protecting our residents and staff. This is at a substantial financial cost, which has to be secondary in the current battle.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever the financial fragility gets exposed very quickly and a provider cannot sustain the program for long.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are losing \u00a310,000 per week at the care home where these deaths occurred.\u00a0 If the authorities stepped up and covered it, we can go on for longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur company is one of the larger providers in Wales. I worry about the majority of care homes in Wales which are smaller, community-based homes and they are particularly vulnerable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the support coming through is insufficient, it will hasten their decision to close and once they are gone, they\u2019ll be gone for good.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy biggest fear is that the closures will be indiscriminate and unfortunately will be the ones that are the most needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are rural based homes which are at the heart of their local community. They not only look after the elderly vulnerable citizens but are significant employers to those communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cCovid-19 has woken the public awareness that a profession which was sadly termed \u201cunskilled\u201d until recently is now recognised as valued, skilled profession.<\/p>\n
It will be an irony and a disaster if Covid-19 now leads to the same skilled staff being made redundant if care homes close.<\/p>\n
\u201cCare Homes were in a very fragile state before we went into this crisis because economically the fees were already inadequate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese care homes are now irreplaceable. Building a new care home costs in excess of a \u00a3100,000 per bedroom due to the high specification required.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo new built is likely in areas where the home has to rely on state funded fees as its primary income.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat nobody has been able to answer is how we are going to be able to provide care for vulnerable people once these care homes disappear from our communities. This is something that we need to address as a matter of great urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a fear echoed by Mario Kreft MBE, the chair of Care Forum Wales, who says many care homes are already having to take out loans and consider imminent closure because of the \u201cperfect storm\u201d of spiralling costs and falling income.<\/p>\n
The sector was already fragile before the corona virus crisis began and the pandemic threated to put many providers out of business.<\/p>\n
The scale of the problem, he said, was illustrated by the fact that Welsh care homes provided 20,000 beds which was 8,000 more that the number of beds in hospitals.<\/p>\n
He feared that mass care home closures would lead to the NHS being \u201ccompletely overwhelmed by a tsunami of need\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Kreft said: “We have members who are increasing their staffing costs. They’re increasing other costs like buying their own PPE.<\/p>\n
“And of course we’re seeing falling occupancy as people pass and as other homes choose not to admit people, because they’re terrified that it’s going to introduce the virus into those homes and obviously affect the residents they have.”<\/p>\n
\u201cA typical care home needs to have 90 per cent occupancy to be viable and anything below 85 per cent is not sustainable – but some homes are down 25 to 30 per cent occupancy.<\/p>\n
“We have got people that are seriously talking to their banks, seriously talking within their organisation, whether the best thing and the safest thing for everybody is simply to close the doors,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We’ve never, ever encountered anything quite like this in the history of the care sector in Wales, and the UK.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnless urgent support is forthcoming we will be seeing care home closures week on week over the summer months.\u201d<\/p>\n