Sheffield council considers what additional support ‘could be made available’ for care homes during pandemic

Nicola Richards, director of Palms Row Health Care (PRHC), urged Sheffield Council to pass on an emergency 15 per cent increase in government funding to help care homes in their response to the pandemic.

She told of her distress over recent Office for National Statistics figures which showed that 4,434 coronavirus care home deaths had been reported between April 10 and 24 in England and Wales, half of which were recorded in the last five days.

George Lindars-Hammond, cabinet member for health and social care at Sheffield Council, said that although additional funding has been provided, it doesn’t do much to help the historically underfunded sector.

He said: “Although the Government has provided some additional funding for Sheffield City Council’s coronavirus response, this does not meet the extra costs needed across services.

“Prior to the pandemic, the social care sector was facing significant funding challenges nationally; the coronavirus crisis has only added to the underfunding problems facing the sector.”

At Palms Row, which operates three Sheffield care homes, 18 residents have died from Covid-19, while 60 have tested positive since the pandemic began.

Ms. Richards said Covid-19 has put further pressure on the sector, voicing concerns about the security of mid-to-long term funding given the threat of a second spike in cases later this year.

Mr Lindars-Hammond added: “The council is considering what additional support could be made available to the care homes sector in Sheffield and we continue to talk to all care providers about this, including Palms Row.

“We continue to provide the opportunity for Ms Richards to talk to us about her concerns. At the present time we are talking with all care providers in the city in terms of their specific needs during the pandemic.

“Currently we are working hard to make sure that their immediate and direct needs for emergency PPE kit is supplied.

“To date we have delivered 330,000 pieces of kit including masks, aprons and gloves, in the last three weeks with 85% delivery to the independent care sector.”

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