Fifth of Doncaster's care home residents have died from Covid, shock figures suggest

Since the start of the pandemic, official data suggests that more than 20% of care home deaths in Doncaster can be attributed to coronavirus.

The Daily Mail says that according to new Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures, the number of care home residents who died in England and Wales was a fifth higher than the average for the previous five years.

Some 173,974 care home resident deaths were registered in England and Wales between March 14 and April 2 — a rise of 19.5 per cent. Around 42,000 were from Covid, figures showed.

The stats also showed care home deaths were far greater at their peak in the first wave of the pandemic than in their second, in part thanks to 'vaccine availability', according to the ONS.

The data — which uses population numbers from May this year — suggest more than a fifth of residents died with the virus in South Tyneside, Darlington, Doncaster and St Helens. For comparison, the rate is thought to be less than five per cent in Plymouth.

Experts warned in January this year that the failure to reform the crumbling care system is a major reason Britain has suffered one Europe’s worst death tolls from Covid.

Of the 103,000 people in the UK who had died at the time from Covid, one in three lived in care homes. The NHS was accused of risking lives by discharging Covid patients back into their care homes last year.

The ONS data also showed coronavirus accounted for 42,341 care home resident deaths — almost a quarter (24.3 per cent) of the total.

The figures cover deaths of care home residents in all settings, not just in care homes. For example, some residents are moved to hospital if they become seriously ill and die there.

Throughout the pandemic, Covid was the leading cause of death in male residents, while for female residents it was dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, followed by coronavirus.

Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease was the most common pre-existing condition among residents who died with Covid across both waves.