Virus claimed over 300 in Northumberland care homes

Northumberland's care home Covid death toll

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said 325 care home residents in Northumberland died with Covid-19 between April 10 2020 and March 31 this year

The highest number of fatalities, 145, were recorded between April 10 and June 30 last year, during the early weeks of the pandemic and 55 individual care homes in the area reported at least one Covid-19 related death.

Care homes in Northumberland which recorded 10 or more deaths over the year were:

Acomb Court (10), Ashington Grange (13), Astor Court (19), Burn Brae Lodge (13), Charlotte Straker House (11), Crofton Court (11), Dene Grange Care Home (21), East Riding Care Home (12), Elm Bank Care Home (12), Hartford Court (10), Red Brick House (17), Scarbrough Court (13), Station Court (10), Thomas Knight Care Home (14) and Woodhorn Park (15).

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.