Dr. Winston said:
Releasing untested patients into care homes was an undoubted catastrophe and probably responsible for a goodly proportion of UK deaths, but on the flip side there's definitely a tale to be told about the care industry. I don't think it's wrong to question how facilities charging up to a grand a week in some cases can justifiably claim to be short of PPE or other such excuses that have been made. You would have to assume that dealing with viral outbreaks of various types is part and parcel of the service they provide, yet some have done a much better job of handling it than others.
My son's partner works in a care home for just over 80 residents which is well run and has a good reputation. Their stock level of ppe would normally cater for around 2-3 months work and is regularly replenished using long term contracts so that they don't have to keep ordering more as deliveries are prescheduled. This has nothing to do with how much they charge, it's just that they don't have unlimited storage space for ppe, bedding, etc. This system has worked perfectly well for years but when coronavirus hit, that 2-3 months supply was used up in about 2-3 weeks and they struggled desperately to get more as their regular contract suppliers quickly ran out. They had several people who would normally be caring for residents working full time on sourcing ppe and workers were also sourcing and providing their own. Just because some care homes charge up to a grand a week does not mean that they all have unlimited stocks of ppe or have priority access to unlimited replacement stocks, it doesn't work like that. If the supply chain collapses and the national infrastructure does not have a satisfactory response capability, it wouldn't matter if the care homes charged 5 grand a week or even more, if the ppe isn't there, they can't buy it and the fact it wasn't there.
