A report that highlights the lesser-known impacts of the pandemic.
The Guardian is reporting that around 10,000 more deaths than usual have been recorded in people’s homes since mid-June – well after the COVID peak – suggesting that people may be continuing to avoid health services or delaying placing elderly relatives in residential care.
An average of 824 excess deaths per week have been recorded in people’s homes in the 13 weeks to mid-September.
In total, 30,000 ‘excess’ deaths – above the average number of deaths over the last five years – have taken place in private homes in the UK since the beginning of the pandemic.
Experts blame people’s reluctance to enter hospitals and home care settings, “deconditioning” caused by decreased physical activity from older people staying at home and falling residential care occupancy (from an average of 88% to 79% according to one KnightFrank survey) with fewer people being put into homes by their families.
Weekly admission dropped from 22 per 1,000 residents on 29 March 2020 to eight per 1,000 by 31 May, the report said.
That’s a fall from around 8,800 admissions a week to just 3,200 – leaving a large cohort of people who should have been in care at home instead.
You must wonder: what will the Australian numbers show?
