The number of coronavirus deaths in Harrogate’s care homes is still rising and is close to overtaking the number of deaths in the hospital.

New weekly data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that there have been 51 deaths in Harrogate’s care homes up to May 8.

During the same time period up to May 8, the Harrogate’s hospital has reported 56 deaths.

Harrogate District Hospital has been reporting fewer deaths each week with more days at a time now where the hospital does not report any deaths.

In contrast, care homes in Harrogate are reporting more coronavirus deaths each week.

A cumulative comparison of coronavirus deaths in care homes compared to coronavirus deaths in the hospital. Source: ONS

The Stray Ferret has produced a graph to illustrate the rise in care home coronavirus deaths in comparison to those in Harrogate District Hospital.

The graph only includes deaths where the cause of death is coronavirus. It does not include deaths where coronavirus is involved as that data is not in the same time frame.

To help care homes cope with the increasing demand caused by coronavirus, North Yorkshire County Council has launched a welfare checklist service.

The council will support struggling care homes with staffing, PPE, infection control, safe hospital discharge, and more.

Nearly a quarter of Harrogate care home deaths from the beginning of March involved coronavirus, new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows.

From March 6 to May 1 there were 221 deaths registered in the town’s care homes and, in the same period, 54 of those deaths involved covid-19.

This new data includes deaths where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate but was not necessarily the main cause of death.

Previously ONS data from the same period up to May 1 showed there had been 43 deaths in Harrogate’s care homes where coronavirus was recorded as the actual cause of death.

Now when the ONS also factors in deaths where COVID-19 was not necessarily the cause of death but involved, Harrogate’s care homes have had 54 deaths – a 25% increase.

The difficulty in establishing the extent of the crisis in Harrogate’s care homes

The new statistics have also revealed the challenge of recording deaths in care homes, where people may already be on end of life care.

Southlands care home in Harrogate has faced that challenge after recording six confirmed coronavirus deaths but a further 16 of its residents died before testing was available.

Sandra Hustwick, Regional Director for Southlands care home said:

“Very sadly, we have lost six residents who tested positive for COVID-19. A further sixteen residents passed away before testing was available, though a number of these were expected as they’d been receiving end of life care prior to the outbreak.

“The past months have been exceptionally challenging but the team has pulled together to deliver the best possible care and our home has been entirely free of COVID-19 for the past two weeks. Our thoughts are with the loved ones of those affected. I would like to say thank you to residents’ friends and families, as well as the wider community, who’ve all been so supportive.”

Staff from Ashville College in Harrogate have been busy making scrubs and other PPE for two of the town’s care homes.

The volunteer group makes the items for Heath Lodge, on Pannal Ash Road, and Berwick Grange, on Wetherby Road.

It comes after the college donated around 200 pairs of safety glasses from its science department to frontline hospital staff treating patients with coronavirus.

The volunteers are led by Caroline Beer, Annie Wilcockson, Sarah Mansfield, Helen Thompson, Elizabeth Pennington, and Lynn Conway.

Collectively, the team has made scrubs, scrub bags, face masks, and headbands, to keep health workers’ ears comfortable from hours of mask wearing.

They have also produced artwork of fictional characters to support children’s storytelling at Harrogate District Hospital.

Caroline Beer said: “We all bring different skills to the mix and our pooled talents are benefitting employees and residents at Heath Lodge and Berwick Grange, and young patients at Harrogate District Hospital. We have set up a ‘gofundme’ page to help pay for materials.”

The materials produced so far have been created using donated fabrics and now the team has also set up a gofundme page to raise money for more materials. The Busy Bees plan to continue production for as long as possible to provide vital PPE items to local care homes in need.

Following a donation this week of items to staff at Berwick Grange, Administration Manager, Phoebe Rahtmell said:

“I would like to say a huge thank you for the uniform bags and head bands that were very kindly made and donated to Berwick Grange Care Home. This was a very thoughtful gesture and I would like to pass on our gratitude to everybody involved as I imagine a vast amount of time went into making them all.”

88 people have died in Harrogate after testing positive for coronavirus with 35 of those deaths recorded in the town’s care homes.

Each week on a Tuesday the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals how many people have died outside of hospitals.

The number of hospital deaths is released on a daily basis by the NHS – Harrogate District Hospital has so far recorded 49 coronavirus deaths.

Update: Harrogate District Hospital has not reported any more coronavirus deaths in today’s new figures. A further 366 people have died in England’s hospitals.

Last week, the ONS data which included deaths up to April 17 revealed that there had been 22 deaths outside of hospitals.

This week, the data goes up to April 24 and now shows that there have been 39 deaths outside of hospitals.

In Harrogate, two people have died from coronavirus in their homes and two have died in “other communal establishments,” so the majority of deaths outside of hospitals were in care homes.

The data also gives an overview of the rest of the country’s care homes where there is an average of 20 care home deaths. Harrogate is above the national average at 35 deaths.

When the ONS data, bearing in mind that it only goes up to April 24, is added to the latest numbers from hospitals it confirms that 88 people so far have died with coronavirus in Harrogate.

As of last Thursday, Harrogate District Hospital has also released 70 patients after recovering from coronavirus.

New figures on coronavirus deaths, which now includes statistics outside of hospitals, paint the clearest picture yet of the outbreak in the Harrogate district.

The government has released three different sets of data, which will be released on either a weekly or a daily basis.

The first set of data, released daily, is the number of deaths in hospitals and, with two more deaths reported today, Harrogate District Hospital has now reported 46 deaths.

The second set of data, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), has revealed that up to April 17, there have been 22 Harrogate coronavirus deaths outside the hospital.

19 of those deaths outside hospital were recorded in care homes, one death was recorded at home and another two deaths happened in “other communal establishments.”

The final set of figures is the number of care homes that have reported a coronavirus outbreak, which is the first time this data has been released.

Of Harrogate’s 71 care homes, 26 have so far reported outbreaks. That works out at 36.6% of the district’s care homes.

Coronarivus testing for care home residents and staff has been patchy across the Harrogate district, as the government promises to make 25,000 home testing kits available every day.

Some care homes are reporting they have received the kits they had requested, while others are still waiting for a delivery so they can confirm whether residents have the virus.

For key workers, drive-through testing sites have been opened, but can only be accessed by arranging an appointment. In one case, a care home worker was told there would be a three-week wait, despite NHS advice being to test within five days.

Guidance on the NHS website shows tests should be carried out within five days

The member of staff from Emmaus House on Harrogate’s Valley Drive had shown symptoms of coronavirus, but after trying to get a test at Temple Green, just off the M1 to the east of Leeds, was told the next appointment was in mid-May. Another member of staff who doesn’t drive has been unable to access testing so far – but a third member of staff who showed symptoms earlier had been able to arrange a test.

Without confirmation of whether they have coronvarivus, those two staff members now have to self-isolate. Meanwhile, testing kits for residents have not yet arrived at the home. A team leader at Emmaus House, who asked us not to use her name, said:

“It’s quite frustrating. We’re losing staff for longer than necessary. They should make sure everything is in place before they talk about it on the news.”

A new testing site has been set up at Poppleton park and ride

The government this week promised to roll out testing across much more of the population, making 25,000 testing kits available every day and allowing key workers with symptoms to book appointments at drive-through test centres, including one created for the Harrogate district at Poppleton park and ride.

Statistics released today show that 26 care homes in the Harrogate district have reported suspected coronavirus cases and there had been 19 deaths in care homes thought to be related to the virus.

Testing kits arrive

Although some homes, including Emmaus House, have struggled to get deliveries of testing kits, others have received them this week. At Vida Grange in Pannal, staff have been able to access testing facilities, while tests have been received by the home in order to test residents with symptoms. James Rycroft, Managing Director of Vida Healthcare, said: 

“So far, five residents and numerous staff members have been tested. Of these, two residents and four members of staff have shown positive results for the virus. As we hear more on test results we will update the families of our residents in our newsletter.

“We are continuing to monitor the situation closely and it’s encouraging to hear the Government’s plans for a massive expansion in testing. The testing of residents and staff without symptoms could prove crucial in tackling the spread of the virus in care homes.”

At Belmont House in Harrogate, the tests are now beginning to arrive for residents and all staff will be screened. Similarly, Ripon’s Skell Lodge has received testing kits and has had negative results back for two of its residents, leading to cheering among them and the staff when the results arrived.

The national charity which operates Berwick Grange in Harrogate has confirmed that a number of its residents  have died of suspected coronavirus at the home but said without testing it cannot be certain.

MHA which was founded by the Methodist Church, operates Berwick Grange and is the largest UK provider of care with 133 homes. Berwick Grange has 52 residents and is a specialist dementia care unit.

The company said residents have died of suspected coronavirus at a number of its homes- Berwick Grange had seen cases but was not one of the worst affected. It said it could not confirm specific numbers at individual homes as residents aren’t being tested. Some had existing illnesses or had been on end of life care.

In a statement MHA said

A small number of our homes have already been badly affected, although the extent to which these losses can be attributed to Covid-19 is debatable as our residents are not being tested. Without that testing, we may never know the true extent of outbreaks in our homes.

Our residents are a second family and this will take its toll on our teams as they sadly lose people they have cared for, in some cases for a number of years. We will make sure we care for our colleagues as well as our residents throughout all of this and would urge you to support us and our colleagues at this difficult time

MHA said it has set up a Critical Incident Management system – convening daily bronze, silver and gold command meetings that are modelled on emergency service disaster responses to manage the rapidly changing nature of the emergency. It has highlighted a serious shortage of PPE (personal protective equipment) to protect its residents and staff- saying its weekly allocation of 300 face masks for a home of 70 residents can be used in a single day.

We convene three daily meetings taking rapid decisions to re-allocate PPE stock across regions, staff cover and analyse the spread of the virus across our services taking immediate appropriate action; this includes suspected, confirmed and recovered cases.

The company has put out a plea to schools, colleges and factories to consider donating any supplies that are not currently needed.