Two more coronavirus deaths in Peterborough care homes

Two more patients with coronavirus have died in Peterborough care homes in the past week, official figures have revealed.
CoronavirusCoronavirus
Coronavirus

The number of deaths in Cambridgeshire care homes involving a confirmed or suspected case of Covid-19 has risen to 77.

That’s an increase of 27, or 54 per cent, in the past week – marking a slowing of the fatality rate compared with the week before.

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Figures recorded by the care home watchdog, the Care Quality Commission, and published by the Office for National Statistics today (May 12), reveal the number of deaths involving a suspected or confirmed case of Covid-19 in England’s care homes, from April 10 up until May 8.

ONS figures show that in Peterborough there were two such deaths in care homes in the latest week of available figures, May 2-8, rising to 14 in total.

In the rest of the county the number of fatalities rose to 63, an increase of 20 in the week May 2-8. The total number of deaths in Cambridgeshire up until May 1 was also revised up from data released last week, from 38 to 43.

Cambridgeshire’s care homes suffered their second deadliest day from the virus in the latest week of statistics, with seven deaths involving Covid-19 reported to the Care Quality Commission on May 8. The deadliest day, based on the figures, is April 28, where there were nine fatalities in the county’s care homes.

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In England the figures show there have been 8,314 deaths in care homes involving a confirmed or suspected case of Covid-19 between April 10 and May 8. In the week ending April 17, 2,027 such deaths were recorded. In the week ending April 24, it was 2,479, and in the week ending May 1, 2,200. In the latest week of available information, ending May 8, there were 1,503 such deaths.

The number of deaths in care homes from all causes of death for the same period, April 10 to May 8, is 64 in Peterborough, 202 in the rest of the county, and 20,349 in England as a whole.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough’s director of public health, Dr Liz Robin, said on May 7 that the county as a whole – meaning not just care homes – has a “relatively low” death rate from the virus compared with the national and regional average.

Out of 148 local authority areas in England, Hampshire, excluding the major cities of Portsmouth and Southampton, has the highest number of deaths in care homes involving a confirmed or suspected case of Covid-19. There have been 275 fatalities recorded there between April 10 and May 8. Cambridgeshire, excluding Peterborough, has the 42nd highest number of fatalities of all the 148 local authority areas.

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The ONS said the figures were provided by the Care Quality Commission and are provisional, and may be subject to revision as more data comes in. Figures are for persons who were resident in and died in a care home.

The CQC uses a different criteria of recording a death involving Covid-19 to other data provided by the ONS.

The CQC includes deaths where the care home provider has stated Covid-19 as a suspected or confirmed cause of death on the death notification. The ONS Covid-19 deaths registered data, including care homes, includes deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate. As a consequence, the data and subsequent death figures vary.

Ben Hatton , Local Democracy Reporting Service