Virus claimed almost 200 in South Tyneside care homes

South Tyneside's care home Covid death toll

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said 188 care home residents in South Tyneside died with Covid-19 between April 10 2020 and March 31 this year

The highest number of fatalities, 111, were recorded between April 10 and June 30 last year, during the early weeks of the pandemic and 22 individual care homes in the area reported at least one Covid-19 related death.

Care homes in South Tyneside which recorded five or more deaths over the year were:

Ashlea Mews (8), Bedewell Grange (8), Cheviot Court (30), Chichester Court Care Home (18), Garden Hill Care Centre (6), Harton Grange (5), Haven Court (11), Hawthorn Court (8), Hebburn Court Nursing Home (5), Roseway House (11), Seahaven Care Home (10), St Thomas Complex (7), Sycamore Care Centre - Boldon (12), The White House Nursing Home (8), Willowdene Care Home (13) and Windsor Care Home (14).

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.