Official Statistics

Adult social care monthly statistics, England: October 2021

Published 14 October 2021

Applies to England

Main points

Vaccination in social care settings

As of 28 September 2021, the proportions who had received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were:

• 94.8% of residents and 86.7% of staff of older adult care homes

• 90.1% of residents of younger adult care homes

• 83.2% of staff of younger adult care homes and 71.4% of domiciliary care staff

Infection control measures in care homes

In the week ending 28 September 2021:

• 92.6% of care homes in England were able to accommodate residents receiving visitors, compared to 40.3% at the beginning of March 2021

• 82.6% of care homes who had staff required to self-isolate paid those staff their full wages while self-isolating. This proportion has remained consistent since mid-December

• 72.8% of care homes had no staff members working in another health or social care setting, this proportion has gradually declined from 78.2% at the end of April 2021

Personal protective equipment (PPE) availability in social care settings

In the week ending 28 September 2021:

• 0.2% of care homes in England had either no supply or were expecting to experience a shortage in the next 48 hours of at least one item of PPE. For care homes, this has been gradually decreasing since late September 2020 when 1.1% of care homes were experiencing a shortage

COVID-19 testing in care homes

ln the week ending 28 September 2021:

• there were 371,145 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and 432,498 lateral flow device (LFD) tests taken by care home staff. There were 2,105 positive results returned from PCR tests and 872 returned from LFD tests

• there were 95,893 PCR tests and 15,649 LFD tests taken by care home residents. There were 787 positive results returned from PCR tests and 85 returned from LFD tests

• there has continued to be a gradual decline in the number of both PCR and LFD tests conducted in care home staff since to the end of July

• for both care home staff and residents, there has been an overall decrease in the number of positive tests returned from PCR and LFD kits throughout September

Introduction

This is a monthly publication by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) of statistics on adult social care in England. This statistical bulletin provides an overview on a range of information on social care settings, with a focus on the impact of COVID-19.

This report provides newly published information on:

• selected infection prevention control (IPC) measures in care homes at national, regional and local authority level

• staffing levels in care homes at national, regional and local authority level

• personal protective equipment (PPE) availability in care homes and domiciliary care at national, regional and local authority level

• testing for COVID-19 in care homes at national, regional and local authority level

This report also includes previously published statistics on first and second dose uptake of COVID-19 vaccinations in adult social care settings.

For more information and links to other published sources of adult social care data please see the ‘About this data’ section below.

Publication updates

Data on PPE availability in domiciliary care has not been updated for the London region for dates after 29 June 2021 due to a data quality issue which is being investigated. National figures for England are also not presented due to the effects of this issue on the national rate. Data for other regions and local authorities not in London are available in the accompanying data tables.

Data for staff working in other settings (including Non-Registered Providers and Local Authority Employed) is not available for dates after 17 August 2021 for national and South East regional figures. This is due to a data quality issue that is being investigated.

The next publication will be published on 11 November 2021. Dates for future publications will be pre-announced on the GOV.UK publication release calendar.

COVID-19 vaccination in adult social care settings

The NHS started administering vaccinations for COVID-19 in England on 8 December 2020. Social care staff and residents of care homes were prioritised for the vaccine according to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommendation. For more information see guidance on priority groups for coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination: advice from the JCVI.

By 11 November 2021, all people working or volunteering in care homes will be required to be fully vaccinated, as a condition of their deployment in a care home, unless exempt. The final date for staff to receive their first dose of the vaccination so they are fully vaccinated in time for the regulation to come into force was 16 September 2021 (assuming there is an 8 week interval between first and second doses). More details can be found in vaccination of people working or deployed in care homes: operational guidance.

Adult social care groups covered in this publication by JCVI priority group

This is a summary of the priority groups for different social care staff and residents.

JCVI priority group 1

• residents in older adult care homes

• staff directly employed by older adult care homes

• agency staff working in older adult care homes

JCVI priority group 2

• staff directly employed by younger adult care homes

• agency staff working in younger adult care homes

• domiciliary care staff registered to independent Care Quality Commission (CQC) providers

• social care staff working in other settings (including non-registered providers and local authority employed)

Not in a specific JCVI priority group

• residents of younger adult care homes

How the data can be used

This data can be used for:

• comparing vaccination rates across local authorities and regions in England as self-reported by care providers

• monitoring vaccination rates over time

This data cannot be used for:

• estimating the number of social care staff or residents who have not been vaccinated
• comparing with vaccination rates in other countries of the UK
• directly comparing vaccination take up rates between different types of care home staff (directly employed and agency staff)
• estimating the number of vaccinations delivered each day

The total number of staff and residents for each social care setting as well as the number reported to be vaccinated are self-reported by the care provider and local authorities. As a result, the rates in this publication refer to the percentage of staff and residents reported to be vaccinated by care providers. This means that the number of individuals who have not received the vaccine cannot be directly derived from data published in these statistics as there is a number of individuals for whom the vaccination status is unknown to the care provider.

The dates in this section refer to the dates vaccinations were reported by care providers as opposed to the date vaccinations were administered.

Some care providers have reported the total number of staff or residents but not the numbers vaccinated. As a result of this, vaccination rates are affected by response rates. This is particularly prominent for second dose vaccination rates for staff employed in other settings, which have a lower response rate and as a result, second dose vaccination rates may be underestimated.

Among older adult care home staff, there is a substantial difference in reported vaccination rates for dose 1 and dose 2 between staff directly employed by care homes and staff employed by agencies operating within care homes. This could be due to, for example but not exclusively, different uptake rates, vaccination status not being known to the care provider or the nature of employment and information available to the care homes.

For more information, please see the background quality and methodology note.

The methodology for classifying care homes as older adult or younger adult has been updated in this publication. This has had no impact on vaccination rates and has had a small effect on the number of staff and residents in older and younger adult care homes. The time series in this report has been backdated with the new methodology. For more details on the change please see the ‘Data quality’ section of the accompanying background quality and methodology note.

COVID-19 vaccinations in JCVI priority group 1

Residents of older care homes

96.3% and 94.8% of residents of older adult care homes have been reported to have received their first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, respectively, as of 28 September 2021.

The reported first dose vaccination rate rapidly increased between January and February 2021 for residents and has since continued to increase but at a much slower pace as more of the population receive the first dose of the vaccine. Similarly, for second doses the reported rate increased steeply between April and June 2021 and has continued to increase but at a slower rate.

There is little regional variation in the reported second dose vaccination rate among residents in JCVI priority group 1. London continues to show the lowest uptake, with 93.1% of residents reported to have received both doses.

Staff of older adult care homes

93.6% and 86.7% of staff of older adult care homes have been reported to have received their first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, respectively, as of 28 September 2021.

The reported first dose vaccination rate rapidly increased between January and February 2021 for staff and has since continued to notably increase each week with steeper increases being seen throughout September. Similarly, for second doses the reported rate increased steeply between April and June 2021 and has continued to increase with substantial increases seen throughout September.

There is some variation between regions among staff in JCVI priority group 1, however this variation is progressively decreasing. As of the week ending 28 September 2021, London has the lowest rate of both doses at 85.2%, and North East the highest at 90.7%.

Figure 1: cumulative rate of JCVI priority group 1 staff and residents who have received the first and second doses, 15 December 2020 to 28 September 2021, England

Reported vaccination rates for JVCI priority group 1 continues to be stable for residents and gradually increases for staff.

Source: Capacity Tracker

This data can be found in tables 1 and 2 of the accompanying ‘COVID-vaccination’ tables in addition to data by region and local authority. Data for the second COVID-19 vaccine dose became available on 20 April 2021.

COVID-19 vaccinations in JCVI priority group 2

Data for staff working in other settings (including non-registered providers and local authority employed) is not available for dates after 17 August 2021 for national, South East region, and Surrey local authority. This is due to a data quality issue that is being investigated. As a result, data in this report refers to the week ending 17 August 2021 rather than 28 September 2021.

91.2% of staff of younger adult care homes have been reported to have received their first dose and 83.2% their second dose as of 28 September 2021.

82.2% of domiciliary care staff have received their first dose and 71.4% their second dose as of 28 September 2021.

Among staff working in other settings, 77.0% settings have been reported to have received their first dose and 32.9% their second dose as of 17 August 2021.

Second dose vaccination rates for domiciliary care and other settings are lower than for the first dose. Please see the accompanying ‘COVID-19 vaccination response rates, October 2021: data tables’.

Since data on the second dose became available on 20 April 2021, the reported vaccination rate has increased in all 3 settings but has increased more steeply in younger adult care home staff.

There is regional variation for all staff groups in JCVI priority group 2, please see table 1 for further details.

Figure 2: cumulative rate of JCVI priority group 2 staff who received the first and second doses, 15 December 2020 to 28 September 2021, England

Reported vaccination rates for JVCI priority group 2 social care staff continues to gradually increase.

Source: Capacity Tracker

This data can be found in tables 6, 9 and 10 of the accompanying ‘COVID-vaccination’ tables in addition to data by region and local authority. Data collection for the second dose began on 20 April 2021.

Table 1: percentage of staff in JCVI priority group 2 reported to have received the first and second doses up to 28 September 2021 by region, England

Region	Younger adult care homes staff: dose 1	Younger adult care homes staff: dose 2	Domiciliary care staff: dose 1	Domiciliary care staff: dose 2
East Midlands	92.3	81.6	83.2	73.7
East of England	91.4	83.4	84.5	74.1
London	91.7	82.7	74.6	54.4
North East	95.9	91.2	89.4	80.2
North West	90.9	83.7	81.7	72.9
South East	91.0	82.7	83.5	74.5
South West	91.5	84.8	85.4	77.4
West Midlands	91.2	82.7	80.3	68.8
Yorkshire and the Humber	88.2	81.0	83.8	76.2

Note: data is not presented for other settings staff due to a data quality issue affecting data relating to 24 August 2021 onwards.

COVID-19 vaccinations for residents of younger adult care homes

Residents of younger adult care homes are not part of a single priority group. However, the conditions for which they reside in care homes are likely to make them more vulnerable to COVID-19 and they are therefore likely to be part of priority groups 3 to 9.

As of 28 September 2021, 93.2% of residents in younger care homes have been reported to have received their first COVID-19 vaccine dose and 90.1% received their second dose.

Infection prevention control measures

How the data can be used

This data can be used for:

• estimating the number and proportion of care homes that indicate they:
  • are accommodating COVID-safe visits within the care homes
  • are paying full wages to their self-isolating staff
  • restrict staff movement across settings
• monitoring trends over time
• comparisons across local authorities and regions in England

This data cannot be used for:

• estimating the number of visitors in care homes and their infection or vaccination status
• identifying the reasons for care home staff shortages and absences
• linking staff shortages and the number of positive cases among care home staff
• comparing with other countries of the UK
• linking staff movement across settings to positivity rates

The Adult Social Care Infection Control Fund provides funding from local authorities to ensure that infection prevention control (IPC) measures are in place to curb the spread of COVID-19. This publication provides data on how providers are implementing the following measures:

• limitation of staff movement across different social care settings
• accommodating COVID-19 safe visitation in care homes
• payment of full wages when care home staff are isolating due to COVID-19

More details on the data collection, coverage and quality of this data can be found in the ‘About this data’ section below.

Accommodating COVID-safe visitation in care homes

The guidance on allowing care home residents to have visitors has changed since December 2020 which is summarised in the table below.

Table 2: visiting guidance since December 2020

Date	Guidance
19 July 2021 to present	No limits on the number of named visitors, with testing and guidance to support safe visiting in place
17 May 2021 to 18 July 2021	Residents are permitted to have 5 named visitors for regular visits with testing in place
12 April 2021 to 16 May 2021	Residents are permitted to have 2 named visitors for regular visits with testing in place
8 March 2021 to 11 April 2021	Residents are permitted to have 1 named visitor for indoor visits with testing in place
6 January 2021 to 7 March 2021	No indoor visits permitted due to the national lockdown
1 December 2020 to 5 January 2021	Indoor visits permitted with testing in place (from 19 December 2020 – no indoor visits permitted in tier 4 areas)

More information can be found in the guidance on care home visiting.

In the week ending 28 September 2021, 92.6% of care homes in England were able to accommodate residents receiving visitors within care homes in all circumstances compared to 93.3% in the week ending 6 July 2021.

The number of providers accommodating visiting in all circumstances gradually increased between early March and early July in line with visitation guidance introduced on 8 March 2021 which allows residents to have designated regular visitors. A further 3.7% were able to accommodate visits in exceptional circumstances in the week ending 28 September 2021. Exceptional circumstances are individually defined by each care home but are generally thought to be considered when residents are palliative.

Between late December and early January 2021, the proportion of care homes accommodating visiting steadily declined in line with the change in guidance introduced, as well as the national lockdown.

There is regional variation with 95.7% of care homes accommodating visitors in the East of England in comparison to 88.6% in the South West in the week ending 28 September 2021.

Figure 3: proportion of care homes accommodating or limiting visits for residents, 15 December 2020 to 28 September 2021, England

The proportion of care homes accommodating visiting for residents has remained stable since the end of July.

Source: Capacity Tracker

This data can be found in table 1 of the accompanying ‘Infection control, PPE and staffing level statistics’ tables in addition to data by region and local authority.

Payment of care home directly employed staff while self-isolating due to COVID-19

The infection control funds can be used to ensure staff who are self-isolating along with government guidance are paid their full wages. This includes:

• staff isolating while waiting for a test

• isolating after having tested positive or after a positive test in their household

• staff required to quarantine prior to receiving certain NHS procedures

For more information see stay at home: guidance for households with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection.

Employers who do not pay their staff their full wages whilst self-isolating must pay their staff at least Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) when the employee meets the following criteria:

• is classed as an employee and has done some work for their employer
• earns an average of at least £120 per week
• has been ill or is self-isolating for at least 4 days in a row (including non-working days)

Care home staff who do not meet the criteria may not be eligible and as a result not paid to self-isolate. For more information, please see guidance on Statutory Sick Pay.

In the week ending 28 September 2021, 82.6% of care homes who had directly employed staff needing to self-isolate paid staff their full wages. This proportion has remained consistent since mid-December.

There is substantial regional variation with 88.4% of providers in the North West paying their staff full wages compared to 77.1% in the West Midlands in the week ending 28 September 2021.

Figure 4: percentage of care homes with staff self-isolating by wages paid, week ending 28 September 2021, England

More than 8 in 10 care homes were reporting to pay their staff full wages when self-isolating.

Source: Capacity Tracker

This data can be found in table 2 of the accompanying ‘Infection control, PPE and staffing level statistics’ tables in addition to data by region and local authority.

Limiting staff movement between care settings

Infection control funding can be used to reduce the need for staff movement between social care settings to limit the spread of infection, for example they can be used to recruit additional staff to enable staff to only work across one care home.

In the week ending 28 September 2021 72.8% of care homes had no staff members working in another social care setting, this proportion has been steadily declining between late April 2021 and late September 2021.

6.5% of care homes had some staff additionally working in another health or social care setting.

A further 20.6% of care homes had some staff additionally working in another health or social care setting due to exceptional circumstances. This number has been increasing steadily since mid-May. Exceptional circumstances are defined as the care home having exhausted all other reasonable steps to ensure there are sufficient staffing levels.

Figure 5: percentage of care homes by staff working across additional health or social care settings, week ending 28 September 2021, England

Three in 4 care homes reported having no staff working across another health or social care setting.

Source: Capacity Tracker

This data can be found in table 3 of the accompanying ‘Infection control, PPE and staffing level statistics’ tables in addition to data by region and local authority.

There is substantial regional variation with 81.8% of providers in the North East having no staff working in another health or social care setting in the week ending 28 September 2021, in comparison to 67.5% in London.

Care home staffing levels

In order to measure the workforce pressures on providers during the pandemic, each provider is asked to assess their workforce pressures based on their agreed staffing ratios.

In the week ending 28 September 2021, 0.3% of providers flagged that their agreed staffing ratios had been breached, 4.2% flagged that they were operating within the agreed staffing ratios but there is a significant risk of escalation in the coming days and 95.5% were operating within their agreed staffing ratios. This has remained relatively consistent since mid-December 2020. If a care home’s staffing ratio has been breached, then business continuity measures may be put in place.

Figure 6: percentage of care homes operating within agreed staffing ratios, week ending 28 September 2021, England

More than 9 in 10 care homes report operating within their agreed staffing ratios.

Source: Capacity Tracker

This data can be found in table 4 of the accompanying ‘Infection control, PPE and staffing level statistics’ tables in addition to data by region and local authority.

PPE availability in care settings

How the data can be used

This data can be used for:

• estimating the number and proportion of care homes and domiciliary care providers who are experiencing PPE shortages in the next 48 hours, and comparing across local authorities and regions in England

• monitoring trends over time

This data cannot be used for:

• predicting PPE shortages in the coming weeks
• comparing with other countries of the UK
• linking PPE shortage to positivity rates

All care homes and domiciliary care providers are responsible for ensuring safe systems of work and have duties concerning the provision and use of PPE in the workplace.

This publication covers the availability of the following 5 items of PPE:

• aprons

• eye protection

• gloves

• hand sanitiser

• face masks

In care homes

Guidance on what PPE should be used in various circumstances is available from personal protective equipment (PPE): resource for care workers working in care homes during sustained COVID-19 transmission in England. Despite most legal restrictions being lifted on 19 July 2021, PPE and other infection prevention and control measures are expected to continue to be practised in care homes.

In the week ending 28 September 2021, 0.2% of care homes in England had either no supply or were expecting to experience a shortage in the next 48 hours of at least one item of PPE. This has been gradually decreasing since late September 2020 when 1.1% of care homes were experiencing a shortage.

COVID-19 testing in adult care homes

How the data can be used

This data can be used for:

• estimating the number of PCR and LFD tests taken and positive results returned in care homes, and comparing across local authorities and regions in England
• estimating trends in prevalence and positivity rates for COVID-19 in care homes based on trends in positive tests

This data cannot be used for:

• calculating positivity rates for COVID-19 in care homes due to routine and repeat testing of individuals
• linking positivity rates in care homes to lower vaccination rates in care homes
• estimating the number of people tested and positive cases in care homes as people can take more than one test

The rollout of the testing programme in care homes is summarised in the ‘About this data’ section below.

See the ‘Terminology’ section below for more details on testing kits used.

Number of tests conducted and positive tests returned in adult care homes

The number of positive tests in care home staff and residents has decreased throughout September.

There has been a gradual decline in the number of both PCR and LFD tests conducted in care home staff compared to the end of July.

Given that anyone who tests positive with a PCR test is exempt from regular testing for 90 days, the number of tests conducted with both PCR and LFD kits can fluctuate slightly in relation to COVID-19 prevalence.

Care home staff

PCR tests

There were 2,105 positive tests returned from PCR kits in care home staff in the week ending 28 September 2021.

The number of positive tests has continued to follow a downward trend since the end of July. In the week ending 28 September 2021, there were 31% fewer positive compared to the week ending 24 August 2021 and 41% fewer compared to the week ending 20 July 2021. Previously the number of positive tests had been increasing from mid-May to the end of July.

The number of positive tests seen throughout May to September 2021 are still substantially lower than the numbers seen in mid-January when there were 18,295 positive tests returned from PCR tests in the week ending 12 January 2021.

The number of PCR tests conducted in care home staff has broadly decreased between the end of July and the beginning of September, There were 371,145 PCR tests conducted in the week ending 28 September 2021 compared to 407,667 in the week ending 20 July 2021.

LFD tests

There were 872 positive tests returned from LFD kits in care home staff in the week ending 28 September 2021. The number of positive tests has decreased overall compared to the end of August with 18% fewer positive tests in the week ending 28 September 2021 compared to the week ending 24 August 2021.

The number of positive LFD tests returned has decreased overall since the end of July when there were 1,378 positive tests.

The number of positive tests seen throughout summer 2021 are still substantially lower than the numbers seen in mid-January when there were 3,137 positive tests returned from LFD tests in the week ending 12 January 2021.

There has also been a gradual decline in the number of LFD tests conducted in care home staff since late July. There were 432,498 LFD tests conducted among care home staff in the week ending 28 September 2021 compared to 509,466 in the week ending 20 July 2021.

Care home residents

PCR tests

There were 787 positive tests returned from PCR kits in care home residents in the week ending 28 September 2021. This has decreased compared to the end of August with 17% fewer positive tests in the week ending 28 September compared to the week ending 31 August 2021. Previously the number of positive tests had been increasing throughout May until the end of August.

The number of positive tests seen throughout summer 2021 are still substantially lower than the numbers seen in mid-January when there were 9,414 positive tests returned from PCR tests in the week ending 12 January 2021.

There were 95,893 PCR tests conducted among care home residents in the week ending 28 September 2021 and this has decreased compared to the beginning of September. Previously the number of tests had been gradually increasing between mid-May and the beginning of August.

LFD tests

There were 85 positive tests returned from LFD kits in care home residents in the week ending 28 September 2021. The number of positive LFD tests has decreased throughout September with 43% fewer positive tests in the week ending 28 September compared to the week ending 24 August 2021. Previously the number of positive tests had been increasing between the end of June and end of August.

This is substantially lower than the numbers seen in mid-January when there were 1,047 positive tests returned from LFD tests in the week ending 12 January 2021.

There were fewer LFD tests conducted in the week ending 28 September compared to the end of August, with 15,649 tests in the week ending 28 September compared to 17,071 tests in the week ending 24 August.

The testing regime for staff is more frequent than for residents (see the ‘About this data’ section below). As a result, the total number of staff tests is higher than the total number of resident tests.

Care home visitors

The number of LFD tests conducted among visitors to care homes has been broadly consistent since the end of June with 89,259 tests conducted in the week ending 28 September 2021.

Following the change in guidance for residents receiving visitors on 8 March 2021, there was a sharp increase of LFD tests conducted among visitors to residents of care homes, from 12,008 tests in the week ending 2 March 2021 to 44,855 tests in the week ending 16 March 2021. Thereafter, the number of tests conducted among visitors gradually increased with 97,358 tests in the week ending 22 June 2021.

Additionally, there were 8,160 LFD tests conducted among visiting professionals to care homes in the week ending 28 September 2021. This has been declining steadily since mid-June.

In the week ending 28 September 2021, there were 29 positive PCR tests returned in care home visitors and 63 LFD positive results. There were additionally another 8 positive LFD tests returned among visiting professionals to care homes.

Figure 7: number of PCR and LFD tests conducted in care home staff and residents, 15 December 2020 to 28 September 2021, England

The number of tests conducted in care home staff has declined compared to late July.

Source: NHS Test and Trace

This data can be found in tables 1 and 2 of the accompanying ‘COVID-19 testing’ tables in addition to data by region and local authority.

Figure 8: number of positive test results returned in care home staff and residents, 2 September 2020 to 28 September 2021, England

The number of positive test results returned in care home staff and residents has decreased during September.

Source: NHS Test and Trace

This data can be found in tables 1 and 2 of the accompanying ‘COVID-19 testing’ tables in addition to data by region and local authority.

Staff and residents have different testing regimes as outlined in the ‘About this data’ section below. As a result, the number of positive test results returned expected to be of a different scale between staff and residents.

Terminology

Care home: facilities providing residential care. The data in this bulletin refers to Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered care homes.

Older adult care homes: care homes serving any older people (aged 65 and over) as identified from the latest CQC data on care homes in the ‘older people service’ user band. A small number of residents within care homes serving older people may be aged under 65.

Younger adult care homes: care homes not serving any older people (aged 65 and over) as identified from the latest CQC data on care homes in the ‘older people service’ user band.

Domiciliary care: services providing personal care for people living in their own homes. The data in this bulletin refers to domiciliary staff employed by independent CQC registered providers.

Staff: unless specified, staff can refer to staff directly employed by a provider and/or through an agency.

Staff employed by other settings: this includes non-registered providers and local authority employed: all other eligible frontline social care staff working in close and personal contact with people clinically vulnerable to COVID-19 (as defined by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) priority groups) who need care and support irrespective of where they work or who they are employed by, for example, local government, NHS, private sector or third sector.

Agreed staffing ratios: the agreed number of residents for any given member of staff. This is determined by individual providers to ensure there is safe levels of staffing for care to be delivered. This can be subject to inspection by the CQC. See Regulation of staffing for more information.

PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests: PCR tests check for the genetic material of the coronavirus in the sample, which is taken using a swab and is processed in a lab via a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). These are predominantly used in care homes for people who experience symptoms, and for routine asymptomatic testing for staff and residents.

LFD (lateral flow device): often referred to as ‘rapid tests’, these test for the presence of proteins called ‘antigens’ which are produced by the virus. They are swab tests that give results in 30 minutes or less, without the need for processing in a laboratory. These tests are primarily used in care homes for routine asymptomatic testing for staff, residents and visitors.

PPE (personal protective equipment): equipment worn by staff, visitors or essential care-givers in care homes to reduce transmission of COVID-19. This publication refers to supplies of aprons, eye protection, gloves, hand sanitiser and face masks in care homes.

About this data

These statistics are being published as a part of a wider landscape of statistics on adult social care. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) compiles a UK adult social care database of official statistics on adult social care across the 4 nations of the UK. This is updated on a monthly basis.

The UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) conducted a review of adult social care statistics in England which called for:

• better leadership and collaboration across different organisations publishing official statistics. This publication has been produced in collaboration with other statistics providers of COVID-19 adult social care data and DHSC will endeavour to work with various stakeholders as more data is published through this publication

• addressing of gaps in available data, particularly in privately funded care. This bulletin aims to plug some of that gap by including data on residents privately funding their care in addition to those funded by local authorities

• improving existing official statistics. These statistics are being badged as experimental statistics and more data will be added iteratively based on user needs

Other sources of adult social care COVID-19 data

COVID-19 vaccinations

NHS England and Improvement (NHSEI) also publish data on vaccinations in adult social care settings as part of their broader statistical release on COVID-19 vaccination, using the same methodology and the same data source as this publication but there are differences in the:

• reporting period; data in this publication reports data collected up to 11:59pm on a Tuesday whereas NHSEI use data collected up to 11:59pm on a Sunday

• a small amount of data may be collected after the respective reporting periods

• regional breakdowns; data in this publication uses the administrative regions of England and NHSEI use NHS regions

COVID-19 testing

DHSC also publishes care home testing data in the weekly NHS Test and Trace statistics (England) at national level. This publication uses the same data source but has a different methodology for presenting testing in care homes and differences in the figures will occur due to the following reasons:

• differences in which tests from different routes are included. Both methodologies include the number of tests registered from kits sent directly to care homes, but this publication additionally includes care home staff or residents tested via other routes such as regional or local test sites. As a result, figures in this report will be substantially higher for PCR tests conducted in care home staff due to the current guidance recommending staff with symptoms to be tested outside of the care home (see coronavirus (COVID-19) testing in adult care homes for more information)

• different reporting periods. This publication uses the start time of the test in comparison to the Test and Trace statistics which use the date on which the test result was received by the individual taking the test

• different times of extracting the data

For more details on the NHS Test and Trace programme and the statistics please see the NHS Test and Trace methodology document.

Data sources

COVID-19 vaccination, infection prevention control (IPC), PPE availability and staffing levels

Data in this publication is taken from self-reported data submitted by care providers in England through a data collection and insight tool called Capacity Tracker.

Care providers are expected to submit data on IPC compliance on a weekly basis whilst data on vaccinations, PPE availability and staffing levels is expected to be updated on a daily basis.

Infection control data for each reporting week refers to data up to 2pm on the date stated as the ‘week ending’ and the 7 days prior. For PPE and staffing-levels data relates up to 11:59pm on the date stated as the ‘week ending’. The reporting week usually ends on a Tuesday but occasionally no data is available for this date, in these situations the ‘week ending’ date will be the nearest available date.

This bulletin presents the proportion of staff and residents vaccinated out of the total number of staff and residents as self-reported by care providers. Only individuals who have not tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 28 days are eligible to receive the vaccine. Data on the number of staff and residents of older adult care homes eligible for the vaccination over time can be found in the accompanying COVID-19 vaccination tables.

For more information, please see the ‘Data Sources’ section of the accompanying background quality and methodology note.

COVID-19 testing data

Testing data is collected from management information generated during the operation of the NHS Test and Trace service.

For more information, please see the ‘Data Sources’ section of the accompanying background quality and methodology note.

Data coverage and quality

All data in this publication refers to adult social care settings in England only.

Data submitted by providers reflects the current priorities to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic in social care settings. Data collection could be subject to change based on changes to the priorities and therefore the reporting in this publication will be adapted accordingly.

IPC, PPE availability and staffing levels

Providers are expected to submit data on IPC measures on a weekly basis while staffing levels and PPE availability data are expected to be submitted on a daily basis. Any providers who have not submitted data within the last 7 days are excluded from the relevant analysis for the associated time period where no response was received. The full response rates for all data points are available in the accompanying tables.

COVID-19 vaccinations

Data on total number of staff and residents as well as those vaccinated is self-reported by care providers and local authorities. Providers are expected to update their vaccination data on a daily basis. There may be a time lag between individuals receiving the vaccine and the week they are reported in the statistics depending on when providers have updated their vaccination data.

COVID-19 testing

This report includes the number of tests conducted on care homes residents, staff and visitors who were tested by:

• PCR and LFD kits sent directly to the care home for regular testing, which were registered through the National Testing Programme digital infrastructure

• PCR and LFD kits conducted at another testing site such as a regional or local test site or a mobile testing unit or tests that were registered

The figures in this report are only deduplicated to report on the number of individual tests taken, not the number of people tested. Because people can have more than one test, the data should not be compared with prevalence rates or case positivity rates.

This report does not contain data on those tested through pillar 1.

Data for each reporting period relates to the day an individual took their test.

The rollout of the testing program in care homes is summarised in the table 3 below.

Table 3: testing guidance in care homes

	Dates	Frequency	Test Kit
Care home residents	7 June 2020 to present	Monthly In the event of an outbreak: day 1 and between days 4 to 7	PCR
Care home residents	22 February 2021 to present	In the event of an outbreak: day 1 and between days 4 to 7 at health protection team discretion	LFD
Care home staff	7 June 2020 to present	Weekly In the event of an outbreak: day 1 and between days 4 to 7	PCR
Care home staff	23 December 2020 to present	Twice a week In the event of a positive case: daily until 5 days without a positive	LFD
Care home indoor visitors	8 March 2021 to present	Weekly – essential care givers	PCR
Care home indoor visitors	8 March 2021 to present	Twice weekly – essential care givers	LFD
Care home indoor visitors	2 December 2020 to present*	On visit	LFD
Care home visiting professionals – CQC inspectors	14 December 2020 to present	Weekly	PCR
Care home visiting professionals – CQC inspectors	22 December 2020 to present	Before visit	LFD
Care home visiting professionals – all other professionals	14 December 2020 to present	On arrival, unless part of a regular testing regime and can provide proof of a negative result within 72 hours	LFD

*Close contact visits with LFD testing began on 2 December 2020 but ceased on 6 January 2021 because of the national lockdown. Throughout the period of national restrictions, visits were limited to outdoors, in visiting pods, or with a substantial screen; as well as those in exceptional circumstances such as end of life.

The figures in this report are only deduplicated to report on the number of individual tests taken, not the number of people tested. Because people can have more than one test, the data should not be compared with prevalence rates or case positivity rates.

Revisions

Any revisions to past publications will be in line with DHSC’s revision policy and highlighted in future publications accordingly.

Future developments

We plan to add new statistics to this publication to support user needs. Over the coming months, we will explore the feasibility of publishing the following statistics:

• COVID boosters and flu vaccination
• staffing levels and testing in domiciliary care settings
• other non-COVID-19 related adult social care data

Feedback

For feedback and any further questions, please contact asc.statistics@dhsc.gov.uk.