COVID-19 Insight 7: Our data

Page last updated: 12 May 2022

COVID-19 Insight: Issue 7

Homecare providers - prevalence of COVID-19

Homecare providers by COVID-19 submission status: 'one or more cases' includes both suspected and confirmed cases
Charts showing the highest proportion (19%) of homecare providers with one or more cases of COVID-19 being in the North East and the South East

Source: CQC Domiciliary Care Agency Survey, data extracts from 3 May 2020 to 3 January 2021.

Homecare providers with at least one case include suspected AND confirmed cases. Included in these figures are homecare services currently lying dormant, so completion rates are slightly higher for fully active services than this might suggest. Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding.

Homecare providers – availability of all PPE

Availability of personal protective equipment in homecare providers by region
Charts showing the availability of PPE in each region, with at most 1% of homecare services having less than two days' supply

Source: CQC Domiciliary Care Agency survey – data extracts from 3 May 2020 to 3 January 2021.

Homecare providers – staff absence

Percentage of homecare staff unable to work due to COVID-19
Charts showing the proportion of homecare staff absent due to COVID-19 is highest in the East of England, London and the South East

Source: CQC Domiciliary Care Agency survey, data extracts from 3 May 2020 to 3 January 2021. Includes staff who are self-isolating or have care commitments.

Deaths notified by care homes

Care Home COVID-19 Deaths: 7-day moving average
Chart showing the average number of COVID-19 deaths notified by care homes continuing to increase

Note: The notifications only include those received by 4pm on Thursday 31st December 2020.

Deaths of people detained under the Mental Health Act

All providers registered with CQC must notify us about deaths of people who are detained, or liable to be detained, under the MHA. From 1 March 2020 to 1 January 2021, we have been notified of 113 deaths that mental health providers indicated were suspected or confirmed to be related to COVID-19 (an increase of seven since we reported in December). A further five COVID-19 related deaths of detained patients were reported by other (non-mental health) providers (no increase since we last reported).

This data includes detained patients on leave of absence, or absent without leave, from hospital, and conditionally discharged patients. ‘Detained patients’ also includes patients subject to holding powers such as sections 4, 5, 135 or 136, and patients recalled to hospital from community treatment order (CTO). These counts may also include notifications about the deaths of people subject to the MHA who are in the community and not in hospital.

Data on notifications may be updated over time and therefore successive extracts may lead to changes in overall numbers unrelated to new cases.

The chart shows the number of deaths by week of death.

Weekly MHA deaths in England (COVID and non-COVID): 1 March 2020 to 1 January 2021
Chart showing COVID-19 contributing to the overall number of deaths in both the first and second waves

Of the 359 notifications from mental health providers in the 2020 period (covering all causes of death), 279 were from NHS organisations, of which 84 deaths were indicated as being COVID-19-related, and 80 were from independent providers, of which 29 deaths were COVID-19-related.

We have identified 17 detained patients whose deaths have been notified to us from 1 March to 1 January 2021 who had a learning disability and/or were autistic: the majority (10) were not identified as related to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 (an increase of 1 from our report in December). Of these people, most also had a mental health diagnosis. Please note that these patients were identified both from a specific box being ticked on the notification form and a review of diagnoses in the free text of the form.

Table showing all deaths of detained patients from 1 March to 1 January 2021, by age band and COVID-19 status
Age band 16-17 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-84 85+ Unknown Total
Suspected or confirmed COVID-19   1 1 4 8 17 24 34 20 9 118
Not COVID-19 1 12 19 22 34 47 43 36 15 38 267
Total 1 13 20 26 42 64 67 70 35 47 385
Table showing all deaths of detained patients from 1 March to 1 January 2021, by gender and COVID-19 status
Gender Female Male Unknown or unspecified Total
Suspected or confirmed COVID-19 40 67 11 118
Not COVID-19 76 150 41 267
Total 116 217 52 385
Table showing all deaths of detained patients from 1 March to 1 January 2021, by ethnicity and COVID-19 status
Ethnicity Suspected or confirmed COVID-19 Not COVID-19
Asian 4 6
Black 12 23
Mixed 3 5
Other ethnic groups 1 2
White 69 156
Unknown 24 63
Not stated 5 12
Total 118 267
Table showing all deaths of detained patients from 1 March to 1 January 2021 by place of death and COVID-19 status
Place of death Suspected or confirmed COVID-19 Not COVID-19
Medical ward 71 81
Psychiatric ward 36 85
Hospital grounds 1 6
Patient’s home 0 24
Public place 0 6
Other 1 29
Not stated 9 36
Total 118 267

ONS data on all weekly deaths in England (COVID and non-COVID) compared with the average for 2015-2019

Total weekly deaths in 2020 compared with sum of average weekly deaths in English regions between 2015-2019
Chart showing COVID-19 impacting the number of deaths over the past year compared to the previous average

Source: ONS COVID/non-COVID 2020 death data and 2015-2019 death data. Week 52 is the week ending 25 December 2020.

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COVID-19 Insight: Issue 7


Related news

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Previous issue

You can read the issue of the report that we published in December. This issue looked at designated settings and care home capacity as well as our provider collaboration reviews.

Read issue 6 now.