news
COVID crisis
Aged care pandemic death
rate in UK revealed.
Aged care residents died at three
times the normal rate in the UK
during the COVID-19 peak in April,
according to official government statistics.
On April 12, 1300 people died in care
homes in comparison with 407 the
previous year and although only 495 of
those deaths have been attributed to
COVID-19, the excess 805 deaths could be
attributable to the virus.
The UK’s aged care sector has been in
crisis throughout the pandemic and early
mistakes by the government have seen
the number of care home deaths soar to
20,000. A lack of staff PPE and a failure
to isolate positive cases among residents
have been identified as serious failures in
infection control.
According to the data there have been
66,000 deaths of care home residents in
England and Wales between 2 March and
12 June this year, compared to just under
37,000 deaths last year – as reported by
the BBC.
Twenty thousand of those deaths
mentioned COVID-19 on the death
certificate but another 10,000 of the excess
deaths were registered to other, non-
COVID related causes.
Figures also showed that there were
higher cases of COVID-19 among
temporary care staff who work across
multiple homes and moreover, homes
which give staff sick pay are likely to
have fewer cases of COVID-19 among
residents.
These figures coincided with the
announcement that from early July
staff and residents in care homes
would receive regular coronavirus tests.
Staff will be tested for the virus weekly
while residents will receive a test every
28 days.
Only Spain has more COVID-19 deaths
than the UK in aged care across the major
European states. 5.3 per cent of all deaths
in aged care have been COVID-related
in the UK while Spain sits at 6.1 per cent,
according to the Guardian.
This is in stark comparison to Germany at
0.4 per cent and Hungary at 0.2. ■
The eyes have it
Using eye-tracking tech to understand
mild cognitive impairment.
Eye-tracking technology may help to make the preferences of
people who have mild cognitive impairment (MCI) known.
In a new study, researchers from Flinders University
recruited older people at outpatient memory clinics, including
caregivers, to investigate the ways older people with and without
MCI process information.
To do so, they used eye-tracking technology, which
measures eye position and movement along with pupil size to
detect zones in which a person has a particular interest at a
specific time.
The materials participants were asked to read mirrored the
types of official forms given to aged care residents when assessing
quality of care and quality of life outcomes.
Eye-tracking technology was used to map how each person
focused as they read. Researchers looked at the relationships
between cognitive capacity, task complexity and the tendency for
participants to overlook or ignore one or more of the attributes
presented (a tactic called attribute non-attendance or ANA).
ANA remained relatively low for participants with good
cognition regardless of task complexity, while it increased notably
in participants exhibiting MCI.
Lead researcher Kaiying Wang said the study helped identify
those who needed more support in formulating their decisions.
The researchers said estimates indicate 10–20 per cent of older
people in developed countries have MCI, with that figure set to rise
in coming decades.
Caring Futures Institute researcher Professor Julie Ratcliffe, from
Flinders University, said: “This new eye tracking technology will
help us to find new ways to drive the inclusivity of older people
with cognitive impairment and dementia in these important
assessments.
“It is very important that older people’s preferences about
quality of care and quality of life are used to inform economic
evaluation of policy and practice in health and aged care.”
Ratcliffe and her team said they are working with older people to
develop new quality indicators. ■
agedcareinsite.com.au
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