NEARLY 1,000 people have died with coronavirus at Lancashire County Council area care homes, according to a new report.

The findings, released by the Care Quality Commission, details the number of Covid related deaths in every care home in England between April 10 2020 to March 31 this year.

The total of 984 deaths in Lancashire care homes excludes a total of 99 fatalities in Blackburn with Darwen care homes which were counted separately because it is a different local authority.

Louise Taylor, county council executive director of adult services and health and wellbeing, said: "I would like to offer my sincere condolences to everyone who has lost a family member, partner, friend or loved one because of Covid-19.

"The information published only further brings home the terrible impact which the pandemic has had upon our communities, and particularly how it has impacted those who are vulnerable to the virus due to their age or underlying health conditions.

"Those working in care homes and across the caring sector have provided great care, often to very sick people under very difficult circumstances, throughout the pandemic.

"I would like to thank them for all their incredible efforts and professionalism in putting the care of residents first, particularly during the early days of the pandemic when relatively little was known about the virus.

"The threat of Covid-19 is still with us, and I'm also very grateful to the families and friends of care home residents for continuing to work with our staff to support the measures which are needed to protect everyone and control the spread of the virus."

CQC chief inspector for adult social care Kate Terroni said: “In considering this data it is important to remember that every number represents a life lost and families, friends and those who cared for them who are having to face the sadness and consequences of their death.

“We are grateful for the time that families who lost their loved ones during the pandemic have spent meeting with us and the personal experiences they have shared.

“These discussions have helped us shape our thinking around the highly sensitive issue of publishing information on the numbers of death notifications involving Covid-19 received from individual care homes.”

The CQC said it was publishing figures on death notifications it received from individual homes for the first time in a bid to be transparent, following earlier requests to share the data.

It warned that factors that could influence the number of deaths include rates of local community transmission, care home size and residents’ age and health and care needs.

Ms Terroni said: “We have a duty to be transparent and to act in the public interest, and we made a commitment to publish data at this level, but only once we felt were able to do so as accurately and safely as possible given the complexity and sensitivity of the data.”

Care homes in the North West reported the highest number of Covid-related deaths in the first wave of the pandemic, with Lancashire reporting 402.

This region also had the highest number of deaths involving coronavirus in the wider community, according to figures from Public Health England.

The report found that combined, the total number of coronavirus related deaths in Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen care homes came to 1083, with Blackburn with Darwen having recorded comparatively few deaths thanks to proactive steps taken by the care sector early on in the pandemic.

Data excludes smaller care homes with only ten beds or less for data protection purposes.

Council leader Mohammed Khan said: “One life lost is too many and we have seen far too many lost during this period due to the pandemic.”

He added: “Our care homes have done a very thorough job carrying out national guidance and working to help and care for and protect the residents as much as possible through this period.

“We urge all visitors to care homes to carry on taking all necessary precautions needed including testing and wearing any required PPE.”