More than 90 care home operators in England declare red alert over staffing

Over 11,000 care workers off for Covid reasons, internal health system staffing data shows

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Care operators are facing acute staffing shortages caused by Omicron with more than 90 declaring a red" alert, which means staffing ratios have been breached.

Over 11,000 care home workers are off for Covid reasons, according to internal health system staffing data seen by the Guardian. One of the UK's largest private operators, Barchester, is dealing with outbreaks in 105 of its 250 homes. It said that rules meaning homes with Covid cannot accept hospital discharges will cause backlogs in the already struggling NHS.