Sam Monaghan, the chief executive of MHA, which has closed 62 of its 89 homes to new admissions because of Department of Health and Social Care guidelines around outbreaks, said: “The current rules around outbreaks mean that care homes find themselves closed to new admissions, leaving older people staying in hospital longer than necessary or not getting the care that they need.”

HC-One, the largest private care home provider, said 869 staff – about four per cent of the workforce – were absent with either a positive test or awaiting results, while about 500 residents, or three per cent, had tested positive.

This comes as new figures revealed that around half of care homes in Greater Manchester are unable to accept new residents due to Covid-19 staffing absences.

Care homes ‘knocking back’ onto the NHS

In an online briefing, Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Manchester, told reporters that social care was the public service sector most affected and that care homes are in a “precarious” position regarding staff absences, which is “knocking back” onto the NHS.

He said there are about 650 people in hospital beds who are medically fit to be discharged but there is a shortage of care homes to take them.

He added that around 15 per cent of NHS staff were off work either ill or isolating, nearly 14 per cent of staff at Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service were absent, along with 9.5 per cent of Greater Manchester Police employees and 13 per cent of Metrolink tram drivers.

Predicting a “very challenging month ahead”, he added: “We need to have our eyes wide open to what could lie ahead in the rest of January and we need to see the real risks to the continuity of provision in some of our critical public services.”

Vic Rayner, the chief executive of the National Care Forum, added: “This isn’t just difficult for hospitals, but also for unpaid carers who are under enormous pressure and won’t be able to get respite or find places for their loved ones to get the round the clock care they really need.”