CARE leaders criticised the government yesterday for failing to prioritise care homes in its early pandemic planning, as the official death toll for elderly residents rose to almost 10,000. 

Care England chief executive Martin Green claimed that early planning had been too focused on the NHS and there was “not a recognition” that the most vulnerable people were in care homes. 

“We should have been focusing on care homes from the start of this pandemic,” he told MPs on the health & social care committee yesterday.