More than half of the 70 beds for Kent care home residents being discharged from hospital with coronavirus are full, it has been revealed.

At least 42 people with Covid were staying in three "hot homes" in the county last Friday.

They will undergo a 14-day period of isolation at Broadmeadow, in Folkestone; Hawkinge House in Hawkinge, near Folkestone; or Hawkhurst House in Hawkhurst.

Kent County Council (KCC) has been using the sites to accommodate adult patients who test positive for the virus and are being discharged from under-pressure Kent hospitals, helping free up bed capacity and ease pressure on the NHS.

It also reduces the risk of them passing on the infection if they were returned straight to their usual home.

However, it has emerged that people leaving the designated Covid residential homes, after two weeks, will not be retested to check if they are still infectious.

A KCC spokesman said: "Given that test results could continue to be positive for a number of days, or weeks, after people are no longer infectious, people are not required to be tested when leaving the designated setting to a care home."

Kent county councillor Ida Linfield (Lib Dem), a member of KCC's adult social care committee, expressed "concerns" that people were not getting tested again, given potential risk of the virus spreading.

She added: "Patients should be at these sites for more than two weeks and absolutely should be tested after they leave."

Hawkinge House, in Hurricane Way, specialises in providing 24/7 supported living in studio suites for residents who need support, including those with dementia. It currently has 20 Covid patients, with a maximum capacity of 31 beds.

In Folkestone, Broadmeadow has half of its eight beds occupied. Meanwhile, Hawkhurst House, near Tunbridge Wells, is accommodating 18 patients, with a maximum capacity of 31 beds.

Safety measures have been put in place to protect the vulnerable residents and staff, which include separate rooms and entrances.

These are reviewed weekly by KCC, Medway Council and Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group to ensure the homes are used "appropriately".

During the first coronavirus wave last year, care homes were at the centre of the crisis, and more than 20,000 elderly residents and staff have died across the UK since last April, including 17 people at Grosvenor Court in Cliftonville, Thanet.

Kent has almost 15,000 care home beds - the highest number in England. A quarter of all Covid-19 deaths in the county were reported from care homes in March to June.

To minimise the risk in future waves, about 136 specialist Covid "hot homes" were set up last month in England for hospital patients being discharged, including the three in Kent. This falls short of the Government's target for 500.

But concerns have been raised about insurers "withdrawing" from the social care market, as costs for insuring care homes have soared amid Covid.

A KCC spokesman said: "The Department for Health and Social Care is working at pace at senior and ministerial level across government to consider all available options."

County councillors will likely discuss the "hot homes" situation tomorrow at KCC's adult social care committee meeting.

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