Care home staff grappling with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis have told Sky News they are still waiting for vital supplies and funding to help them save lives.

Many homes have now had a month of working under intense pressure where they have often had to wait to receive personal protective equipment to shield them from coronavirus, as it has been prioritised for hospitals.

The organisation Care England estimates that up to 7,500 people could have died in the country’s care homes – a number significantly higher than official estimates.

The daily official death toll in the UK, which on Saturday was 888, has not yet included care home deaths and has instead only recorded deaths in hospitals.

Two weeks ago, a care home in Sheffield invited Sky News in to see the severity of the crisis they are dealing with – it prompted the government to promise to address the problems.

But Nicola Richards, the director of Palms Row Health Care, which operates three homes in Sheffield, confirmed to Sky News on Saturday that they have now lost 15 of their residents to the virus.

She explained that promises of help had still not materialised, and added: “As a team we are just fighting day-to-day to get through it.

“We are not seeing that [help] on the frontline, sadly. I listened to these words being said that there’s additional funding – we’ve not seen any of that, we have been in this for four weeks.”

The team has received the first proper delivery of protective equipment for staff, but Ms Richards says this still isn’t enough to spread between three busy care homes.

On Friday, she received a letter from Sheffield City Council confirming the general funding she receives will increase by 4.9%.

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