More than 100 care home residents across the Basingstoke area died from Covid-19, new figures have revealed.

103 people lost their lives at residential care settings after testing positive for the virus between April 2020 and March 2021, data published by the CQC has revealed.

Among those are 28 people who died at Pemberley House Care Home, which has the highest mortality figure in Hampshire and is in the top half of a per cent of all care homes to have recorded Covid deaths across the country.

The Gazette reported earlier this year how at least 22 residents of the Grove Road care home had died in one of the worst known outbreaks of the pandemic at the time.

The full scale of coronavirus’s impact on individual care homes has now been laid bare, with the first figures that break down the number of deaths from Covid to individual care homes.

The figures have prompted one councillor to call for the public inquiry into the pandemic, scheduled for the Spring, to be escalated and started immediately.

Cllr Gavin James says that there is a "risk of more death" and lessons need to be learnt immediately.

As well as the 28 deaths at Pemberley House, the Care Quality Commission data revealed that 13 residents at the Hampshire County Council-run Oakridge House Care Home passed away from the virus.

Additionally, nine people passed away at both Marnel Lodge in Popley and Wessex Lodge in Whitchurch.

Basingstoke Gazette:

In total, more than 60 per cent of the Covid deaths took place between January and March 2021, raising concerns over why so many people died almost a year into the pandemic.

“I can’t think of the words," Cllr Gavin James, who represents Eastrop and Grove, said when asked what his message to the families would be.

"There is nothing I can say that can take away the pain.

“The healing process will begin with answers. I just feel so sorry how older people were let down and failed by the system.

"It is sad, it is very tragic. It is very distressing reading.

"These are real lvies, these are loved ones that have been isolated for a year, that we have not had chance to say goodbye to.

"For young children, not seeing granny for a year and then they pass away is a scar."

In all, 15 care homes in the Basingstoke area recorded fatalities from the virus in the year from April 2020 to March 2021.

The vast majority of deaths fell in the final quarter of the year, between January and March 2021.

Among the homes to declare outbreaks in that period was Marnel Lodge in Popley, where nine people lost their lives.

Cllr Jacky Tustain, Labour councillor in Popley, said that the statistics are “a sad reminder of family members lost before their time”.

She told The Gazette: “These figures are a sad reminder of family members lost before their time during the pandemic, of those we couldn’t say goodbye to properly, despite all the efforts, commitment and hard work seen in our care homes.

"We owe so much to all these care workers and everyone working to overcome the challenges the COVID crisis has brought us.

"My heart goes out to those impacted by the loss of those dear to them and hope they find peace in their time of grief.”

The data covers deaths of residents involving Covid-19 under the care of the provider as notified to CQC, regardless of where the virus was contracted or where the death occurred, including in the care home, in hospital, in an ambulance or in any other setting.

For example, a resident may have been admitted from a care home to hospital with a fracture, contracted Covid-19 while in hospital, and subsequently died without returning to the care home.

The provider must notify CQC of the death of their resident and that this was involving Covid-19, but this would not necessarily indicate that there was Covid-19 present in the care home.

It has led to one care provider to contest the CQC data.

Barchester Health, which runs Ashcombe House, St Thomas care home and Marnel Lodge in Basingstoke as well as Cherry Blossom in Bramley, had 16 Covid deaths at its care homes.

A spokesperson confirmed to The Gazette they were contesting just under a third of the deaths at the four homes.

"It is also important to note that the data includes deaths that are suspected rather than confirmed and also deaths where residents may have first contracted COVID in hospital," the spokesperson said.

"In regards to our Basingstoke and Bramley homes we are contesting just under a third of the deaths listed for those reasons."